The Scandanavian countries strike me as the most progressive in so many ways, with Sweden being particularly abundant and innovative. It didn’t get to be like that for no reason. Its government spends 4.27% of its GDP on research, more than any other country in the world besides Israel. Unlike Israel, and many other countries trailing Sweden, military research doesn’t feature very highly. Since Sweden also spends substantially on foreign aid, and its welfare system, it shows what can be done when you don’t blow money on arms deals, invasions or other nonsense.
South Africa, having hopefully satisifed its desire for new destroyers and the attendant 4×4’s has been quietly upping its percentage, and in 2003/2004 it stood at 0.81%, up from 0.76% in 2001. Other countries figures include Finland (3.46%), the USA (2.60%), the European Union as a whole (2.26%), Russia (1.28%), China (1.22%) and Argentina (0.41%) (I have to include at least one country that spends less than SA).