China’s R&D spending rises 8.2% in 2025

Beijing (ANTARA) – China’s spending on research and development (R&D) rose 8.2% year on year to 3.93 trillion yuan in 2025, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday (16 October).

During China’s 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021–2025), the country’s R&D spending grew by an average of 10% annually, making it the world’s second-largest R&D investor, said Luo Qiushi, an NBS statistician.

China’s R&D intensity, which measures spending as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), increased by 0.11 percentage points to 2.8% last year. This surpassed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 2.72% for the first time, placing China 12th globally.

By type of R&D activity, spending on basic research, applied research and experimental development grew by 13.3%, 3.2% and 8.4% year on year, respectively. The amounts reached 283.46 billion yuan, 444.16 billion yuan and 3.2 trillion yuan, respectively.

Corporate R&D spending exceeded 3 trillion yuan for the first time, accounting for 77.4% of the total.

According to the NBS, businesses have contributed more than 77% of the country’s total R&D spending for four consecutive years. Their contribution to the overall increase was 73.7%, reinforcing their role as the main driver of the expansion in China’s R&D spending.