Facts & Figures

Legal Form:

The Max Planck Society is a non-profit organization under private law in the form of a registered association. Its highest-ranking decision-making body is the Senate. Its members come from major sectors of academic and public life.

Institutes:

There are 80 institutes and research facilities (as of January 1, 2012), 4 institutes and one research facility are situated abroad.

Personnel:

On January 1, 2012 the Max Planck Society employed a total of 17,019 staff (previous year: 16,873), of whom 5,378 were scientists (previous year: 5,222). This represents 31.6 % of the total number of employees and an increase of 3%.

Additionally, as of January 1, 2012 there were 4,812 junior and visiting scientists working in the 80 institutes of the Max Planck Society. A total of 21,831 people (17,019 staff and 4,812 junior and visiting scientists) worked at the Max Planck Society (previous year: 21,514), representing an increase of 1.5% as compared with the previous year.

In the course of 2011, a total of 13,456 Bachelor students, fellows of the International Max Planck Research Schools, PhD students, postdoctoral students, research fellows, and visiting scientists worked at the Max Planck Society, which amounts to 0.2% more than in the previous year (13,430).

As of January 1, 2012, women accounted for 44.3% of the employees; around 27.1% were scientific employees, 55.0 % were non-scientific staff members. 17.3% of all of the employees were foreign nationals.

On January 1, 2012, 34.8% of scientists were foreign nationals. During the course of 2011, 52,4 % of the junior scientists and guest scientists came from abroad.

Finances:

The financing of the Max Planck Society is made up of 80% basic financing from the public sector: Including the MPI for Plasma Physics the MPG is financed to approximately 1,46 million euros in 2012. In addition, third-party funding contributed to basic financing.

The German federal government together with the state governments each assume half of the funding for the budget of the Max Planck Society (budget A). The calculation of the financial contributions provided by the states is based on a distribution formula that is re-calculated each year as well as on the "home state quota", which has been steady at 50 percent since 2000. In addition, all partners may agree to provide extra funding in addition to the specified quotas.

The exception to this is the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, which is funded by the German government and the states of Bavaria and Mecklenburg Western Pommerania in a ratio of 90:10 (budget B) in accordance with regulations for major research institutions. In addition, this institute receives subsidies from EURATOM for a joint research program within the scope of association agreements.

In addition to the grants provided by the German federal government and its states for institutional support, the Max Planck Society and its institutes receive project funding from the German government and state ministries, from the European Union, grants from private individuals, in the form of membership fess, donations and remuneration for services rendered.