China had 4.19 million people working in research and development (R&D) in 2018, maintaining the world's largest pool of R&D personnel for six years, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on July 23.

China's R&D spending reached 1.97 trillion yuan in 2018 ($286 billion), 138 times the amount in 1991, according to a report from the NBS.

The report showed that China's R&D spending in 2018 accounted for 2.18 percent of China's gross domestic product, taking the world's No 2 position after the United States.

The number of patent applications rose to 4.32 million in 2018, 86 times the number in 1991, said the report.

According to the 13th five-year plan for national science and technology talent development (2016-2020), China will increase its annual per capita spending on R&D to 500,000 yuan by 2020, up from 370,000 yuan in 2014.