Germany’s research and development budget rose by 3.8 % in 2024, reaching €137.1 billion. According to the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis), this represents 3.17 % of gross domestic product (GDP), the highest share recorded since the series began in 1995 (2023 was 3.13 %). The country therefore exceeded the EU “Europe 2020” growth strategy target of 3 % of GDP for R&D in 2024, although it has not yet met the national goal of 3.5 % by 2025.
The total figure includes spending from businesses, universities and non‑university research organisations. Companies alone accounted for €92.5 billion, a 2.3 % increase, contributing more than two‑thirds of all R&D outlays. University expenditure increased by 4.7 % to €24.1 billion. Non‑university institutions – public research bodies and largely publicly funded facilities – spent €20.4 billion, up 10.1 %. Of that non‑university spending, 39.9 % (≈ €8.2 billion) went to institutions in the natural sciences and mathematics, a 22.8 % rise over the previous year.
Key drivers of the rise were physics and astronomy, whose total expenditure reached €4.4 billion – a 46.2 % jump largely attributed to large‑scale research facilities. In the same period, the roughly 300 non‑profit institutions jointly financed by the federal government and the states, such as those in the Max Planck and Fraunhofer societies, recorded €14.5 billion, up 4.6 %. Other non‑university research facilities invested €6.0 billion, a 26.0 % increase, while other publicly funded, non‑commercial organisations saw the largest rise, with a 54.9 % jump.
Personnel trends mirrored the spending increase. Full‑time equivalent (FTE) scientific staff grew by 2.1 % to 67,200. Female scientists rose by 4.1 %, outpacing male staff growth of 0.9 %. Women represented 36.7 % of all scientific employees in 2024, up 0.7 percentage points from 2023’s 36.0 %. In R&D employment overall, women held 42.2 % of positions, a modest improvement from 41.9 % the previous year.