Abstract: The launch of key projects of national natural science foundation of China are one of the important channels to support basic research in China. In order to carry out the quantitative observation of the current development of key project, this paper uses quantitative research method to analyze and summarize the general situation of key projects, the distribution characteristics of disciplines, the composition of researchers and the distribution and evolution of funded areas. The research results show that: from 2005 to 2019, the number of projects and the amount of funding continued to increase, and the funding intensity continued to increase. The number of projects and funding amount of the medical science department are ahead of other science departments. The average age of the project leaders approximately follows normal distribution. There is a large gap in the distribution of funding areas. Finally, some suggestions are given to provide data support and reference basis for the organization and management of key projects and related scientific and technological work.

Key words: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Normal Distribution, Funding Intensity, Regional Distribution