Estimates of Funding for Various Research, Condition, and Disease Categories
The NIH publishes useful information showing the trends in various research, condition, and disease categories based on grants, contracts, and other funding mechanisms.
There are nearly 300 areas, but we took the top 20 and graphed them so you can highlight what those top spots look like in terms of growth and decline.
The Neurodegenerative area has seen the biggest increase (79%) in funding (it was number 20 in 2016 and is now number 17). Women’s Health saw the smallest increase with only 5% more in 2020 than in 2016.
The estimates are based on RCDC’s actual data predicting what areas will benefit most in 2021 and 2022, but the impact of COVID-19 is likely to change this landscape.
Reach out if you would like to discuss how the underlying data can help your decision-making.
Funding Summary
Table Showing Values Over Time
| Research/Disease Areas | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 Estimated | 2022 Estimated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aging | 3150 | 3572 | 4084 | 4653 | 5276 | 5309 | 5498 |
| Behavioral and Social Science | 4137 | 4547 | 5096 | 6499 | 7040 | 7347 | 7882 |
| Bioengineering | 3841 | 4106 | 4592 | 5091 | 5646 | 5566 | 5764 |
| Biotechnology | 6433 | 6556 | 6823 | 7219 | 7767 | 7921 | 7912 |
| Brain Disorders | 4577 | 5156 | 5882 | 6954 | 7565 | 7764 | 8292 |
| Cancer | 5589 | 5980 | 6335 | 6520 | 7035 | 7176 | 7435 |
| Clinical Research | 12176 | 12695 | 13870 | 15868 | 17610 | 18050 | 18321 |
| Clinincal Trials and Supportive Activities 17/ | 3476 | 3775 | 5207 | 6058 | 6637 | 6904 | 6957 |
| Genetics | 8070 | 8501 | 9105 | 9864 | 10544 | 10782 | 11098 |
| Health Disparities 8/ | 3093 | 3168 | 3178 | 3381 | 3484 | 3675 | 4041 |
| Human Genome | 3200 | 3274 | 3626 | 3895 | 4340 | 4435 | 4553 |
| Infectious Deseases | 5518 | 5684 | 6024 | 6313 | 8301 | 8599 | 8019 |
| Mental Health | 2454 | 2717 | 3010 | 3296 | 3577 | 3698 | 3911 |
| Minority Health 8/ | 2712 | 2934 | 3065 | 3188 | 3314 | 3506 | 3874 |
| Neurodegenerative | 2058 | 2554 | 3085 | 3578 | 4021 | 4110 | 4266 |
| Neurosciences | 6460 | 7317 | 8224 | 9468 | 10122 | 10353 | 10967 |
| Pediatric | 3959 | 4176 | 4499 | 4922 | 5347 | 5538 | 5745 |
| Prevention | 7566 | 8052 | 8757 | 9485 | 10482 | 10842 | 11104 |
| Rare Diseases | 4342 | 4613 | 5227 | 5655 | 5947 | 6080 | 6219 |
| Women’s Health 8/ | 4540 | 4769 | 5048 | 4469 | 4466 | 4537 | 4779 |