Statistics show that Poland has the highest percentage of university graduates as a share of the under 30 population. Another one for the books in the latest Eurostat Focus on ‘Science, Technology and Innovation’ is that European manufacturers invest significantly more in R&D and innovation than their service-sector brethren.
Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Community, has released its regular focus report on European activity in the field of science, technology and innovation (STI). It presents the latest statistics on gross expenditure on research and development (GERD), researcher numbers in countries throughout Europe, graduate numbers, innovation expenditure, spending on high-tech and more.
Many results in the August issue of ‘Statistics in Focus’ carry on a trend revealed in previous issues. Sweden and Finland continue to top the list of EU countries in terms of GERD per capita in 2003 with 1 060 and 830 PPS (a special purchasing parity figure) respectively. Their R&D spending is more than twice the EU-25 average. Outside the EU, Iceland and the USA reached similar values.
Some standout performances this time around were recorded in the new Member States. Poland scored the highest percentage of tertiary level graduates aged 20-29 in 2002 with 7.8%. It stole the top spot from the UK with 7.7% and France with 7.1%. For the same period, in the ‘engineering, manufacturing and construction’ study area, the countries with the highest share of total graduates were Finland (22.2%), followed by Sweden (21.9%) and, in third place, was Bulgaria with 21.1%.
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