During 2024 the total intramural expenditure on R&D amounted to SEK 227.5 billion. In nominal prices this was an increase of SEK 3.9 billion, but a reduction of SEK 2.8 billion in fixed prices. The rate of growth in expenditure was in other words lower than inflation during the same period. The R&D intenstity, measured as the R&D expenditure as share of GDP, was 3.57 percent, which was a small reduction from 3.64 percent in 2023. Despite the reduction, Sweden's R&D intensity remains higher than at any point during the period 2014-2022.

Reduction in R&D was driven by expenditure in the Business enterprise sector 

The Business enterprise sector, which accounts for a large majority of the R&D expenditure in Sweden, also accounted for the largest reduction of any sector, both in nominal and in relative terms. The Business enterprise sector reduced its expenditure by SEK 4.5 billion, or 2.6 percent, as measured in fixed prices. As a result, the Business enterprise sector's share of total intramural R&D expenditure fell from 74 to 73 percent between 2023 and 2024.  

In contrast, the Government sector increased its R&D expenditure by 4 percent, or SEK 0.4 billion, and the Higher education sector by 2.6 percent, equivalent to SEK 1.3 billion. Following the increase in expenditure, the Higher education sector made up 22 percent of total R&D expenditure in 2024, up one percentage point from 2023. The Government sector's share remained unchanged at 4 percent.

The Private non-profit sector reduced its intramural R&D expenditure by 2 percent, around SEK 9 million. As a result, the Private non-profit sector continued only accounting for about 0.2 percent of the total R&D expenditure.

Slight reduction in full-time equivalents among the R&D personnel

The employed personnel within the total R&D sector was 105 898 full-time equivalents in Sweden during 2024. This was a reduction of 431 full-time equivalents, or 0.4 percent, compared to 2023. The level has been stable since 2022. As with the total expenditure, the Business enterprise sector also accounted for a large majority of the R&D personnel in Sweden. As a share, they represented 73 percent of the total personnel, as measured in full-time equivalents.

The labour force within R&D can be divided into two groups: researchers and supporting staff. Among researchers, a reduction was observed in the Business enterprise sector, whilst the number of researchers increased in the other sectors. The remaining sectors' increases in researchers was however not enough to offset the reduction in the Business enterprise sector, and in total there were 184 fewer full-time equivalent researchers in 2024 compared to 2023. Among the supporting staff the amount of full-time equivalents fell in all sectors bar the Government sector, where there was an increase. In total the supporting staff made up 247 fewer full-time equivalents in 2024 compared to the previous year. The proportion of the two types within the labour force remained essentially unchanged, and the researchers kept making up about 88 percent of the total.

Minor reduction in expenditure per full-time equivalent, but in line with historic trend

Expenditure per employed full-time equivalent person increased by 2.2 percent from 2023 to 2024 as measured in nominal prices. In fixed prices, the expenditure per full-time equivalent was 0.8 percent lower than the previous year. In total, the expenditure per full-time equivalent was SEK 2.15 million, which is close to the average since 2013 of SEK 2.16 million, as measured in fixed prices. There are however large differences between the sectors. The Higher education sector's total expenditure per full-time equivalent was SEK 2.32 million during 2024. The sector has also consistently had the highest amount since at least 2019. Comparatively, the lowest total expenditure per full-time equivalent can be found in the Government sector at SEK 1.59 million. In the Business enterprise sector, total expenditure per full-time equivalent was SEK 2.15 million during 2024.