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

Key figures

Since 1996 it is up 649.07% from 31.16 in 1996 (9.58% a year on average, compounded). The World Bank has no value for 8 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

From 2009 to 2018 the straight-line trend is upward, about 16.05 a year. A straight line explains 65% of the movement over 8 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2018, Malaysia had the 10th highest value of the 22 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Malaysia in the 2018 ranking

• Argentina — 7th of 22: 398.05
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 8th of 22: 369.56
• Hong Kong SAR, China — 9th of 22: 315.8
• Macao SAR, China — 11th of 22: 182.46
• Ukraine — 12th of 22: 150.14
• Kazakhstan — 13th of 22: 123.86

What this measures

The number of technicians participated in Research & Development (R&D), expressed as per million. Technicians and equivalent staff are people who perform scientific and technical tasks involving the application of concepts and operational methods, normally under the supervision of researchers. 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 15 values

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

• Hong Kong SAR, China — 315.8 (2018)
• Japan — 524.29 (2018)
• Korea, Rep. — 1,311 (2018)
• Macao SAR, China — 182.46 (2018)
• New Zealand — 1,276 (2017)
• Singapore — 377.37 (2017)
• Thailand — 296.94 (2017)

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
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Questions people ask

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

233.44 in 2018, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1996?

It is up 649.07% from 31.16 in 1996 (9.58% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was 263.25 in 2016 and the lowest 31.16 in 1996.

How does Malaysia rank?

10th highest of 22 economies with data for 2018.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: http://uis.unesco.org, note: Data as of March 2021, publisher: UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS).

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator SP.POP.TECH.RD.P6, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), uri: http://uis.unesco.org, note: Data as of March 2021, publisher: UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) 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.

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