Last year, the total cost spent on research and development (R&D) in the country was recorded at 119.74 trillion won, marking a research and development cost ratio of 4.96% compared to the gross domestic product (GDP), the second highest in the world following Israel.
The Ministry of Science and ICT published the results of the 2023 research and development activity survey on the 29th. Last year, Korea's total research and development expenditure increased by 6.428 trillion won compared to the previous year, and the ratio compared to GDP also rose by 0.11 percentage points from 4.85% in 2022. Initially, the ratio of research and development expenditure to GDP for 2022 was reported at 5.21%, but the Bank of Korea adjusted the relevant figures after changing the base year for GDP calculation from 2015 to 2020.
In 2023, government funding for research and development amounted to 28.1276 trillion won, accounting for 23.6% of the total, with the ratio increasing by 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. In contrast, private and foreign funding totaled 90.9464 trillion won (76.4%), maintaining a private-centered R&D structure.
By research performer, corporations represented the largest share at 94.2968 trillion won, making up 79.2% of the total. Following them, public research institutes spent 13.8837 trillion won, while universities spent 10.8935 trillion won. In terms of research phases, development research accounted for the largest share at 77.8584 trillion won (65.4%), followed by applied research at 23.4752 trillion won (19.7%) and basic research at 17.7404 trillion won (14.9%).
Last year, the total number of researchers was 603,566, an increase of 2,036 from the previous year. The overall research and development workforce was recorded at 827,963, of which 143,127 were female researchers. The number of full-time researchers was 490,256, ranking fourth in the world after China, the United States, and Japan. The Ministry of Science and ICT noted that the number of researchers per 1,000 employed individuals was 17.3, while the number of researchers per 1,000 population was 9.5, indicating a world-leading level.
The number of researchers in corporations was 438,674, a decrease of 4,596 compared to the previous year, while universities and public research institutes had 119,447 and 45,445 researchers, respectively. By degree, there were 128,703 doctoral, 167,214 master's, and 279,063 bachelor's degree holders.
Meanwhile, the top 10 corporations by sales saw decreases in both research and development expenditure and the number of researchers, while research and development expenditure for corporations ranked 11th to 30th showed a 40.3% increase compared to the previous year, totaling 16.2633 trillion won.