GOVERNMENT BUDGET ALLOCATIONS FOR R&D, 2024 – 2025

The share of government budget allocations for R&D in GDP in 2024 amounted to 0.67%.

In 2024, in the Republic of Croatia, 577 million euro of the government budget funds was spent on R&D activity.

The biggest share of the government budget funds for R&D in 2024 was allocated for the higher education sector (68.56%). The government sector followed with 30.63%, while the lowest share was allocated for abroad (0.20%) and the private non-profit sector (0.19%).

Regarding the socio-economic objectives, the highest amount (53.15%) of the government budget allocations for R&D in 2024 was spent on the objective General advancement of knowledge: R&D financed from general university funds (GUF). The objective General advancement of knowledge: R&D financed from sources other than GUF followed with 32.57%, while the smallest amount was spent on the objective Exploration and exploitation of space (0.01%).

The planned government budget allocations for R&D in 2025 (according to the adopted government budget for 2025) amounted to 651 million euro, of which over half of funds (55.78%) were intended for the objective General advancement of knowledge: R&D financed from general university funds (GUF).

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Purpose of the survey

This survey collects data on the government budget allocations for R&D according to the socio-economic objectives, including all grants to the international R&D programmes or institutions abroad. The objective of the survey is to enable the monitoring of the state R&D policy through its financing of the R&D activities. As opposed to the research on organisations engaged in the R&D activities, this survey focuses on organisations that finance the R&D activity.

The survey was conducted on the basis of the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos. 25/20, 155/23 and 124/25 – corr.). The legal basis of the European Union for the implementation of the survey is Decision No. 1608/2003/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 July 2003 concerning the production and development of Community statistics on science and technology and Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 995/2012 of 26 October 2012 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Decision No. 1608/2003/EC.

Data sources

Data are the result of statistical processing of annual reports collected from budgetary and extra-budgetary users of the government budget in 2025. The Ministry of Science, Education and Youth provided data in the Annual Report on the Government Budget Allocations for R&D ‒ PIIR-1 form, while other government bodies provided data in the Annual Report on the Government Budget Allocations for R&D ‒ PIIR-2 form.

Pursuant to the Official Statistics Act (NN, Nos. 25/20, 155/23 and 124/25 – corr.), the confidentiality of all data provided by the reporting units in the form is guaranteed. The data collected are used solely for statistical purposes and are published in aggregate form.

Coverage and comparability

The statistical survey on the government budget allocations for R&D in the period from 2024 to 2025 covers budgetary and extra-budgetary users of the government budget in the Republic of Croatia, that is, all government bodies that in 2024 financed and in 2025 planned to finance the R&D activity. The data are based on the actual government budget allocations for 2024 (amounts effectively paid during the year) and the adopted government budget for 2025 (amounts enacted by the Croatian Parliament before the rebalancing of the budget).

The First Release includes data on funds that the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth directly allocated for the R&D purposes in 2024 from the government budget of the Republic of Croatia activity in the Ministry’s competence as well as data submitted to the Ministry by reporting units. The First Release includes data related to institutions from the system of science and higher education (institutions of higher education and public scientific institutes).

Since October 2013, the Ministry of Science, Education and Youth has no longer funded the scientific/research projects (z-projects). The financing of research projects is carried out by the Croatian Science Foundation through its programme Research Project and other programmes such as Installation Research Projects.

The data published in this First Release are comparable with data for previous years, including data for 2009 and 2010.

The methodological basis for the implementation of the survey is the internationally acknowledged standard, which was set up and published in the Frascati Manual 2015 by the OECD.

Definitions and explanations

Definitions of the R&D field are based on the international methodology − the Frascati Manual 2015 (Frascati Manual, 2015: Guidelines for Collecting and Reporting Data on Research and Experimental Development, the Measurement of Scientific, Technological and Innovation Activities, publisher: OECD, Paris, 2015).

The Nomenclature for the Analysis and Comparison of Scientific Programmes and Budgets – NABS 2007 was used in monitoring of the allocation of the Government Budget appropriations or outlays according to the socio-economic objectives, which is correlated with the Frascati Manual. This Nomenclature explains the socio-economic objectives, that is, the purpose of the spent appropriations or outlays for the R&D in 13 categories.

Research and development (R&D) comprise systematic creative work aimed at increasing knowledge about man, culture and society and its application in practice. For an activity to be an R&D activity, it must satisfy five criteria. The activity must be novel, creative, uncertain, systematic and transferable and/or reproducible. There are three types of research and development: basic research, applied research and experimental development.

Business enterprise sector comprises enterprises the main activity of which is production of goods and services intended for market at commercial price. The business enterprise sector includes public enterprises as well as non-profit institutions that are market producers of goods or services.

Government sector comprises all units of central and local government, including social security funds, except institutions of higher education, as well as all non-profit institutions that are controlled by government units and are not market-orientated, and that are not part of the higher education sector.

Private non-profit sector comprises non-market, non-profit institutions serving households (that is, the general public), except those mainly controlled and financed by the government, their main characteristic being that they should not be the source of revenue or profit to the institutions controlling them.

Higher education includes all institutions providing formal tertiary education programmes, regardless of their source of finance or legal status, and all research institutes and centres that have their R&D activities under the direct control of, or administered by, tertiary education institutions.

Abroad includes all institutions and individuals located outside the political borders of a country as well as all international organisations (except business enterprises) including facilities and operations within the country borders.

Socio-economic objective represents the basic allocation of funds for R&D set up by the OECD and expressed in 13 categories.

Published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Zagreb, Ilica 3, P. O. B. 80
Phone: (+385 1) 48 06 111
Press corner: press@dzs.hr

Persons responsible:
Milenka Primorac Čačić, Director of Business Statistics Directorate
Lidija Brković, Director General

Prepared by:
Matija Škegro Vdović, Vjera Duić and Blanka Munjin

USERS ARE KINDLY REQUESTED TO STATE THE SOURCE.

Customer Relations and Data Protection Department

Information and user requests
Phone: (+385 1) 48 06 138, 48 06 154, 48 06 115
E-mail: stat.info@dzs.hr

Subscription
Phone: (+385 1) 21 00 445
E-mail: prodaja@dzs.hr