The United States and European Union (EU) had been the traditional global leaders in research and development (R&D) expenditures.

But from 2000 to 2017, Asian countries, especially China, have been steadily catching up in R&D, and China was closely behind the US in such spending for 2017, according to the latest report, The State of US Science and Engineering 2020 by the National Science Foundation (NSF).

The report stated that global R&D expenditures have risen substantially, expanding threefold from $722 billion in 2000 to $2.2 trillion in 2017. Global R&D activity remains concentrated in the US, EU and in East, Southeast and South Asia regions.

The report showed that in 2000, the US spent $268.6 billion on R&D, ranking first in the world. EU was second with expenditures of $183.4 billion. China was fifth at $33.1 billion.

By 2017, the US, was still tops, spending $549 billion in R&D, and China jumped to the second spot with R&D expenditures of $496 billion, surpassing EU's $430 billion. Together, the US (25 percent) and China (23 percent) accounted for nearly half of the estimated global R&D total in 2017.

China accounted for almost one-third (32 percent) of the total global R&D growth between 2000 and 2017, the report said. The United States (20 percent) and the European Union (17 percent) together accounted for more than one-third (37 percent) of the global growth.

The report also showed that in 2017, the business sector accounted for approximately three-quarters of R&D funding in the leading Asian countries: Japan at 78 percent, China at 76 percent, and South Korea at 76 percent.

In comparison, only 62 percent of R&D money came from the business sector for the US.

The report also indicated that countries also vary in their relative focus on basic research, applied research, and experimental development. The most recent estimates show that the US spends 17 percent, and China spends 6 percent of its annual R&D funds on basic research.

China spends 84 percent of its R&D funds on experimental development, compared with 63 percent in the United States.