Iran, third Islamic country in research expenses per capita

While the average expense for research and development among Muslim countries is $ 23.3 per capita, Iran stands third with an average of $ 66.7 per person.

Iranian head of Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), Jafar Mehrad said," about 80pc of the research and development expenses is spent in developed countries.

Some 33.5 pc of the expenses is spent in the United States of America, 23.5 pc in the European Union and 13.4 pc in Japan, reported Taqrib News Agency (TNA).

He also said that the figure for the members of the Organization of Islamic Countries, OIC, is only 1.8 pc of the World which equals 9.5 pc of the research in developing countries.

Recent data shows the dramatic difference between the average amount spent on research and development in Islamic countries, about $ 23.3 per capita, and the average among the world countries, about $ 194 and an average of $ 524 for EU members.

This is while third Extraordinary Session of OIC Summit held in Mecca in 2005 titled "Ten-Year Strategic action Plan" to meet the challenges facing the Muslim Ummah urged the members to improve the research and development plans and increase the percentage based on the gross domestic product.