China raises 19.1 billion yuan for popular science in 2022: ministry

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- China saw the funds raised for science popularization nationwide reach 19.1 billion yuan (about 2.7 billion U.S. dollars) in 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technology said Thursday.

Of the total, 80.79 percent, or 15.43 billion yuan, was allocated by governments at all levels, according to statistics released by the ministry.

The country spent 7.98 billion yuan on popular science activities in 2022, while another 2.77 billion yuan was used for related infrastructure construction. By the end of 2022, there were a total of 1,683 science and technology museums and venues across the country.

China has witnessed a growing number of practitioners in popular science, the ministry said, noting that the number of full-time and part-time related workers reached about 2 million in 2022, an increase of 9.26 percent over the previous year.

In 2022, online and offline popular science lectures nationwide attracted more than 2.3 billion participants, said the ministry.