* indicates monthly or quarterly data series

Patent applications by residents, 2021:

The average for 2021 based on 14 countries was 247 patent applications. The highest value was in South Africa: 1804 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
South Africa 1804 1 1980 - 2021
Egypt 881 2 1980 - 2021
Algeria 268 3 1980 - 2021
Morocco 254 4 1980 - 2021
Kenya 160 5 1988 - 2021
Mozambique 30 6 1999 - 2021
Rwanda 14 7 1988 - 2021
Uganda 14 8 2003 - 2021
Zambia 13 9 1980 - 2021
Madagascar 6 10 1994 - 2021
Mauritius 6 11 1981 - 2021
Botswana 3 12 2011 - 2021
Djibouti 3 13 2013 - 2021
Cape Verde 1 14 2016 - 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.

Selected articles from our guide:

The unholy trinity of international finance

Most commonly used measures of corruption

All articles

This site uses cookies.
Learn more here


OK