China’s research and development personnel pool is the largest in the world and growing rapidly, according to this statistical report by the PRC Ministry of Science and Technology. However, the report also notes that on a per capita basis, China has fewer R&D workers than the West.
The Chinese source text is available online at: https://web.archive.org/web/20201030201449/http://www.most.gov.cn/kjbgz/202004/P020200402344067960195.pdf
US $1 ≈ 7 Chinese Yuan Renminbi (RMB), as of November 13, 2020
2018 Analysis of China R&D Personnel Development
In 2018, the total number of R&D personnel in China continued to grow, reaching 4.381 million person-years. For every 10,000 employed persons, R&D personnel accounted for 56.5 person-years per 10,000 persons. The total number of R&D researchers reached 1.866 million person-years. For every 10,000 employed persons, the number of R&D researchers was 24.1 person-years per 10,000 persons. The scale of R&D manpower still ranks first in the world, and the intensity of R&D manpower input is still lower than that of Western developed countries, though the gap has narrowed.
I. The total number of R&D personnel in China has grown steadily
In 2018, the number of R&D personnel in China continued to grow, the proportion of highly educated personnel increased, and the quality (素质) of R&D personnel further improved. The total number of people participating in R&D activities in China was 6.571 million, an increase of 5.8% over the previous year, of which 68.0% were full-time personnel. Among R&D personnel, there were 1.760 million women, an increase of 6.0% over the previous year; and 452,000 with doctoral degrees, 976,000 with master’s degrees, and 2.756 million with undergraduate degrees. The number of people with master’s degrees accounted for 21.7% of the total, basically the same as the previous year (21.5%).
According to full-time equivalent statistics (全时当量统计), the total number of R&D personnel in China in 2018 was 4.381 million person-years, an increase of 348,000 person-years over the previous year, for an increase of 8.6%, an increase of 4.6 percentage points over the previous year.
The total number of R&D researchers continued to grow, reaching 1.866 million person-years in 2018, an increase of 126,000 person-years over the previous year, for a growth rate of 7.2%. R&D researchers accounted for 42.6% of R&D personnel, an increase of 0.5 percentage points over the previous year.