EU Boosts Research Spending but Misses Long Standing Three Per Cent Target

Mace | 8th December 2025 | Brussels
Union_Jack_and_the_european_flag

EU research spending reaches record levels but remains well below the three per cent goal, prompting renewed debate over investment gaps and competitiveness.

The latest figures show that research and development spending in the European Union has reached a record level in money terms but still falls short of the long standing target for investment. In 2024 total spending on research and development across the bloc was estimated at 403.1 billion euro, a rise of 3.6 per cent compared with 2023 when it stood at 389.2 billion euro. Measured as a share of economic output the picture is less dramatic. Research and development intensity in the European Union, defined as research spending as a percentage of gross domestic product, stood at around 2.2 per cent in 2024. That level is broadly unchanged from recent years and remains below the agreed objective for combined public and private investment to reach three per cent of gross domestic product. Over a longer horizon spending has clearly increased. Between 2014 and 2024 total research and development expenditure in the European Union grew by just over 62 per cent, rising from 248.6 billion euro t...

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