A report from UNESCO released last week provides new evidence of the global distribution of science capacity. According to the report, the number of individuals engaged in research worldwide grew from 5.8 million in 2002 to 7.1 million in 2007. As much of this growth was in developing countries, the U.S. share of the total declined from 23.2% to 20.3%. China's share, meanwhile, grew from 14.0% to 20.1%. As a fraction of each nation's population, however, the U.S still has more than 4.5 times as many researchers as China. The number of researchers in the developing world grew by a remarkable 56% between 2002 and 2007, while those in developed nations rose by 8.6%.
View the report here.
