(Xinhua)10:01, July 24, 2019
BEIJING, July 23 — China had 4.19 million people working in research and development (RD) in 2018, maintaining the worlds largest pool of RD personnel for six years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Tuesday.
Chinas RD spending reached 1.97 trillion yuan in 2018 (286 billion U.S. dollars), 138 times the amount in 1991, according to a report from the NBS.
The report showed that Chinas RD spending in 2018 accounted for 2.18 percent of Chinas gross domestic product, taking the worlds No.2 position after the United States.
The number of patent applications rose to 4.32 million in 2018, 86 times the number in 1991, said the report.
According to the 13th five-year plan for national science and technology talent development (2016-2020), China will increase its annual per capita spending on RD to 500,000 yuan by 2020, up from 370,000 yuan in 2014.