Romania spends the least of any EU country on research and development, according to EU statistics office Eurostat. Romania granted just 0.48 percent of GDP in research and development funding in 2011, the lowest figure in the EU. Neighboring Bulgaria, although rated the EU's poorest country, granted funds valuing 0.57 percent of GDP to research and development.

In contrast, the EU's biggest research spenders Finland, Sweden and Denmark all allocated more than 3 percent of GDP to research and development. Next placed Germany granted funds worth 2.84 percent of GDP to research, which given the difference in GDP between Germany and Romania, shows that locally the total amounts spent on R&D are tiny compared to elsewhere in the EU.

Romania also has the lowest percentage of the total workforce employed in research. Just 0.31 percent of Romania's workforce is employed in the R&D sector; Bulgaria is ahead again, with 0.51 percent of the country's workforce in research. Luxembourg has the highest percentage employed in R&D – 2.11 percent of the total.

editor@romania-insider.com

photo source: sxc.hu