Denmark tops list of R&D employers

By Fatih Erkan Dogan

ANKARA (AA) - New data released on Tuesday revealed Denmark employs the most people in research and development (R&D).

The share of people employed in R&D sectors from the labor force in Denmark was 2.1 percent in 2015, ahead of Luxembourg (2.04 percent) and Finland (1.92 percent) which ranked second and third respectively, the survey from Eurostat showed.

"However, Ireland, France, the United Kingdom and Austria had the highest number of young graduates in the field of science and technology [compared to the overall population aged 20-29],” the report added.

Romania and Cyprus had less than 0.5 percent of their overall labor force working in R&D.

Apart from the number of people employed in R&D, data showed EU authorities had not cut budgets allocated for the sector over the last decade despite the financial crisis which hit Europe in 2008.

The percentage of the EU overall GDP allocation for R&D expenditure -- which was 1.84 percent in 2008 -- had risen to 2.03 percent according to Eurostat.