In 2017, 94,274 thousand scientists and researchers worked in Ukraine, which is almost two times less than in 2010, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Such data was published by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.
The State Statistics Service points to several reasons for such a radical reduction in the number of scientists: a change in the counting principle and the lack of data from Crimea and the uncontrolled territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
In particular, in 2010-2015, the State Statistics Service took into account both permanent and temporary employees. Therefore, the statistics included specialists who work part-time and under employment contracts, including scientific and pedagogical employees.
And since 2016, the State Statistics Service does not take into account scientific and pedagogical employees who do not conduct scientific research and development.
As a result, in statistics for 2016, the number of scientists with a scientific degree decreased from 42,2 thousand to 27,2 thousand, and the number of researchers without a scientific degree decreased from 80 thousand to 70 thousand.
At the same time, in 2017, the State Statistics Service recorded an increase in costs for research and development: organizations spent over UAH 13,3 billion (and in 2016 - UAH 11,5 billion). More than 50% of these funds went to pay for labor. Also in 2017, the share of government funding increased: 35,4% of research was paid for from the state budget, while in 2016 government funding covered 32,1%.