Malta is spending a smaller part of its wealth on research and development than it was a few years ago and remains stuck in the EU's R&D doldrums, new Eurostat figures show. 

In 2016 Malta spent 0.61% of its GDP on research and development, down from the 0.77% spent the previous year.

Although Malta has effectively doubled its total spend on R&D over the past decade, from €31 million in 2006 to €61 million last year, that increase has not kept up with economic growth. 

The country spent 0.58% of its GDP on research 10 years ago. 

Eurostat figures show that the breakdown of R&D spending in the country has remained relatively unchanged over that period, with the business enterprise sector still providing roughly one-third of all R&D cash. 

READ: In 2013, a report noted Malta's small size as a limit on R&D growth

Government spending on R&D, however, has dropped from 4% of the total in 2006 to just 1% in 2016. The higher education sector made up for that decline, providing 35% of R&D funds last year compared to 29% a decade ago. 

Earlier this year, a top business lobbyist argued that the government should include a cabinet member focused on fostering R&D in the country.

Fourth-lowest in EU

Malta continues to be the EU's fourth-lowest investor in R&D in relative terms, with only Latvia, Romania and Cyprus spending smaller portions of their wealth on research. 

By contrast, Sweden (3.25%), Austria (3.09%) and Germany (2.94%) are the EU members most willing to fork out money for R&D. 

The EU has set itself a 3% R&D expenditure target as part of its Europe 2020 strategy, but that figure is unlikely to be reached, with EU member states currently spending an average of 2.03% of their GDP on R&D. Ten years ago, that figure stood at 1.76%.  

Most R&D expenditure across the EU comes from the business enterprise sector, which forked out 65% of the total. Higher education (23%) is the second-biggest spender. 

Globally, South Korea (4.23%) and Japan (3.29%) dominate in terms of R&D intensity - the percentage of GDP a country dedicates to research and development. The United States' R&D intensity stood at 2.79% in 2016, with China's at 2.07%.