Patent applications by residents - Country rankings
* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
Patent applications by residents, 2021:
The average for 2021 based on 112 countries was 20444 patent applications. The highest value was in China: 1426644 patent applications and the lowest value was in Cape Verde: 1 patent applications. The indicator is available from 1980 to 2021. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.Measure: patent applications; Source: The World Intellectual Property Organization
Select indicator
* indicates monthly or quarterly data series
| Countries | Patent applications by residents, 2021 | Global rank | Available data |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 1426644 | 1 | 1985 - 2021 |
| USA | 262244 | 2 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Japan | 222452 | 3 | 1980 - 2021 |
| South Korea | 186245 | 4 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Germany | 39822 | 5 | 1980 - 2021 |
| India | 26267 | 6 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Russia | 19569 | 7 | 1992 - 2021 |
| France | 13386 | 8 | 1980 - 2021 |
| UK | 11592 | 9 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Italy | 10281 | 10 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Iran | 10210 | 11 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Turkey | 8234 | 12 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Canada | 4710 | 13 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Brazil | 4666 | 14 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Poland | 3377 | 15 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Australia | 2966 | 16 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Netherlands | 2080 | 17 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Singapore | 2024 | 18 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Austria | 1872 | 19 | 1980 - 2021 |
| South Africa | 1804 | 20 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Sweden | 1771 | 21 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Israel | 1592 | 22 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Finland | 1557 | 23 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1398 | 24 | 1989 - 2021 |
| Indonesia | 1397 | 25 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Spain | 1308 | 26 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Ukraine | 1302 | 27 | 1992 - 2021 |
| Switzerland | 1288 | 28 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Mexico | 1117 | 29 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Denmark | 1090 | 30 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Vietnam | 1066 | 31 | 1984 - 2021 |
| Norway | 946 | 32 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Malaysia | 883 | 33 | 1985 - 2021 |
| Egypt | 881 | 34 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Thailand | 867 | 35 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Belgium | 799 | 36 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Romania | 772 | 37 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Portugal | 711 | 38 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Czechia | 541 | 39 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Philippines | 490 | 40 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Hungary | 433 | 41 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Colombia | 432 | 42 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Pakistan | 426 | 43 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Uzbekistan | 413 | 44 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Argentina | 406 | 45 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Chile | 402 | 46 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Hong Kong | 401 | 47 | 1983 - 2021 |
| Greece | 394 | 48 | 1980 - 2021 |
| New Zealand | 330 | 49 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Belarus | 276 | 50 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Algeria | 268 | 51 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Sri Lanka | 266 | 52 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Morocco | 254 | 53 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Slovenia | 222 | 54 | 1991 - 2021 |
| Bulgaria | 165 | 55 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Kenya | 160 | 56 | 1988 - 2021 |
| Slovakia | 146 | 57 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Serbia | 138 | 58 | 2004 - 2021 |
| Azerbaijan | 119 | 59 | 1995 - 2021 |
| Luxembourg | 112 | 60 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Mongolia | 109 | 61 | 1983 - 2021 |
| Latvia | 104 | 62 | 1992 - 2021 |
| Syria | 102 | 63 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Peru | 94 | 64 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Georgia | 90 | 65 | 1992 - 2021 |
| Kyrgyzstan | 83 | 66 | 1994 - 2021 |
| Lithuania | 81 | 67 | 1991 - 2021 |
| Croatia | 77 | 68 | 1992 - 2021 |
| Ireland | 75 | 69 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Bangladesh | 74 | 70 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Barbados | 73 | 71 | 1984 - 2021 |
| UA Emirates | 69 | 72 | 2010 - 2021 |
| Moldova | 64 | 73 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Bosnia & Herz. | 53 | 74 | 1999 - 2021 |
| Qatar | 47 | 75 | 2012 - 2021 |
| North Macedonia | 42 | 76 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Armenia | 40 | 77 | 1993 - 2021 |
| Guyana | 40 | 78 | 1983 - 2021 |
| Ecuador | 35 | 79 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Panama | 35 | 80 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Iceland | 34 | 81 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Mozambique | 30 | 82 | 1999 - 2021 |
| Oman | 30 | 83 | 2015 - 2021 |
| Estonia | 25 | 84 | 1994 - 2021 |
| Jordan | 25 | 85 | 1989 - 2021 |
| Albania | 23 | 86 | 2011 - 2021 |
| Yemen | 20 | 87 | 1998 - 2021 |
| Jamaica | 16 | 88 | 1983 - 2021 |
| Costa Rica | 15 | 89 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Rwanda | 14 | 90 | 1988 - 2021 |
| Uganda | 14 | 91 | 2003 - 2021 |
| Zambia | 13 | 92 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Paraguay | 10 | 93 | 1983 - 2021 |
| Guatemala | 9 | 94 | 1982 - 2021 |
| Domin. Rep. | 7 | 95 | 1983 - 2021 |
| San Marino | 7 | 96 | 2013 - 2021 |
| Madagascar | 6 | 97 | 1994 - 2021 |
| Mauritius | 6 | 98 | 1981 - 2021 |
| Bolivia | 5 | 99 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Malta | 5 | 100 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Monaco | 5 | 101 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Andorra | 3 | 102 | 2018 - 2021 |
| Bahrain | 3 | 103 | 1981 - 2021 |
| Botswana | 3 | 104 | 2011 - 2021 |
| Djibouti | 3 | 105 | 2013 - 2021 |
| Brunei | 2 | 106 | 2012 - 2021 |
| El Salvador | 2 | 107 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Macao | 2 | 108 | 2005 - 2021 |
| Tr.&Tobago | 2 | 109 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Cape Verde | 1 | 110 | 2016 - 2021 |
| Cyprus | 1 | 111 | 1980 - 2021 |
| Samoa | 1 | 112 | 1981 - 2021 |
Definition: Patent applications are worldwide patent applications filed through the Patent Cooperation Treaty procedure or with a national patent office for exclusive rights for an invention--a product or process that provides a new way of doing something or offers a new technical solution to a problem. A patent provides protection for the invention to the owner of the patent for a limited period, generally 20 years.
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Patent applications by residents in Europe Patent applications by residents in Asia Patent applications by residents in Africa Patent applications by residents in North America Patent applications by residents in South America Patent applications by residents in Australia/Oceania Patent applications by residents in the European union Patent applications by residents in Sub Sahara Africa Patent applications by residents in MENA Patent applications by residents in South East Asia Patent applications by residents in Latin America