BEIJING, Dec. 15 -- The Ministry of Science and Technology released a report on Friday indicating that China ranks first worldwide in terms of the number of full-time equivalent research and development (R&D) personnel.

As an important indicator measuring sci-tech manpower input, the number of full-time equivalent R&D personnel in China increased from 3.247 million in 2012 to 6.354 million in 2022, the report said.

In recent years, China has been focusing on optimizing the structure of its sci-tech talent team while expanding the scale of its sci-tech talent pool.

The report said that the international academic influence of China's top sci-tech talents has continued to grow. The number of Chinese scientists added to the global list of highly cited researchers increased from 111 in 2014 to 1,169 in 2022, ranking second globally.

More outstanding young talents are taking the lead in major national sci-tech tasks. More than 80 percent of the researchers participating in the national key R&D programs are under the age of 45, said the report.

The report, which is published every two years, summarizes the latest developments of the country's sci-tech talents.