Figure 1 



R&D Expenditures as a Percent of 



and that Japan had almost reached the same level 

 as the United States by 1971. Moreover, of the 

 five countries compared, only the United States 

 had a declining ratio of scientists and engineers 

 engaged in R&D. 



Government-Funded Research & Development 



Governments fund R&D in the pursuit of 

 national objectives in various areas, such as 

 national defense, economic development, and 

 space. The distribution of funding among these 

 objectives reflects national priorities whereas 

 significant changes in the distribution often indi- 

 cate shifts in national concerns. Government 

 expenditures for R&D, however, represent only 

 a part of the total national investment in R&D; 

 expenditures by the private sector must also be 

 taken into account for international compari- 

 sons. 



The OECD has attempted to classify govern- 

 ment expenditures for R&D into the following 

 six areas: 



National Defense, encompassing military- 

 oriented R&D as well as space and nuclear 

 energy activities of a military character; 



Space Exploration, restricted to space R&D activi- 

 ties of a civil nature; 



Nuclear Energy, restricted to nuclear energy 

 R&D activities of a civil nature; 



Economic Development, including R&D in agricul- 

 ture, fishing, and forestry, in mining and 

 manufacturing industries, as well as service 

 sectors such as public works, public trans- 

 portation, communications, and construc- 

 tion; 



These differences also enter into determining 

 the effective R&D level. 



The number of scientists and engineers 

 engaged in R&D per 10,000 population in the 

 United States, France, West Germany, Japan, 

 and the U.S.S.R. is shown in figure 2. (Data for 

 the United Kingdom are not available.) Taking 

 the limitations noted above into consideration, 

 these trends indicate that the U.S.S.R. sur- 

 passed the United States after 1967 in the 

 proportion of its population employed in R&D, 



Co)nmunity Services, including R&D in health, 

 the environment, public welfare (educa- 

 tion, social services, planning, recreation, 

 and culture), disaster prevention, law and 

 order, meteorology, planning, and statistics; 



Advancement of Science, including government- 

 funded research in universities, both 

 separately budgeted research as well as 

 research from the general funds of universi- 

 ties provided by the government. 



