---
title: "Funding of science"
chunk: 5/5
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funding_of_science"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T03:24:31.702550+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== By country ===
Different countries spend vastly different amounts on research, in both absolute and relative terms. For instance, South Korea and Israel dedicate more than 4% of their national GDP to research and development, while numerous less developed countries allocate less than 1% of their national GDP to R&D. In developed economies, GERD is financed mainly by the business sector, whereas the government and the university sector dominate in less-developed economies. In some countries, funding from the major part of the international community represents up to 20-30% of total GERD, which is likely due to FDI and foreign aid; however, only in the case of Mali it is the main source of funding. Private non-profit is not the main source of funds in any country, but it reaches 10% of total GERD in Colombia and Honduras.
When comparing annual GERD and GDP Growth, it can be seen that countries with lower GERD are often growing faster. However, as most of these countries are developing, their growth is probably driven by other factors of production. On the other hand, developed countries with a higher share of GERD are usually also the ones that produce positive growth rates. GERD in these countries has a more substantial contribution to growth rate.

=== Recessions ===
In times of crisis, business R&D tends to act in a procyclical way. Considering that R&D falls under long-term investments, disruptions should ideally be avoided. In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, there was a significant public advocacy for the implementation of Keynesian countercyclical reactions; however, this was relatively difficult to achieve for some countries. Due to the nature of Coronavirus disease 2019, the subsequent worldwide pandemic significantly accelerated publicly funded R&D spending in 2020, primarily in the pharmaceutical industry. While a slight decrease in spending was recorded in 2021, it nevertheless remained considerably above the pre-2020 levels. The pandemic made health research and sectors with strategic value-chain dependencies the main target of science funding.

== See also ==
Adversary evaluation
Scientific funding advisory bodies (category)
Funding bias
Industry funding of academic research
Intellectual inbreeding
Metascience
Science policy
Scientific pluralism
Self-Organized Funding Allocation
Tertiary education#Statistics

== References ==

== Further reading ==
Eisfeld-Reschke, Jörg, Herb, Ulrich, & Wenzlaff, Karsten (2014). Research Funding in Open Science. In S. Bartling & S. Friesike (Eds.), Opening Science (pp. 237–253). Heidelberg: Springer.  doi:10.1007/978-3-319-00026-8_16
Herb, Ulrich (2014-07-31). "Open science's final frontier". Research Europe Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-09-03. Retrieved 2014-08-30.
Martinson, Brian C.; De Vries, Raymond; et al. (2005). "Scientists behaving badly". Nature. 435 (7043): 737–738. Bibcode:2005Natur.435..737M. doi:10.1038/435737a. PMID 15944677. S2CID 4341622.
Mello, Michelle M.; et al. (2005). "Academic Medical Centers' Standards for Clinical-Trial Agreements with Industry". New England Journal of Medicine. 352 (21): 2202–2210. doi:10.1056/nejmsa044115. PMID 15917385. S2CID 8283797.
Odlyzko, Andrew (1995-10-04). "The Decline of Unfettered Research". Retrieved 2007-11-02.

== External links ==
Where to Search for Funding | Science | AAAS, from Science Careers, from the Journal Science.
ResearchCrossroads Aggregated funding data from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, NSF, private foundations and the European Union
Seventh Framework Programme (2007–2013) The European Unions's programme for funding and promoting research at the European level
CORDIS - the official website of the European Unions's programme for funding and promoting research This website contains comprehensive information on research projects already funded.
Research Councils UK The portal for the UK-based Research Councils.