Key facts
- China invested $1.03 trillion in research and development in 2024, surpassing the United States' $1.01 trillion.
- China's R&D spending has grown by more than 14% annually since 2004.
- China now leads in high-quality research in 66 of 74 strategically significant technologies.
- China surpassed the U.S. in total scientific publications in 2024.
- Chinese entities filed approximately 1.8 million patent applications in 2024.
China has overtaken the United States as the world's leading investor in research and development, with its 2024 spending reaching $1.03 trillion compared to the U.S.'s $1.01 trillion, according to data from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. This milestone follows two decades of significant annual growth in China's R&D expenditure, bringing its R&D intensity to 2.7% of GDP.
Beijing has outlined plans to increase its science budget by 7% annually for the next five years, including a 16.3% rise in central government spending on basic research for 2026. Chinese universities are producing a larger volume of STEM graduates than their U.S. counterparts, awarding over 53,000 doctoral degrees in science and engineering in 2022, compared to fewer than 45,000 in the U.S.
China's scientific output has also seen dramatic increases. In 2024, China led in total scientific publications and advanced in the Nature Index, which tracks publications in leading scientific journals. Chinese entities filed approximately 1.8 million patent applications in 2024, significantly more than the 603,191 filed in the U.S.
While China leads in applied research areas such as electric vehicles, batteries, and solar cells, and is rapidly advancing in pharmaceuticals, the U.S. still holds an edge in foundational discoveries, as indicated by Nobel Prize wins and the proportion of the most influential research. The U.S. historically fostered scientific leadership through sustained public investment, open inquiry, and attracting global talent, with immigrants playing a significant role in its scientific and entrepreneurial landscape. China's centrally coordinated model has been effective in scaling known technologies, but its capacity to foster fundamental, serendipitous discovery remains a key question.