In 2022, the total amount of expenditure on research and development activity (R&D) was 1 265.6 million BGN, which was 17.8% more than the previous year. The annual growth tendency is retained for the period 2018 - 2022.
R&D intensity (R&D expenditure as a percentage of the gross domestic product) amounted to 0.75% and it was 0.02 percentage points lower than in 2021.
Regarding R&D expenditure by fields of science in 2022, as in the previous year, the highest share belonged to the R&D expenditure in technical sciences - 50.5% (638.6 million BGN), followed by medical and health sciences with a share of 20.5% (259.3 million BGN) and the natural sciences - 17.2% (217.1 million BGN).
In 2022, the personnel engaged in research and development activity amounted to 27 090 persons (in full-time equivalent), which was 7.8% more than the previous year. The share of women in total R&D personnel was 47.1%. The number of researchers in full-time equivalent was 17 487 persons, which was 7.7% more compared to 2021.
