Greece ranks 3rd in EU27 in terms of GDP share of government funding for Research and Development in 2021

Government budget allocations for R&D amount to €1,550.2 million in 2021, the highest amount recorded in the period 2008-2021.

The official statistics on government budget allocations for Research and Development (GBARD indicator) in Greece (final budget 2021) were published by the National Documentation Centre (EKT). The data was transmitted to Eurostat.

The GBARD (Government Budget Allocations for Research and Development) indicator uses data from government budgets to capture the direct state funding of R&D activities. The data presented in the survey were collected by EKT from all government funding agencies, Ministries, General Secretariats and Regions, and relate to appropriations in the Ordinary Budget and the Public Investment Programme.

In 2021 government allocations for R&D amounted to €1,550.2 million (final budget), the highest amount recorded in the period 2008-2021.

In Greece in 2021, government budget allocations accounted for 0.85% of GDP and 1.49% of public expenditure.

Based on the GBARD indicator share of GDP in 2021, Greece is in 3rd place among the EU27 Member States, surpassing the average of the EU27 countries (0.75%) and Eurozone (0.79%).

The data also reflect the breakdown of government budget allocations into ordinary budget, which concern the institutional funding of mainly public bodies, and the Public Investment Programme, which concern the financing of specific projects -project funding- that are implemented by both public and private entities.

In 2021, there was an increase in both the ordinary R&D budget allocations (€ 835,8 million in 2021 compared to €779,5 million in 2020), as well as in the R&D funded through the Public Investment Programme, which mainly concern NSRF 2014-2020 R&D projects (€714,4 million in 2021 compared to €683,7 million in 2020).

In 2021, there was an increase in the appropriations of both the regular budget (€ 835,8 million in 2021 compared to €779,5 million in 2020 ), as well as in the appropriations of the Public Investment Programme, which mainly concern NSRF 2014-2020 projects (€714,4 million in 2021 compared to €683,7 million in 2020).

Regarding the individual socio-economic objectives, according to the data of the final government budget for 2021, there was a significant increase compared to 2020 in the government R&D allocations that support research for Transport, Telecommunications & Other Infrastructure (€137,5 million in 2021 compared to €91,8 million in 2020), Energy (€47.4 million in 2021 compared to €32.4 million in 2020) and the general promotion of knowledge in other non-HEI budgets (€68.2 million in 2021 compared to €57.6 million in 2020).

The general promotion of knowledge, which mainly targets the country’s universities and research centres, continues to receive the largest share. For the general promotion of knowledge, government budget allocations for HEIs in 2021 were €509.84 million from €459.3 million in 2020.

The Greek government budget in 2021 related to transnational co-ordinated R&D amounted to €37.1 million.

All the above data are presented in detail in the EKT publication ‘Government Funding for Research and Development in Greece - Final Budget 2021’.

The statistics and indicators for Research, Development and Innovation in Greece refer to European statistics and are produced by the National Documentation Centre, the competent national authority of the Hellenic Statistical System. They are the official national data transmitted to and published by Eurostat and the OECD. They are also available from EKT in printed and electronic publications and data tables at http://metrics.ekt.gr.