Some points that I found interesting:

• The US spends the most at $516B, but as a % of GNP (2.76%) ranks third behind South Korea (4.2%) and Japan (3.28%)
• EU countries spent a total of $365B, averaging 2.07% of GNP
• Between 2000 and 2013, China quadrupled it's share of world R&D spending from 5% to 20%
• Something weird is going on in the Nordic countries. Sweden leads Europe on R&D spending at 3.33% of GNP. Other Nordic countries have also focused heavily on R&D, with Norway growing spending by 63%, Denmark growing by 52%, and 36% growth in Sweden. But R&D spending in Finland actually decreased by 1.7% in that same period. What’s going on, Finland? Nokia bites the dust and the whole country gives up?
• A lot of countries just don’t invest in R&D. Like Russia.