In 2021, the total amount of expenditure on research and development activity (R&D) was 1 074.0 million BGN, which was 4.9% more than the previous year. The annual growth tendency is retained for the period 2017 - 2021.
R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of the gross domestic product) amounted to 0.77% and it was 0.08 percentage points lower than in 2020.
In the structure of R&D expenditure by fields of science in 2021, as in the previous year, the highest share belonged to the R&D expenditure in technical sciences - 51.5% (553.2 million BGN), followed by medical and health sciences with a share of 19.2% (206.7 million BGN) and the natural sciences - 17.4% (187.0 million BGN).
In 2021, the personnel engaged in research and development activity amounted to 25 122 persons (in full-time equivalent), which was 3.7% less than the previous year. The share of women in total R&D personnel was 47.5%. The number of researchers in full-time equivalent was 16 230 persons, which was 2.8% less compared to 2020.
