Business spending on research and development
Published:
18 December 2025
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Data on how much businesses spent on research and development (R&D) between 2014 and 2023.
Summary main findings
From 2014 to 2023, spending on research and development by UK businesses went up from £41.0 billion to £50.0 billion, after adjusting for inflation. It was highest in 2021 at £53.4 billion.
In 2023, business spending on research and development was highest in Inner London West (£571.0 million for every 100,000 residents). It was lowest in Highlands and Islands (£7.8 million for every 100,000 residents).
By year
Visualisation
Business spending on research and development, adjusted for inflation (UK, 2014 to 2023)
Data
| Year | Business expenditure on R&D (£billions) |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 50.0 |
| 2022 | 51.6 |
| 2021 | 53.4 |
| 2020 | 49.7 |
| 2019 | 50.2 |
| 2018 | 50.0 |
| 2017 | 46.5 |
| 2016 | 45.0 |
| 2015 | 42.9 |
| 2014 | 41.0 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation
Business spending on research and development for every 100,000 people, by region (UK, 2023)
41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest values. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions. See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.
Data
| Region | Expenditure in millions of pounds per 100,000 people (£m) |
|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 139.5 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 149.6 |
| Cheshire | 193.6 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | 14.1 |
| Cumbria | 41.4 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 50.9 |
| Devon | 13.9 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 31.5 |
| East Anglia | 227.1 |
| East Wales | 37.2 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | 20.1 |
| Eastern Scotland | 83.2 |
| Essex | 55.5 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | 75.6 |
| Greater Manchester | 33.4 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 59.9 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | 187.6 |
| Highlands and Islands | 7.8 |
| Inner London - East | 108.0 |
| Inner London - West | 571.0 |
| Kent | 49.7 |
| Lancashire | 43.5 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | 56.5 |
| Lincolnshire | 10.6 |
| Merseyside | 34.7 |
| North Eastern Scotland | 58.9 |
| North Yorkshire | 68.8 |
| Northern Ireland | 50.9 |
| Northumberland, and Tyne and Wear | 23.5 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 10.5 |
| Outer London - South | 33.7 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 66.0 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 24.6 |
| South Yorkshire | 14.1 |
| Southern Scotland | 20.4 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 82.4 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | 30.6 |
| West Central Scotland | 32.4 |
| West Midlands | 45.1 |
| West Wales and The Valleys | 19.7 |
| West Yorkshire | 37.2 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data sources
- Business Expenditure on R&D (BERD), Office for National Statistics
- Nomis population estimates, Office for National Statistics
Time period
- 2014 to 2023 (By year)
- 2023 (By area)
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows how much UK businesses spent on research and development between 2014 and 2023. It also shows spending for every 100,000 people in 41 regions of the UK.
Things you need to know
Data over time has been adjusted for inflation using the GDP deflator, with 2023 as the base year.
Regional data has been adjusted to account for population size.
Population estimates for Northern Ireland are not available for 2023, so we have used 2022 estimates. Annual population changes are small and this is unlikely to affect the results.
Type of data
Administrative data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2025 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 9KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Measure code
- Measure title
- Chart type
- Area code
- Area type
- Area name
- Primary split type
- Primary split value
- Secondary split type
- Secondary split value
- Time period
- Value
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
18 December 2025