By KUNA
Brussels : In 2006, the 27-member European Union spent 1. 84 percent of GDP on Research and Development (RD) amounting to more than 210 billion euro. In 2006, the highest RD intensity in the EU was registered in Sweden (3.82 percent of GDP) and Finland (3.45 percent), followed by Germany (2.51 percent), Austria (2.45 percent) and Denmark (2.43 percent), according to figures released Monday by Eurostat, the EUs statistical office.
EU states with the lowest RD intensity were Cyprus (0.42 percent), Romania (0.46 percent), Bulgaria (0.48 percent) and Slovakia (0.49 percent).
In 2006, 4.8 percent of the labour force in the EU worked as scientists or engineers. The highest shares of scientists and engineers were found in Belgium (7.9 percent), Ireland (6.8 percent), Finland (6.7 percent), Sweden (6.5 percent) and Denmark (6.0 percent), and the lowest shares in Portugal (2.7 percent), Bulgaria, Austria and Slovakia (all 3.0 percent).