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NIH Key Funding Areas

NIH Key Funding Areas

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

To access the chart, please view on a larger screen.

Table Showing Values Over Time

Research/Disease Areas201620172018201920202021
Estimated
2022
Estimated
Aging3150357240844653527653095498
Behavioral and Social Science4137454750966499704073477882
Bioengineering3841410645925091564655665764
Biotechnology6433655668237219776779217912
Brain Disorders4577515658826954756577648292
Cancer5589598063356520703571767435
Clinical Research12176126951387015868176101805018321
Clinincal Trials and Supportive Activities 17/3476377552076058663769046957
Genetics8070850191059864105441078211098
Health Disparities 8/3093316831783381348436754041
Human Genome3200327436263895434044354553
Infectious Deseases5518568460246313830185998019
Mental Health2454271730103296357736983911
Minority Health 8/2712293430653188331435063874
Neurodegenerative2058255430853578402141104266
Neurosciences6460731782249468101221035310967
Pediatric3959417644994922534755385745
Prevention7566805287579485104821084211104
Rare Diseases4342461352275655594760806219
Women's Health 8/4540476950484469446645374779