The total expenditure on research and development in 2021 was roughly 91 billion ISK, which is equivalent to 2.80% of the gross domestic product (GDP). This is the highest proportion measured since Statistics Iceland took over the administration of the statistics in 2014.
In 2020, R&D expenses were 72.7 billion ISK (2.47% of GDP) and 70.8 billion ISK (2.32% of GDP) in 2019. Relative expenditure on research and development of gross domestic product has increased by 0.33 percentage points between years.
The data collection covers the business enterprise sector, private non-profits sector, the higher education sector and the government sector. R&D expenditures in the business enterprise sector and the private non-profit sector were 65.2 billion ISK, while the expenditures were 23.2 billion ISK in the higher education sector and roughly 2.6 billion ISK in the government sector.
About the data
The data is collected annually from the higher education sector and the government sector. Data collection for the business enterprise sector and the private non-profits sector takes place every other year, and the questions relate to the expenses of the past year on the one hand, and to the estimated expenses of the year for which the list is submitted. Figures for 2021 were collected in the third quarter of 2022.
Figures on total expenditure as a percentage of GDP are subject to changes in calculations of GDP, but the figures of previous years may also be updated following the later data collections.