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About NIH

NIH Budget

Research for the People

The NIH invests over $30.9* billion annually in medical research for the American people.

More than 80% of the NIH's funding is awarded through almost 50,000 competitive grants to more than 300,000 researchers at more than 2,500 universities, medical schools, and other research institutions in every state and around the world.

About 10% of the NIH's budget supports projects conducted by nearly 6,000 scientists in its own laboratories, most of which are on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

President's Budget RequestS

Funding for Diseases, Conditions, Research Areas

  • Funding levels for diseases, conditions, and research areas, based on actual grants, contracts, research conducted at NIH, and other mechanisms of support.

Grants Awarded

  • Funded Organization—universities and research organizations around the nation receiving research grants and contracts
  • Budget and Spending—funding for grants and contracts
  • Success Rates—annual percentage of research grant applications that are funded
  • RePORTER—a searchable database of NIH-funded research projects

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* This amount reflects the sum of discretionary budget authority received by NIH in FY 2012 under The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2012, Public Law (P.L.) 112-74, as well as a mandatory $150 million for special type 1 diabetes research authorized per P.L. 111-309, The Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010. Details regarding current appropriations are available at http://officeofbudget.od.nih.gov/cy.html.

Going for the Impact

Robert Langer seated in his office

"The NIH has been the single biggest supporter of our lab. It enables us to do research. The money gives you the freedom to come up with the ideas you come with —and those ideas can hopefully change the world in a better way."

Robert Langer, Sc.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

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This page last reviewed on September 18, 2012

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