Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

Switzerland leads Europe in research spending per capita

shared office space with two men working on computers with multiple screens with a vine plant growing right in the middle of the room and all over the ceiling.
EU member states spent a total of €123.7 billion on research and development. Keystone / Gaetan Bally

Switzerland spent just under €915 (CHF856) per capita on research and development in 2023, the highest in Europe. The average per capita spending in the European Union (EU) was around €275. Switzerland ranks sixth in Europe.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

Among EU member states, Luxembourg (€647) led in per capita spending on research and development, followed by Denmark (€552) and Germany (€529), according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office. Two non-EU countries, Iceland (€751) and Norway (€677), also spent more per capita than Luxembourg but less than Switzerland.

+Start-ups, failures and funding: the Swiss company landscape

Overall, EU member states spent a total of €123.7 billion on research and development. Germany accounted for about a third (€44.7 billion), followed by France (€18.3 billion) and Italy (€13.4 billion).

+Swiss research uses VR to reduce pre-surgery anxiety

The USA outspent the EU on research and development last year, with a total expenditure of €187 billion, according to Eurostat data. Switzerland’s total spending was €8.1 billion, making it the sixth highest in Europe.

+Award-winning photos show the hidden beauty of Swiss research

Adapted from German by DeepL/amva

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Popular Stories

Most Discussed

News

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR