Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2024

Communiqué on National Expenditures on Science and Technology in 2024 [1]

National Bureau of Statistics

Ministry of Science and Technology

Ministry of Finance

September 29, 2025

In 2024, China’s expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) maintained a steady growth, with a relatively rapid rise in the investment intensity. New breakthroughs were made in expenditure for basic research, while the national fiscal expenditures on science and technology increased steadily.

I. Expenditures on Research and Experimental Development (R&D)

In 2024, a total of 3,632.68 billion yuan was invested in R&D across the country, an increase of 296.97 billion yuan over the previous year, an increase of 8.9 percent; the investment intensity of R&D expenditures (ratio to GDP[2]) was at 2.69 percent, an increase of 0.11 percentage points over the previous year[3]. The per capita expenditure calculated according to the full-time workload of R&D personnel was 480 thousand yuan, an increase of 19 thousand yuan over the previous year.

In terms of types of activities, the national expenditure for basic research was 250.09 billion yuan nationwide, an increase of 10.7 percent over the previous year; the expenditure for applied research was 430.55 billion yuan, an increase of 17.6 percent; the expenditure for experimental development was 2,952.04 billion yuan, an increase of 7.6 percent. The proportion of expenditure for basic research was 6.88 percent, an increase of 0.11 percent point over the previous year; the proportion of expenditure for applied research and experimental development was 11.9 percent and 81.2 percent respectively.

In terms of activity entities, the R&D expenditures by various enterprises were 2,821.16 billion yuan, an increase of 8.8 percent over the previous year; the expenditures by government-affiliated research institutions were 423.16 billion yuan, an increase of 9.7 percent; the expenditures by higher education institutions were 306.55 billion yuan, an increase of 11.3 percent; the expenditures by other entities were 81.81 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.9 percent. The proportions of R&D expenditures by enterprises, government-affiliated research institutions, and higher education institutions were 77.7 percent, 11.6 percent, and 8.4 percent respectively.

In terms of industrial sectors, the R&D expenditure of high technology manufacturing industry above the designated size was 766.89 billion yuan, an increase of 10.2 percent over the previous year; the investment intensity (ratio to business revenue) was 3.35 percent, an increase of 0.24 percentage points over the previous year. Among industrial enterprises above the designated size, there were 8 industries with R&D expenditure of more than 100 billion yuan, an increase of 1 industry over the previous year, and the expenditures of these 8 industries accounted for 68.2 percent of the R&D expenditure of all industrial enterprises above the designated size (see Table 1 for details).

In terms of regions, there were 6 provinces (municipalities) that invested over 200 billion yuan in R&D, including Guangdong (509.96 billion yuan), Jiangsu (459.75 billion yuan), Beijing (327.84 billion yuan), Zhejiang (290.14 billion yuan), Shandong (259.73 billion yuan), and Shanghai (234.37 billion yuan). There were 7 provinces (municipalities) whose investment intensity of R&D expenditures (ratio to GDP[4]) exceeded the national average level, namely Beijing (6.58 percent), Shanghai (4.35 percent), Guangdong (3.60 percent), Tianjin (3.44 percent), Jiangsu (3.36 percent), Zhejiang (3.22 percent), and Anhui (2.76 percent) (see Table 2 for details).

II. Fiscal Expenditures on Science and Technology (S&T)

In 2024, national fiscal expenditures on science and technology were 1,262.92 billion yuan, an increase of63.33 billion yuan over the previous year, an increase of 5.3 percent. Among them, the central fiscal expenditures on science and technology were 419.25 billion yuan, accounting for 33.2 percent of the national fiscal expenditures on science and technology; the local fiscal expenditures on science and technology were 843.67 billion yuan, accounting for 66.8 percent.

Fiscal Expenditures on Science and Technology (S&T) in 2024

Table 1 R&D Expenditures of Industrial Enterprises Above Designed Size by Sectors in 2024

Table 2 R&D Expenditures by Region in 2023 and 2024

Note:

[1] Statistics in this Communiqué do not include Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Macao Special Administrative Region and Taiwan Province. Due to the rounding-off reasons, the subentries may not add up to the aggregate totals.

[2]The GDP in 2024 is based on preliminary accounting data.

[3]According to the final verification data on GDP for 2023, the investment intensity of R&D expenditures in 2023 has been revised to 2.58 percent.

[4]The GRDP in 2024 is based on preliminary accounting data, and the investment intensity of R&D expenditures by region in 2023 has been revised in accordance with the final results of the GRDP.

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

Expenditures on research and experimental development (R&D) refer to the actual expenditures spent in basic research, applied research and experimental development by the whole society within a statistical year. Research and experimental development (R&D) refers to the creative and systematic work conducted to increase the knowledge stock (including knowledge related to humanity, culture, and society) and to design new applications of existing knowledge, which encompasses three types of basic research, applied research, and experimental development. The scale and intensity of R&D are widely used internationally to reflect the scientific and technological strength and core competitiveness of a country.

Basic research refers to empirical or theoretical research aiming at obtaining new knowledge on the fundamental principles regarding phenomena or observable facts to reveal the intrinsic nature and underlying laws and to acquire discoveries or new theories. Basic research takes no specific or designated application as the aim of the research.

Applied research refers to initial research aiming at obtaining new knowledge on a specific objective or target. The purpose of the applied research is to identify the potential uses of results from basic research or to determine new methods for achieving specific and predetermined goals.

Experimental development refers to systematic research aiming at using the knowledge from basic and applied research or from practical experience to develop new products, materials and equipment, to establish new production processes, systems and services, or to make substantial improvements on the existing products, processes or services.

2. Statistical Coverage

The statistics on R&D expenditures covered all enterprises and institutions engaged in R&D activities across society, including government-affiliated research institutions, higher education institutions, and enterprises and institutions in the industries with relatively intensive R&D activities (including agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, mining, manufacturing,production and supply of electricity, thermal power, gas and water, construction, transport, storage and post, information transmission, software and information technology services, financial intermediation, leasing and business services, scientific research and technical services, water conservancy, environment and public facilities management, health and social service, culture, sports and entertainment, etc.)

3. Survey Methods

The methods for surveying R&D expenditures are structured as follows: the comprehensive investigation are conducted for industrial enterprises above the designated size, specialized and first-class construction enterprises, and service enterprises above the designated size (engaged in transport, storage and post, information transmission, software and information technology services, leasing and business services, scientific research and technical services, water conservancy, environment and public facilities management, health and social service, and culture, sports and entertainment), government-affiliated research institutions (government-affiliated independent legal scientific research and technology development institutions, scientific and technological information and literature institutions, etc.) and other non-enterprise legal entities in scientific research and technical services, higher education institutions and affiliated hospitals; the sampling survey and calculation are conducted for industrial enterprises and service enterprises below the designated size; the survey of main units are conducted for enterprises involved in scientific research and breeding and Grade III A hospitals that fall outside the scope of the statistics in the science and technology and education sectors; relevant data calculation and other methods are available for enterprises and institutions in other industries.