OSLO, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- From 2013 to 2015, Iceland's research and development (R&D) expenditures increased as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) from 1.76 percent to 2.19 percent, Iceland's statistics agency said on Monday.
Over the same period, R&D expenditures have been stable in the European Union (EU) -- between 2.03 percent and 2.04 percent of GDP -- according to Statistics Iceland.
Iceland's R&D expenditures as percentage of GDP are now similar to France and Slovenia, which are 2.23 percent and 2.21 percent respectively.
Out of all EU and European Economic Area (EEA) countries, Sweden had the highest percentage in 2015, at 3.26 percent, ahead of Austria with 3.07 percent and Denmark with 3.03 percent.
Also in neighboring Nordic countries, R&D expenditures in Finland dropped from 3.29 percent to 2.9 percent over the three-year period. Norway's R&D spending in 2015 was 1.93 percent. Enditem
