🧑🔬 Most Researchers per Million People
Full-time-equivalent researchers in research and development per million inhabitants — the talent pool behind AI.
1
🇱🇮Liechtenstein
18,130
2
🇰🇷South Korea
9,472
3
🇸🇪Sweden
8,911
4
🇩🇰Denmark
8,838
5
🇫🇮Finland
8,315
6
🇳🇴Norway
7,451
7
🇦🇹Austria
6,634
8
🇳🇱Netherlands
6,563
9
🇨🇭Switzerland
6,108
10
🇧🇪Belgium
5,990
11
🇵🇹Portugal
5,983
12
🇮🇸Iceland
5,953
13
🇩🇪Germany
5,926
14
🇮🇪Ireland
5,753
15
🇸🇮Slovenia
5,616
16
🇯🇵Japan
5,609
17
🇳🇿New Zealand
5,435
18
🇫🇷France
5,369
19
🇱🇺Luxembourg
5,359
20
🇬🇷Greece
5,283
21
🇭🇰Hong Kong
5,274
22
🇪🇪Estonia
4,800
23
🇭🇺Hungary
4,567
24
🇨🇿Czechia
4,505
25
🇲🇴Macau
3,827
26
🇱🇹Lithuania
3,704
27
🇵🇱Poland
3,675
28
🇪🇸Spain
3,654
29
🇸🇰Slovakia
3,507
30
🇮🇹Italy
2,855
31
🇷🇺Russia
2,653
32
🇹🇷Türkiye
2,645
33
🇷🇸Serbia
2,515
34
🇭🇷Croatia
2,440
35
🇧🇬Bulgaria
2,401
36
🇲🇹Malta
2,355
37
🇱🇻Latvia
2,191
38
🇨🇳China
2,107
39
🇨🇺Cuba
1,968
40
🇩🇿Algeria
1,782
41
🇬🇪Georgia
1,768
42
🇨🇾Cyprus
1,686
43
🇦🇿Azerbaijan
1,663
44
🇹🇭Thailand
1,592
45
🇧🇾Belarus
1,504
46
🇦🇷Argentina
1,313
47
🇸🇦Saudi Arabia
1,121
48
🇷🇴Romania
1,082
49
🇦🇲Armenia
1,040
50
🇲🇰North Macedonia
922
Highlights
As of 2023, Liechtenstein ranks first with 18,130, followed by South Korea (9,472) and Sweden (8,911).
Liechtenstein is 1.9 times higher than South Korea, the runner-up.
Across 76 countries and territories, values run from 18,130 (Liechtenstein) to 1 (Guatemala), with a median of 2,038.
By region, the top 10 is made up of 9 from Europe and 1 from Asia.
Source: World Bank Open Data — Researchers in R&D (per million people), 2023. Unit: researchers per million people.
Source: World Bank Open Data — Researchers in R&D (per million people) · CC BY 4.0 · fetched Oct 14, 2026