According to a recently released UNESCO report, in 2002 the world spent $830 billion on research and development in the public and private sectors, which represents about 1.7% of global GDP or $134.40 per person. The United States spent 3.1% of its GDP or $1,005.90 per person; the EU spent 1.8% of its GDP or $431.80 per person, Japan 3.1% and $836.6/person, Israel 4.9% and $922.40/person, China 1.2% and $56.20/person, and India o.7% and $19.80/person. This data come from this table in PDF.

In 2002, the United States had 1.26 million researchers with R&D funding per researcher at $230k. For the EU, 1.11 million researchers, and $177,000 per researcher, Japan, 647,000 researchers, $165k/researcher, Israel 9,200 researchers, $661k/researcher, China 811,000 researchers, $89k/researcher, India 118,000 researchers, $177k/researcher. This data comes from this table in PDF.

A press release describes it as follows:

North America continues to lead in scientific investment, with public and private funding accounting for 37% of the world’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) in 2002. However, Asia is now the second largest investor, with a share of 32%, overtaking Europe which contributed 27% of GERD, according to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) featured in the UNESCO Science Report 2005.

Aside from the two summary table linked above the whole report must be purchased, here is a link to the report.