Thinkforce
Researchers per thousand employed, full-time equivalent, 2004 or latest available year
Researchers are professionals engaged in the conception and creation of new knowledge, products, processes, methods and systems, spanning civil, military and business interests. Latest figures show nearly four million R&D professionals in the OECD area, of which about two-thirds are in the business sector. That makes about seven researchers per thousand employees in the OECD area, compared with 5.8 per thousand in 1992 for instance. The number of researchers has increased over the last two decades. Finland, Japan, New Zealand and Sweden have the highest number of research workers per thousand persons employed. Outside the OECD, China has also seen growth, but at 1.2/1000 in 2004, remains relatively low.
Women in parliament
OECD countries, 2006
Women political leaders are a rarity in OECD countries, but did you know that men still vastly outnumber women in all the world’s parliaments? Nor can country differences in wealth explain much, for as a neat little OECD booklet called ‘Women and Men’ points out, women hold close to half the seats in Rwanda and Sweden and about a third in the Nordic countries, Cuba, Costa Rica and Argentina. In nine OECD countries at least a third of parliamentary seats are held by women. The Nordic countries and the Netherlands stand out, with more than 35%. In most OECD countries, though, women hold under a quarter, with 15% or less in Italy, Japan and the US.
Educating medics
Number of medical graduates per 1000 physicians, 1985 to 2005
Ageing will boost demand for health care, but as health care professionals are ageing, how can that demand be met? Even with no growth in demand for doctors, retraining of new medics is needed to replace those leaving or taking a break from the profession. That retraining requirement rises sharply when there is some growth in demand for staff, say, as people get older. However, medical graduation rates have been declining over the past 20 years, as the latest OECD Health Data 2007 shows. The average graduation rate for doctors was about 34 per 1000 practicing doctors across the OECD area in 2005. This is too low to meet the expected increase in demand, and raising pressure to bring in doctors from poorer countries where they are badly needed.
Public debt
As a percentage of GDP, 2006
In the 1990s a general government debt of 60% of GDP was one of a handful of targets European governments selected as preparation for economic and monetary union, and eventually the euro. As well as central government, it includes debt of local and regional governments, for instance. General government debt had eased in many countries, but, has risen again in several countries on the back of higher global interest rates. The euro area average stood at 76% in 2006, with Italy’s at over 100% of GDP, and no less than seven of the euro 12 easily overshooting the original 60% mark, including Germany and France. It is interesting to note that these countries have also had unspectacular growth. Fast-growing countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg, as well as Korea, were among those countries with the lowest government debt. US debt stood slightly above 60%.
