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Indicator

R&D Spending (% of GDP) by African country

2024

Gross domestic expenditure on research and development as a share of GDP.

Africa, 20246 of 54 countries
0.8%population-weighted average
Highest in 2024Egypt · 1.0%Lowest in 2024Burkina Faso · 0.1%Reported in 20246 of 54 countries surveyed
Click a country to pin it — pinned countries are named on the map. Hatching means no record.
Western Sahara — no separate recordTanzania — no dataDemocratic Republic of the Congo — no dataSomalia — no dataKenya — 0.8%Sudan — no dataChad — no dataSouth Africa — no dataLesotho — no dataZimbabwe — no dataBotswana — no dataNamibia — no dataSenegal — no dataMali — no dataMauritania — no dataBenin — no dataNiger — no dataNigeria — no dataCameroon — no dataTogo — 0.2%Ghana — no dataCote d'Ivoire — no dataGuinea — no dataGuinea-Bissau — no dataLiberia — no dataSierra Leone — no dataBurkina Faso — 0.1%Central African Republic — no dataRepublic of the Congo — no dataGabon — no dataEquatorial Guinea — no dataZambia — no dataMalawi — no dataMozambique — no dataEswatini — no dataAngola — no dataBurundi — no dataMadagascar — no dataGambia — no dataTunisia — no dataAlgeria — 0.4%Eritrea — no dataMorocco — no dataEgypt — 1.0%Libya — no dataEthiopia — no dataDjibouti — no dataUganda — no dataRwanda — no dataSouth Sudan — no dataNigeriaNigeriaEthiopiaEthiopiaKenya 0.8%Kenya 0.8%South AfricaSouth Africa2024HIGHEST IN 2024Egypt1.0%Kenya0.8%Algeria0.4%Mauritiusnot drawn0.3%Togo0.2%LOWEST IN 2024Burkina Faso0.1%Togo0.2%Mauritiusnot drawn0.3%Algeria0.4%Kenya0.8%PINNEDEthiopiano dataNigeriano dataSouth Africano dataOTHER ISLAND STATES · NOT DRAWNCabo Verdenot drawnno dataComorosnot drawnno dataSao Tome and Principenot drawnno dataSeychellesnot drawnno data% of GDP · quintiles of the observed range0.1%0.2%0.3%0.4%0.8%1%no record
20142024
World Bank · national statistics offices · the provider's own estimates where a country has not reportedCC BY 4.0
Countries

By region

Population-weighted, so a region’s figure is the share of its people, not the average of its countries.
Northern Africa2 of 6 countries0.9%
Eastern Africa2 of 18 countries0.8%
Western Africa2 of 16 countries0.1%
Middle Africa0 of 9 countries—
Southern Africa0 of 5 countries—
Africaall 54 countries · 6 with a 2024 figure0.8%

What to know before you quote this

Specific to this series. For how we treat data generally, see methods.
48 countries have no usable 2024 recordNot a low value — no figure within the window. Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cabo Verde and 43 more are hatched on the map and blank in the table.
Certainty is judged year by yearA country can be Reported in one year and Modelled the next. The tag follows the year on the scrubber, so the 2024 assessment is not a verdict on the whole series.

About this data

R&D Spending (% of GDP)Gross domestic expenditure on research and development as a share of GDP.
SourceWorld Bank, with processing by Africa API
Unit% of GDP
Last updated15 Oct 2026
Next expected updateOct 2027
Date range1996–2024
Coverage6 of 54 countries · 6 reported, 0 modelled, 48 with no usable figure

How the figure is made

ReportedA national statistics office or the original provider published the figure for that year directly. 6 countries did so for 2024 — the certainty shown on this page is that 2024 assessment, not a per-series one.ModelledNo direct figure that year. The provider’s own estimate, interpolation or projection stands in, and is marked as such wherever it appears.No dataNo usable figure within the window. Drawn hatched on the map and left blank in the table — not zero, and not filled in.

These three states are used the same way across every indicator on the site — how we treat certainty explains the full set and what we never do to a number.

Reuse and cite

Everything on this page is open under CC BY 4.0 — use it anywhere, including commercially, as long as Africa API and the original provider are credited. The provider’s own licence still applies to their data.

How to cite this page
Africa API (2026) — "R&D Spending (% of GDP)". Data adapted from World Bank. Retrieved 18 Oct 2026 from africa-api.com/indicators/rd-spending
The request behind this view
GET /v1/data?metric_key=rd_expenditure_pct_gdp&year=2024&limit=100

Read next

The measures that explain this one.
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R&D Spending (% of GDP): most recent figure per country, highest to lowest

10 countries · each with its own period

The figures at the top of the page compare every country in the same year. This list takes each country’s newest figure instead, whatever its period, so the order can differ.

#CountryR&D Spending (% of GDP)Period
1Egypt1%2024
2Kenya0.8%2024
3Rwanda0.8%2023
4Algeria0.4%2024
5Uganda0.4%2023
6Mauritius0.3%2024
7Togo0.2%2024
8Mali0.1%2023
9Burkina Faso0.1%2024
10Lesotho0.1%2023
Which observations are included?
The ranking includes 10 of 54 countries with available observations for 2023 or later and within 2 years of the freshest result. Each figure shows its reporting period. Countries without an eligible observation are omitted.
Does a higher value mean a better result?
The ranking is sorted by value, from highest to lowest. The order does not rate a country's performance. Interpretation depends on the indicator and its definition.

Embed this ranking

free · updates with the data

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<p style="font:13px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;margin:.5rem 0"><a href="https://africa-api.com/indicators/rd-spending">R&D Spending (% of GDP) by African country, Africa API</a></p>

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