China's total R&D investment will exceed 3.9 trillion yuan in 2025

China News Service, Beijing, October 16 (Reporter Wang Enbo) The "Statistical Bulletin on National Science and Technology Funding Investment in 2025" released by Chinese officials on the 16th showed that in 2025, China's total investment in research and experimental development (R&D) exceeded 3.9 trillion yuan (RMB, the same below), reaching 3.92882 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% over the previous year. This total number ranks second in the world, second only to the United States, and is 3.4 times that of Germany (third) and 3.5 times that of Japan (fourth).

Luo Qiushi, a statistician at the Department of Social Science and Culture of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, China's R&D expenditure grew at an average annual rate of 10%, which was higher than the United States (8.4%), Germany (6.2%), France (4.8%), Japan (5.8%), South Korea (8.9%) and other countries, ranking among the top among the world's major economies.

In 2025, China's R&D expenditure intensity (ratio of R&D expenditure to GDP) will be 2.8%, an increase of 0.11 percentage points from the previous year, continuing the rapid improvement trend. China's R&D investment intensity ranks 12th in the world, exceeding the average level of OECD countries (2.72%) for the first time.

The "Statistical Bulletin on National Science and Technology Funding Investment in 2025" released on October 16 shows that China's total research and experimental development (R&D) funding investment in 2025 will reach 3.92882 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% over the previous year. The picture shows that on October 10, in Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia, scientific researchers conducted a strategic metal extraction experiment from coal-based solid waste. Photo by China News Service reporter Liu Wenhua

Enterprises, government-affiliated research institutions and universities are the three major execution entities of China's R&D activities. In 2025, the R&D funding of these three major execution entities will be 3.03944 billion yuan, 457.23 billion yuan and 340.73 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 7.7%, 8.1% and 11.1% respectively over the previous year. Among them, corporate R&D funding exceeded 3 trillion yuan for the first time, accounting for 77.4% of the total social R&D funding, and is the main force driving growth.

In terms of activity types, China's basic research, applied research and experimental development funding in 2025 will be 283.46 billion yuan, 444.16 billion yuan and 3.2012 billion yuan respectively, an increase of 13.3%, 3.2% and 8.4% respectively over the previous year. The growth rate of basic research funding was 5.1 percentage points higher than the growth rate of R&D funding, continuing the double-digit rapid growth momentum. During the same period, the basic research funding growth rates of the United States, Japan and South Korea were 4.8%, 6.6% and 8.6% respectively.

Currently, China's total basic research funding ranks second in the world, second only to the United States, about 2.3 times that of Japan (third) and 2.8 times that of South Korea (fourth). (over)