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Research budgets measured collectively across the world's industrialized countries are increasing again after the economic slump of the early 1990s, according to latest figures from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Between 1994 and 1995, the total spending of the OECD's 27 member states on research and development increased from 2.1 to 2.2 per cent of their joint gross domestic product (GDP), the first increase since 1990, when it peaked at 2.4 per cent (see chart).

The OECD statistics show that the most research-intensive member states are clearly those in the Asia-Pacific region, particularly Japan which, despite its economic difficulties, spent 2.8 per cent of its GDP on research and development in 1995.

But there has also been a slight upturn in research spending in North America, led by the United States, after an almost continuous decline since the mid-1980s; the OECD warns, however, that forecast data for 1996 “did not suggest continued growth”. The European Union's record has been mixed, with overall spending dropping slightly — from 1.9 to 1.8 per cent of GDP — between 1994 and 1995.

Among those whose research and development profile the OECD notes has changed significantly, Ireland spent twice the percentage of GDP on research and development in 1995 as in 1981, and recorded high growth rates in expenditure, ranging from 15 to 20 per cent a year, in the 1990s.

Science, Technology and Industry: Scoreboard of Indicators 1997. OECD, Paris. FF200. ISBN: 92-64-15507-4

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Figure 1