Facts and figures

Spain has more than 1.6 million students enrolled across 84 universities, of which 50 are under public law¹. With nearly half of its population aged 25-34 having completed tertiary education, Spain has one of the highest tertiary education attainment in the EU. However, the employment rate for recent tertiary graduates in Spain is below the EU average².

In 2020, Spain’s public and private spending on research was 1.41% of GDP, below the roughly 2.3% average of European Union countries³. More than half of R&D expenditure was financed by the business sector, and the government contributed about 38% of total expenditure. In 2020, more than 230,000 people were engaged in R&D activities, including about 145,000 researchers⁴.

Spain ranks among the 30 most innovative world’s economies⁵. In 2021, the European Patent Office granted nearly 2,000 patents to first patentees residing in Spain⁶. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Spain outperforms other OECD countries in work-life balance, health, social connections and safety⁷.

Researchers in Spain have secured more than 6 billion euros through EU’s Horizon 2020 research funding scheme, with more than 3,700 Spanish entities obtaining financing through the programme⁸. Spanish researchers have also been successful in securing funding from European Research Council grants, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programmes⁹ and EMBO Fellowships¹⁰.

In August 2022, Spain’s parliament passed a bill to reform a law on science, technology and innovation, with the aim of doubling public investment in research and improving job security for those working in the sector. The reform also seeks to address gender inequalities in R&D by requiring public research institutions to have and evaluate an annual gender equality plan¹¹.

In October 2022, the Spanish government announced a 2023 R&D budget of almost 4 billion euros — an increase of about 20% compared to 2022. The government also announced a funding call that will distribute 40 million euros to attract scientific talents¹².