Chinese scientists dissatisfied with jobs but optimistic about future, survey says

Chinese scientists are less satisfied with their jobs than researchers in any other major country, according to a survey that also found they are more optimistic about their careers than their counterparts in the United States and Britain.

Only 51 per cent of the 157 respondents from China said they were satisfied with their jobs, according to the survey published this month in the British scientific journal Nature, down 24 per cent from 2018.

The survey drew 3,882 respondents from 133 countries, across a variety of disciplines, academia and industry. Because respondents chose to take part, the results cannot be taken as representative of all Chinese scientists working across disciplines, regions and types of institutions.

The findings come as China pours money into research. In 2025, the country’s total spending on research and development reached a record 3.93 trillion yuan (US$584.5 billion), up 8.2 per cent year on year, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Canada topped the list, with 76 per cent of surveyed scholars saying they were satisfied. The United States stood at 65 per cent, while the global average was 61 per cent.

Yet Chinese respondents were more upbeat about the future than many of their peers. Some 71 per cent said they were satisfied with their independence, and 55 per cent were optimistic about their own prospects, slightly above the global average of 52 per cent. In addition, 37 per cent thought their career prospects were better than those of previous generations, compared with the global average of 31 per cent.

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The contrast was sharpest with the US and Britain, usually regarded as research leaders. Despite relatively good career treatment there, only 34 per cent of US respondents and 33 per cent of British respondents were optimistic about their future career prospects.

“Career prospects seem to be mostly related to the perception of working in science systems that are expanding and improving their quality,” Benedetto Lepori, a research policy specialist at the University of Lugano in Switzerland, said in Nature’s report.

The areas where Chinese scholars reported lower satisfaction included relationships with colleagues, time off, work-life balance and professional development opportunities.

Only 34 per cent were satisfied with funding. As applications have surged and competition has intensified, the overall funding rate of the National Natural Science Foundation of China fell from 16.6 per cent in 2021 to about 12.3 per cent in 2025, before rebounding to 14.8 per cent this year.

Only 36 per cent were satisfied with professional development. Salary and flexibility also matter, but satisfaction was only 39 per cent for compensation and 45 per cent for work-life balance. These issues likely lower happiness overall.

Several professors contacted by the South China Morning Post declined to comment.

Chinese respondents were also far less likely to see geopolitics as a threat. Only six per cent thought geopolitics would affect them, compared with 16 per cent globally and 27 per cent in the US.

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A young scholar majoring in chemistry at a university in Beijing, who asked to remain anonymous, suggested this may partly reflect who took part.

“Scholars who are affected are likely not to have participated in such surveys, while most basic research has not been affected by geopolitical shocks,” he said.

Nature’s report also found that 23 per cent of Chinese respondents named the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on their field as one of the biggest challenges they faced, far above the global average of 12 per cent.

The Beijing scholar said China started using AI for science earlier, so more people would feel affected by it. But he believed confidence and anxiety can coexist.

“I’m not worried that AI will take my job, since humans still have the edge in research depth; instead, it frees me from burdensome daily teaching and paperwork, and I use it to help prepare course materials,” he explained.