SDG 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable

industrialization and foster innovation

METADATA

Target 9.5 Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of

industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries,
including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the
number of research and development workers per 1 million people and
public and private research and development spending

9.5.1 Research and development expenditure as a proportion of GDP

Definition
Research and experimental development (R&D) expenditure as a proportion of Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) is the total intramural expenditure on R&D performed in the
national territory during a specific reference period expressed as a percentage of GDP of the
national territory.

The following concepts, taken from the Frascati Manual (OECD, 2015) 1 are relevant for
computing the indicator:

• Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative and systematic

work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge
of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available
knowledge. The term R&D covers three types of activity: Basic research, Applied
research, and Experimental development.
• Intramural R&D expenditures are all current expenditures plus gross fixed capital
expenditures for R&D performed within a statistical unit during a specific reference
period, whatever the source of funds. Intramural R&D expenditure is synonymous

1
The main methodological guide, which provides international standard guidelines for measuring
R&D is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Frascati Manual
(Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental
Development: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264239012-en).

1
 with the performance of R&D within a statistical unit. The aggregation of intramural
R&D for all units within a sector is synonymous with the performance of R&D within
a sector of the economy; the summation of intramural R&D for all sectors is
synonymous with the performance of R&D for the entire economy (GERD: Gross
domestic expenditure on research and development).

Purpose
This indicator provides a comprehensive perspective on the financial resources that a
country devotes to R&D, and its relative share with GDP.

Calculation method
The indicator is calculated by dividing the total intramural expenditure on R&D performed in
the national territory during a given year by the GDP and multiplied by 100.

R&D expenditure as a proportion of GDP (R&DIntensity) is calculated as:

The total intramural expenditure on R&D

𝑅𝑅&𝐷𝐷𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼 = × 100
𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺

Interpretation
This indicator is a direct measure of the R&D spending, which is to be increased as per target
9.5.

Type of data source

National R&D surveys, and/or data compiled through administrative data sources.

Disaggregation
R&D expenditure can be broken down by sector of performance, source of funds, field of
R&D, type of R&D activity and type of cost.

Data required
R&D expenditure by sector of performance and source of funds (amount): Total amount of
expenditure on R&D and its breakdown by the institutions corresponding to each sector
(business enterprise, government, higher education and private non-profit organizations),
with further disaggregation by source of funds (by business enterprise, government, higher
education, private non-profit organizations, and funds from the ‘Rest of the world’).

Data sources
At the national level, data sources for R&D statistics are nationally representative R&D
surveys, and/or data compiled through administrative data sources or data derived by a
combination of the two, by the National Statistical Offices or relevant line ministries such as
the Ministry of Science and Technology.

2
Quality assurance
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) maintains a set of data processing
guidelines/standards as well as data processing tools to facilitate processing of data and
ensure the quality of data.

The process of quality assurance includes review of survey documentations/metadata,

examination of reliability of data, making sure they comply with international standards
(including the OECD Frascati Manual), and examining the consistency and coherence within
the data set as well as with the time series of data and the resulting indicators. During the
data processing stage, for each questionnaire received from countries where UIS sends
questionnaires to, the above quality aspects are looked into and a data report is produced
identifying problematic issues/inconsistent data for each respective country. The UIS sends
such data reports, including the calculated indicators for target 9.5, providing the countries
with the opportunity to review the data/indicators and submit any clarifications or
modifications/additions before releasing data at the UIS Data Centre and submitting the data
to UN Statistics Division for inclusion in the global SDG Indicators Database.

The underlying R&D data compiled at the national level should comply with the
concepts/definitions provided in the international standards (i.e., Frascati Manual).
According to the guidelines, the reported data should cover all sectors of performance
(government, higher education, business enterprise and private non-profit sectors, as
defined in the Frascati Manual), representing all institutions, which are engaged in R&D
activities in a particular country. Criteria for quality assessment include: data sources must
include proper documentation; data values must be nationally representative, if not, should
be footnoted; data are plausible and based on trends and consistency with previously
published/reported values.

Limitations and comments

R&D data need to be collected through surveys, which are expensive. In addition, they are
not collected on a regular basis in many developing countries and not all sectors of R&D
performance (those mentioned above in the section of ‘Data required’) are fully covered. In
some cases, certain sectors are partially covered, and in particular, the business enterprise
sector is often not covered.

3
 SDG 9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable
industrialization and foster innovation
METADATA

Target 9.5 Enhance scientific research, upgrade the technological capabilities of

industrial sectors in all countries, in particular developing countries,
including, by 2030, encouraging innovation and substantially increasing the
number of research and development workers per 1 million people and
public and private research and development spending

9.5.2 Researchers (in full-time equivalent) per million inhabitants

Definition
The researchers (in full-time equivalent – FTE) per million inhabitants is the total number of
researchers, measured in full-time equivalent – FTE, in the national territory during a specific
reference period expressed as a proportion of a population of one million.

The following concepts, taken from the Frascati Manual (OECD, 2015) 2 are relevant for
computing the indicator:
• Research and experimental development (R&D) comprise creative and systematic
work undertaken in order to increase the stock of knowledge – including knowledge
of humankind, culture and society – and to devise new applications of available
knowledge. The term R&D covers three types of activity: Basic research, Applied
research, and Experimental development.
• R&D personnel include all persons engaged directly in R&D, as well as those providing
direct services for the R&D activities (such as R&D managers, administrators,
technicians and clerical staff). R&D personnel are classified according to their R&D
function: Researchers, Technicians and Other supporting staff. They are measured in
Full-time equivalent (FTE) and Headcounts (HC).
• Researchers are professionals engaged in the conception or creation of new
knowledge. They conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories,
models, techniques instrumentation, software or operational methods.
• The Full-time equivalent (FTE) of R&D personnel is defined as the ratio of working
hours actually spent on R&D during a specific reference period (usually a calendar

2
The main methodological guide, which provides international standard guidelines for measuring
R&D is the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Frascati Manual
(Frascati Manual 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental
Development: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264239012-en).

4
 year) divided by the total number of hours conventionally worked in the same period
by an individual or by a group.
• The headcount (HC) of R&D personnel is defined as the total number of individuals
contributing to intramural R&D, during a specific reference period (usually a calendar
year).

Purpose
This indicator provides a comprehensive perspective on the human resources that a country
devotes to R&D, and its relative share with population.

Calculation method
The indicator is calculated by dividing the total number of researchers (measured in full-time
equivalent – FTE) in the national territory during a given year by the total population and
multiplied by 1,000,000.

Researchers (in full-time equivalent – FTE) per million inhabitants (RESDensity) is calculated as:

𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 (𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹)⬚

𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷𝐷 = × 1,000,000
𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑡𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑒 𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐

where ‘Total researchers (FTE)’ is calculated as:

𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇𝑇 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 (𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹𝐹)

= 𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 − 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑅𝑅&𝐷𝐷 𝑏𝑏𝑏𝑏 𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝𝑝 − 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒
+[ ]
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤𝑤 ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑜𝑜𝑜𝑜 𝑎𝑎 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 − 𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡𝑡 𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒

Interpretation
This indicator is a direct measure of the number of R&D workers per million people, which is
to be increased as per target 9.5.

Type of data source

National R&D surveys, and/or data compiled through administrative data sources.

Disaggregation
Researchers can be broken down by sector of employment, sex, field of R&D, level of
qualification, and age.

Data required
R&D personnel by function, sector of employment and sex (number): Total number of R&D
personnel and its breakdown by function (Researchers, Technicians and equivalent staff, and
Other supporting staff) and sex, with further disaggregation by the sectors they are

5
employed in (business enterprise, government, higher education and private non-profit
organizations). They are measured in headcounts (HC) and full-time equivalents (FTE).

Data sources
At the national level, data sources for R&D statistics are nationally representative R&D
surveys, and/or data compiled through administrative data sources or data derived by a
combination of the two, by the National Statistical Offices or relevant line ministries such as
the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Quality assurance
The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) maintains a set of data processing
guidelines/standards as well as data processing tools to facilitate processing of data and
ensure the quality of data.

The process of quality assurance includes review of survey documentations/metadata,

examination of reliability of data, making sure they comply with international standards
(including the OECD Frascati Manual), and examining the consistency and coherence within
the data set as well as with the time series of data and the resulting indicators. During the
data processing stage, for each questionnaire received from countries where UIS sends
questionnaires to, the above quality aspects are looked into and a data report is produced
identifying problematic issues/inconsistent data for each respective country. The UIS sends
such data reports, including the calculated indicators for target 9.5, providing the countries
with the opportunity to review the data/indicators and submit any clarifications or
modifications/additions before releasing data at the UIS Data Centre and submitting the data
to UN Statistics Division for inclusion in the global SDG Indicators Database.

The underlying R&D data compiled at the national level should comply with the
concepts/definitions provided in the international standards (i.e., Frascati Manual).
According to the guidelines, the reported data should cover all sectors of performance
(government, higher education, business enterprise and private non-profit sectors, as
defined in the Frascati Manual), representing all institutions, which are engaged in R&D
activities in a particular country. Criteria for quality assessment include: data sources must
include proper documentation; data values must be nationally representative, if not, should
be footnoted; data are plausible and based on trends and consistency with previously
published/reported values.

6
Limitations and comments
R&D data need to be collected through surveys, which are expensive. In addition, they are
not collected on a regular basis in many developing countries and not all sectors of R&D
performance (those mentioned above in the section of ‘Data required’) are fully covered. In
some cases, certain sectors are partially covered, and in particular, the business enterprise
sector is often not covered.

Data on R&D personnel (including ‘researchers’) are typically compiled/reported in

headcounts (HC) and full-time equivalent (FTE). These are two different units of
measurement to account for human resources devoted to R&D. However, the unit of
underlying data (i.e., number of researchers) used for SDG Indicator 9.5.2 (researchers per
million inhabitants) is in FTEs. In some developing countries, data on the number of
researchers are only collected/reported in HCs and they lack the data based on FTEs.