Band 7+: The bar chart below describes the gross domestic spending on research and development in five countries between 2001 and 2011. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The bar chart compares the proportion of GDP spent on research and development in five countries over a 10-year period commencing in 2011.

Overall, the USA consistently allocated the highest proportion of GDP to research and development throughout the period, while Spain spent the least. The figures for China and Spain increased, whereas those of France, the UK and the USA declined marginally in 2005. Notably, the UK recorded almost no change in expenditure over that period.

There was a negligible disparity between France and the USA, with figures standing at 2.1% and 2.6%, respectively. Despite experiencing a slight decrease in 2005, the latter still remained higher than the former, at about 2.5% versus 2%. By 2010, the USA allocated 2.8% of GDP to research and development, which was 0.5 percentage points higher than France. As for the UK, it stood at 1.7% in 2001 before gradually declining to 1.6% in 2005. The figure then underwent a modest increase in 2011, edging up to 1.8%.

Spain spent 0.8% of GDP at the outset, which was slightly lower than China (0.9%). Both figures then experienced moderate growth, reaching 1.3% for China and 1.1% for Spain. The gap between them widened slightly to 0.5 percentage points at the end of the period.