* indicates monthly or quarterly data series

Patent applications by residents, 2021:

The average for 2021 based on 27 countries was 3008 patent applications. The highest value was in Germany: 39822 patent applications and the lowest value was in Cyprus: 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
Germany 39822 1 1980 - 2021
France 13386 2 1980 - 2021
Italy 10281 3 1980 - 2021
Poland 3377 4 1980 - 2021
Netherlands 2080 5 1980 - 2021
Austria 1872 6 1980 - 2021
Sweden 1771 7 1980 - 2021
Finland 1557 8 1980 - 2021
Spain 1308 9 1980 - 2021
Denmark 1090 10 1980 - 2021
Belgium 799 11 1980 - 2021
Romania 772 12 1980 - 2021
Portugal 711 13 1980 - 2021
Czechia 541 14 1993 - 2021
Hungary 433 15 1980 - 2021
Greece 394 16 1980 - 2021
Slovenia 222 17 1991 - 2021
Bulgaria 165 18 1980 - 2021
Slovakia 146 19 1993 - 2021
Luxembourg 112 20 1980 - 2021
Latvia 104 21 1992 - 2021
Lithuania 81 22 1991 - 2021
Croatia 77 23 1992 - 2021
Ireland 75 24 1980 - 2021
Estonia 25 25 1994 - 2021
Malta 5 26 1980 - 2021
Cyprus 1 27 1980 - 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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