Global view of discipline strengths

Relative Activity Index (RAI)
The chart shows relative activity index of each discipline for selected countries, meaning the relative share of output in each discipline compared to the global average.

The EU produces more publications than the United States in every major subject area and holds the highest number of publications in Life Sciences and Medicine. China leads in Engineering, Technology and Natural Sciences.

These profiles reflect broader strategic priorities:

• The EU’s balanced presence across all disciplines;
• The United States’ stronger focus on Life Sciences & Medicine;
• China and India’s dominance in Engineering & Technology and Natural Sciences

The EU also demonstrates relatively higher activity in Arts & Humanities than the global average.

Geographical collaboration

Intra-European collaboration remains the backbone of the EU’s international research activity.  In 2024, 37% of all internationally co-authored publications from EU institutions included at least one other Member State — up from 33% in 2000. Collaboration between EU Member States remains the single largest share of the Union’s international research partnerships.

As a 27-member union, the EU naturally leads in international collaboration (43%), surpassing the US (36%) and China (20%). Seven out of every eight EU international papers involve a non-EU partner.

Collaboration with the US has decreased, while collaboration with China, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa has grown rapidly.

Trend of research collaboration partnerships of the EU (since 2000)

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The 27 EU member states

Research activity within the EU is shaped by a range of national ecosystems with different levels of output and citation impact.

Germany accounts for 22.4% of EU scholarly output, followed by Italy, France and Spain.

Smaller research-intensive countries—including the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium and Finland—achieve the highest citation impact.

Widening countries such as Malta and Estonia exceed the EU27 average FWCI.

This reflects the diversity of research profiles across the EU, with different Member States contributing in distinct ways to overall output and impact.

The output and FWCI of EU27 countries (2019-2024)

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People

Author seniority distribution in G7, plus China, India relative to global average

Comparing to the global average, China shows a particularly high share of early-career authors, while France has the largest share of established-career authors among the G7, followed by Italy and Japan.

Mid-career researchers show similar levels across regions.

Europe maintains a balanced distribution between early-career and senior researchers. Countries such as Germany, Ireland, Austria, and Belgium lead in early–career researcher representation, while France and Slovenia exhibit more senior-heavy profiles. These demographic imbalances highlight the urgency of implementing ERA-wide measures to support researcher mobility, circulation, and return–particularly in so-called “widening countries”.

Researcher mobility in and out of the EU27

Since 1990, the EU27 has experienced a persistent negative net flow of researchers, with more talent leaving the bloc than arriving. 58,437 researchers moved out of the EU27, compared to 39,520 who entered — a 32% loss. For every two researchers entering the EU, three depart.

Mobility patterns remain uneven: widening countries experience more outflows, while research-intensive Member States attract more inflows. Mobility, circulation and return pathways are essential to a fully integrated ERA.

Movement of researchers in and out of the EU27 since 1990

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EU’s Strategic Positioning in Key Technologies

Research in Key technologies

The EU remains a pivotal global player in strategic fields, holding substantial shares of research in biotechnology, photonics, robotics and space technology. However, competitors — particularly China — are intensifying the race. Putting research and innovation at the heart of Europe’s economy is essential for digital sovereignty, competitiveness and leadership in trustworthy AI.

EU27 size and global shares of research in selected key technologies, and citations levels (FWCI) (2019-2024)

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The EU’s strength lies in drawing on specialised national expertise across Member States and Horizon Europe–associated countries. Its ability to coordinate this expertise through an extensive, high-impact collaboration network remains one of Europe’s most distinctive strategic assets. Sustaining future technological leadership will depend on fully leveraging this network to accelerate innovation, integrate global knowledge and address critical capability gaps.