BEIJING, July 23 -- 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 Tuesday.

China's R&D spending reached 1.97 trillion yuan in 2018 (286 billion U.S. dollars), 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.