(via 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report)

China has the third largest number of think tanks in the world, with a total of 507, followed by the US and India, which have 1,871 and 509 think tanks, respectively, the latest global think tank index report from the University of Pennsylvania revealed.

According to the 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report published Thursday in Beijing, seven Chinese think tanks ranked in the top 100, with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) ranking 30th and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) ranking 39th.

The world’s best think tank, according to the index, is Brookings Institution from the US, followed by the French Institute of International Relations.

The 2018 reported surveyed 8,162 global think tanks, of which 2,219 (27.2%) are based in Europe and 1,972 (24.2%) are based in North America.

The report pointed out that in the past 12 years, the rate of establishment of think tanks in the US and Europe has declined, while the number and types of think tanks in Asia, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa continue to expand.

The number of think tanks in Asia has increased to 1,829, taking up 22.4% of the world’s total. Central and South America have a combined total of 1,023 think tanks, accounting for 12.5%, while the total number of think tanks in Africa and the Middle East total 1,119, some 13.7% of the global total.