According to 2021 WIPO data, China was granted the most new patents with 607,758, surpassing the United States.
Every year, the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) tracks hundreds of thousands of patents across industries.
These patents grant their inventors exclusive intellectual property rights over their creations. They encourage new ideas, spur scientific development, and lead to new technologies and entire sectors being born.
However, the number of patents granted varies greatly across nations. When viewing the origin of each patent’s applicant, we see a handful of countries dominating certain industries.
In this graphic, Visual Capitalist’s Jacqueline Ann DeStefano-Tangorra uses 2021 WIPO data to showcase which countries were granted the most new patents, along with their sector categorizations.
Countries with the Most New Patents
In 2021, out of 1,608,375 patents across multiple fields, 87% were granted to innovators from just six countries.
| Applicants by Country | Granted Patents (2021) | % of Total |
|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇳 China | 607,758 | 37.8% |
| 🇺🇸 United States | 286,205 | 17.8% |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 256,890 | 16.0% |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | 156,972 | 9.8% |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 69,672 | 4.3% |
| 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 20,009 | 1.2% |
| ❓ Unknown | 24,677 | 1.5% |
| 🌎 Other Countries | 186,192 | 11.6% |
| World Total | 1,608,375 | 100.0% |
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