Malaysia: Researchers in R&D (per million people)

Key figures

Since 1996 it is up 1,224% from 91.99 in 1996 (10.45% a year on average, compounded). The World Bank has no value for 10 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

Closest to Malaysia in the 2022 ranking

• Singapore — 1st of 8: 8,782
• Canada — 2nd of 8: 5,624
• United States — 3rd of 8: 4,937
• Chile — 5th of 8: 707.06
• Ukraine — 6th of 8: 586.08
• South Africa — 7th of 8: 444.16

What this measures

The number of researchers engaged in Research &Development (R&D), expressed as per million. Researchers are professionals who conduct research and improve or develop concepts, theories, models techniques instrumentation, software of operational methods. R&D covers basic research, applied research, and experimental development.

Limitations: Estimates of the resources allocated to R&D are affected by national characteristics such as the periodicity and coverage of national R&D surveys across institutional sectors and industries; and the use of different sampling and estimation methods. R&D typically involves a few large performers, hence R&D surveys use various techniques to maintain up-to-date registers of known performers, while attempting to identify new or occasional performers.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a weighted average.

All 17 values

Researchers in R&D (per million people) in nearby economies

• China — 2,107 (2023)
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 5,874 (2024)
• Japan — 5,609 (2023)
• Korea, Rep. — 9,472 (2023)
• Macao SAR, China — 4,634 (2024)
• Myanmar — 28.01 (2023)
• New Zealand — 5,435 (2023)
• Philippines — 320.28 (2020)
• Singapore — 8,782 (2022)
• Thailand — 1,592 (2023)

More infrastructure data for Malaysia

• Fixed telephone subscriptions — 8.22 million (2024)
• Fixed telephone subscriptions (per 100 people) — 23.11 (2024)
• Air transport, registered carrier departures worldwide — 359,378 (2023)
• Air transport, freight (million ton-km) — 1,910 (2023)
• Air transport, passengers carried — 46.7 million (2023)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions — 49.66 million (2024)
• Mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people) — 139.67 (2024)
• Patent applications, nonresidents — 6,356 (2024)
• Patent applications, residents — 841 (2024)
• Medium and high-tech exports (% manufactured exports)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Malaysia's researchers in R&D (per million people)?

1,218 in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 1,224% from 91.99 in 1996 (10.45% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 2,334 in 2016 and the lowest 91.99 in 1996.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2025-03-26, date published: 2025-02.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SP.POP.SCIE.RD.P6, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Stat Bulk Data Download Service, UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: https://databrowser.uis.unesco.org/resources/bulk, publisher: UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), date accessed: 2025-03-26, date published: 2025-02 Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.