China's scientific research and development (R&D) spending was 580.21 billion yuan (US$87.25 billion) in 2009, fourth in the world after the United States, Japan and Germany, officials at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of China said Wednesday.

The statistics came from the latest national R&D resources survey, the second ever conducted in the country.

About 3.18 million people were involved in China's R&D activities in 2009, the largest number in the world, said Cha Zhimin, deputy-director of the society and science department under the NBS.

Of the total spending, the government invested 135.83 billion yuan on R&D in 2009, about 4.5 times that in 2000 or an annual increase of 18.3 percent, indicating the government was more willing to boost innovation, Cha said.

However, the ratio of R&D investment against GDP stood at 1.7 percent in China, far behind 3 percent in leading countries across the world, Cha said, adding that China still remained far below many developed countries in original innovations.

(Xinhua News Agency December 2, 2010)