World Intellectual Property Indicators

This article is about the World Intellectual Property Indicators. For other uses, see WIPI.

World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) is an annual statistical report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). ^[1] The publication provides an overview of the activity in the areas of patents, utility models, trademarks, industrial designs, microorganisms, plant variety protection, geographical indications and the creative economy.

The WIPI draws on intellectual property (IP) statistics collected from the 193 member States of WIPO. It provides the latest trends for IP activity at world, geographical region, country and IP office levels. WIPO has published the report annually since 2009. ^[2]

Data sources

The IP statistics data presented in the WIPI are taken from the WIPO Statistics Database and based primarily on data collected from national and regional IP offices, other competent authorities and publishers’ associations from around the world, through annual surveys consisting of multiple questionnaires. Data are also compiled by WIPO in processing international applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), the Madrid System for trademark protection and the Hague System for industrial design protection. ^[3]

Patent family and technology data are extracted from the WIPO Statistics Database and from the PATSTAT database of the European Patent Office (EPO). ^[4] Gross domestic product, income group classification and population data are from the World Development Indicators database of the World Bank. Geographical regions are those defined by the United Nations. ^[3]

Accessing the report and its data

The WIPI is available on WIPO website. Its underlying data can be extracted from the IP Statistics Data Center, which is WIPO’s online statistical database. ^{[1] [2] [5]}

The IP Facts and Figures report, drawn from the WIPI, serves as a quick reference guide for the most frequently used measure of IP activity. ^[6] An online statistical country profile also provides a set of IP statistics at the country level ^[7]

More comprehensive data and analysis on the WIPO administrated Systems are available in a series of three publications: PCT Yearly Review, Madrid Yearly Review and Hague Yearly Review. ^{[8] [9] [10]}

IP Statistics by IP office or by country of origin

Applications received by offices from resident and non-resident applicants are referred to as office data, whereas applications filed by applicants at their national or regional office (resident applications) or at a foreign office (applications filed abroad) are referred to as origin data. ^{[3] [11]} For statistical purposes, WIPO defines the origin of an IP application to be the country or territory of residence of the first named applicant in the application. ^{[3] [11]}

Due to the nature of the regional offices, the WIPI may use an equivalent count concept for some indicators when reporting data by country of origin. ^{[3] [11]} When this counting method is used, an application filed at a regional IP office is equivalent to filing an application in every member state of that office. To calculate the number of equivalent applications for the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO), the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property (BOIP), the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and the GCC Patent Office, each application is multiplied by the corresponding number of member states. For example, an application filed at the EUIPO in 2022 by an applicant residing outside the EU is counted as 27 applications abroad – equal to the number of EU member countries, whereas an application filed by an EU resident results in a count of 1 resident application and 26 applications abroad. However, the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Eurasian Patent Organization (EAPO) do not register applications with an automatic region-wide applicability. Therefore, for these offices, each application is counted as one application abroad, if the applicant does not reside within a member state, or as one resident application and one application abroad, if the applicant resides within a member state.

Latest filing trends by country of origin

The patent, trademark and industrial design data presented in this table show the filing activity trend by country of origin and by year of filing. Data come from the WIPO Statistics Database, ^[12] which is the source of the WIPI. The data presented in this table include those received too late to be included in the WIPI and are not based on the equivalent count concept, described above.

Trademark application data refer to class counts – that is, the number of classes specified in applications. This provides the best comparison of international trademark filing activity across origins, because some jurisdictions may allow multiple classes of goods and services to be specified in a single application, whereas others require a separate application for each class. For the same reason, industrial design data refer to design counts, that is, the number of designs contained in applications. ^{[2] [11]}

Patents, trademarks, and industrial design filing activity by country of origin ^{[1] [13] [14] [15]}

Code	Country	Patent applications in 2023	Patent applications in 2024	Trademarks applications in 2023	Trademarks applications in 2024	Industrial design applications in 2023	Industrial design applications in 2024
AD	Andorra	14	35	1,002	1,270	0	0
AE	United Arab Emirates	1,002	1,184	30,392	36,187	342	909
AG	Antigua and Barbuda	62	96	0	149	0	2
AL	Albania	28	0	2,155	2,440	234	31
AM	Armenia	84	69	6,746	8,463	81	79
AO	Angola	0	68	3,762	3,630	0	0
AR	Argentina	677	719	74,476	89,122	1,385	1,565
AT	Austria	10,850	10,210	43,548	41,252	5,087	3,726
AU	Australia	11,170	10,633	125,420	127,895	5,545	6,174
AZ	Azerbaijan	246	241	7,869	7,513	31	60
BA	Bosnia and Herzegovina	75	59	1,625	1,911	237	264
BB	Barbados	0	0	1,092	0	97	0
BD	Bangladesh	86	116	8,998	8,179	1,001	959
BE	Belgium	10,620	10,616	35,749	32,468	3,169	2,735
BF	Burkina Faso	6	7	428	372	18	27
BG	Bulgaria	433	421	29,339	40,040	1,190	2,580
BH	Bahrain	43	22	913	827	18	20
BI	Burundi	0	0	123	0	15	0
BJ	Benin	27	18	212	279	6	6
BN	Brunei	0	3	215	148	0	3
BR	Brazil	7,285	7,998	395,119	436,338	5,772	6,494
BT	Bhutan	1	7	117	286	2	3
BW	Botswana	23	1	1,541	3,544	14	17
BY	Belarus	430	0	7,732	9,294	336	243
BZ	Belize	14	2	0	0	1	11
CA	Canada	23,838	24,182	92,619	84,952	4,163	4,997
CF	Central African Republic	1	2	23	11	0	1
CG	Republic of the Congo	4	2	88	64	8	8
CH	Switzerland	41,999	41,339	146,444	155,948	23,028	22,698
CI	Ivory Coast	19	25	1,066	1,079	165	149
CL	Chile	879	855	50,586	47,790	91	55
CM	Cameroon	48	80	753	762	127	49
CN	China	1,642,643	1,796,730	7,416,696	7,312,157	882,878	907,403
CO	Colombia	430	466	35,852	38,653	544	481
CR	Costa Rica	121	99	14,631	12,344	11	23
CU	Cuba	247	128	3,536	3,451	5	20
CV	Cape Verde	2	1	106	117	0	0
CW	Curaçao	0	0	821	935	0	0
CY	Cyprus	280	265	16,054	18,474	1,345	505
CZ	Czech Republic	1,461	1,469	29,776	34,225	1,658	2,190
DE	Germany	133,111	133,780	440,097	432,970	65,090	70,262
DK	Denmark	10,914	10,966	25,509	23,461	3,798	3,640
DM	Dominica	1	1	96	26	0	0
DO	Dominican Republic	26	24	10,939	11,382	9	13
DZ	Algeria	1,412	1,117	14,314	16,013	1,216	579
EC	Ecuador	60	67	14,115	14,469	52	62
EE	Estonia	281	248	7,159	7,308	345	341
EG	Egypt	812	756	48,970	0	0	0
ES	Spain	8,201	8,306	129,556	136,497	20,723	19,946
ET	Ethiopia	61	69	1,395	2,848	106	105
FI	Finland	11,646	13,504	19,425	15,776	1,804	2,234
FR	France	52,661	51,880	385,188	362,306	45,935	42,007
GA	Gabon	8	9	91	77	10	5
GB	United Kingdom	48,159	46,837	356,341	348,057	45,401	41,367
GD	Grenada	0	0	39	0	0	0
GE	Georgia	112	109	4,171	4,410	431	473
GH	Ghana	12	0	818	938	345	313
GM	Gambia	0	0	172	218	32	0
GN	Guinea	2	2	318	358	80	91
GQ	Equatorial Guinea	0	0	17	14	0	0
GR	Greece	1,051	853	0	24,217	1,471	1,507
GT	Guatemala	9	15	8,121	10,249	8	3
GW	Guinea-Bissau	0	1	29	12	4	5
GY	Guyana	0	3	77	160	0	0
HK	Hong Kong	1,875	2,841	48,144	53,986	2,414	3,989
HN	Honduras	3	10	3,227	4,019	0	0
HR	Croatia	313	230	7,418	8,031	421	640
HU	Hungary	1,034	1,213	14,045	19,629	709	1,148
ID	Indonesia	1,725	2,518	120,876	131,364	4,949	5,904
IE	Ireland	5,877	6,092	0	0	1,440	1,324
IL	Israel	15,217	15,180	13,205	10,771	1,816	1,948
IN	India	64,131	76,470	496,318	533,272	26,971	39,106
IQ	Iraq	746	569	2,003	2,357	45	0
IR	Iran	8,654	8,434	321,563	304,855	7,796	7,557
IS	Iceland	217	294	2,352	2,642	86	33
IT	Italy	26,752	26,389	196,165	189,713	60,522	63,708
JM	Jamaica	15	7	2,843	2,141	0	48
JO	Jordan	58	92	5,640	7,509	108	121
JP	Japan	414,599	420,990	349,709	340,281	34,710	33,534
KE	Kenya	390	0	6,022	6,312	158	409
KG	Kyrgyzstan	85	75	1,373	2,206	16	15
KH	Cambodia	23	11	2,234	2,521	14	33
KI	Kiribati	0	0	5	0	0	0
KM	Comoros	1	0	10	60	0	0
KN	Saint Kitts and Nevis	7	6	596	298	0	0
KP	North Korea	6,914	6,957	9,477	10,008	0	0
KR	South Korea	288,199	296,037	334,063	338,094	60,156	60,170
KW	Kuwait	66	88	6,554	6,967	327	249
KZ	Kazakhstan	833	975	26,844	35,984	161	424
LA	Laos	3	3	1,098	1,222	3	0
LC	Saint Lucia	0	0	151	0	0	0
LI	Liechtenstein	921	765	2,969	1,989	210	222
LK	Sri Lanka	299	323	8,428	9,685	198	186
LR	Liberia	1	7	399	277	16	11
LT	Lithuania	444	332	8,522	9,384	440	384
LU	Luxembourg	2,258	2,291	13,797	12,918	674	1,468
LV	Latvia	235	192	3,736	4,669	199	215
MA	Morocco	444	421	25,950	29,266	4,549	5,466
MC	Monaco	102	83	4,296	2,758	115	294
MD	Moldova	45	53	4,258	4,793	197	265
ME	Montenegro	17	20	0	0	11	2
MG	Madagascar	3	4	3,206	3,833	242	252
MK	North Macedonia	30	41	3,154	4,321	53	68
ML	Mali	17	7	322	517	29	26
MM	Myanmar	0	0	19,300	4,538	0	145
MN	Mongolia	79	100	8,490	10,836	537	1,041
MO	Macau	9	12	2,976	3,612	27	91
MR	Mauritania	11	3	75	89	1	0
MT	Malta	287	304	9,911	8,869	1,114	609
MU	Mauritius	215	330	3,966	4,214	145	129
MW	Malawi	0	0	353	0	0	0
MX	Mexico	1,739	1,913	164,779	170,633	1,167	1,275
MY	Malaysia	1,639	1,708	27,621	29,663	778	917
MZ	Mozambique	20	11	1,649	1,531	37	97
NA	Namibia	17	21	678	392	10	19
NE	Niger	13	11	40	133	1	2
NL	Netherlands	25,991	26,444	83,698	82,463	8,172	9,764
NO	Norway	4,728	4,617	16,155	14,056	1,647	1,151
NZ	New Zealand	2,620	2,357	29,911	29,016	1,107	1,219
OM	Oman	364	147	7,908	8,218	0	31
PA	Panama	0	38	0	11,209	0	13
PE	Peru	234	270	31,352	35,912	128	170
PH	Philippines	921	1,064	37,832	39,294	874	1,217
PK	Pakistan	509	528	44,924	52,591	625	647
PL	Poland	5,930	5,522	61,716	60,864	7,005	7,311
PT	Portugal	1,636	1,744	41,218	41,381	2,030	1,492
PY	Paraguay	13	19	14,728	14,167	12	19
QA	Qatar	181	129	3,155	4,550	0	0
RO	Romania	1,072	1,029	42,809	36,288	1,195	1,590
RS	Serbia	241	285	10,530	10,205	206	319
RU	Russia	23,232	24,676	543,722	559,441	8,317	9,267
RW	Rwanda	12	0	1,442	1,748	8	8
SA	Saudi Arabia	6,514	6,071	37,068	40,115	1,231	1,424
SC	Seychelles	25	0	1,288	0	0	0
SE	Sweden	21,781	20,755	51,160	42,947	4,815	4,850
SG	Singapore	9,271	10,333	54,924	61,641	1,990	3,070
SI	Slovenia	549	608	10,382	11,207	417	465
SK	Slovakia	526	466	12,965	15,581	459	575
SL	Sierra Leone	0	0	312	344	0	0
SM	San Marino	35	85	0	0	31	46
SN	Senegal	22	25	464	846	26	28
SO	Somalia	0	0	51	56	0	0
SR	Suriname	0	0	328	570	0	0
ST	São Tomé and Príncipe	0	0	17	23	0	0
SV	El Salvador	9	7	6,573	6,937	92	16
SX	Sint Maarten	0	0	115	0	0	0
SY	Syria	84	143	9,657	0	532	377
TD	Chad	2	4	24	37	8	2
TG	Togo	19	12	159	146	5	2
TH	Thailand	1,306	1,553	40,545	43,336	4,219	4,883
TJ	Tajikistan	0	0	0	926	0	0
TN	Tunisia	194	265	5,744	0	796	710
TO	Tonga	0	5	47	0	0	0
TR	Turkey	10,108	11,588	397,622	400,318	54,786	44,015
TT	Trinidad and Tobago	7	10	1,178	726	126	45
TZ	Tanzania	0	0	0	2,974	0	0
UA	Ukraine	1,214	1,168	44,723	44,712	3,166	3,075
UG	Uganda	38	92	2,233	2,587	53	43
US	United States	521,382	503,265	848,915	838,107	69,462	67,064
UY	Uruguay	74	119	6,569	7,731	80	93
UZ	Uzbekistan	541	526	12,133	21,106	221	302
VC	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1	0	311	229	0	0
VE	Venezuela	16	80	8,165	8,687	19	12
VN	Vietnam	1,118	1,392	87,038	91,621	2,171	2,514
VU	Vanuatu	1	1	50	33	5	4
WS	Samoa	56	0	436	694	0	8
YE	Yemen	11	0	3,236	0	84	0
ZA	South Africa	1,175	1,053	25,299	28,042	671	698
ZM	Zambia	6	23	1,499	1,179	173	88
ZW	Zimbabwe	33	31	1,133	910	26	34

Controversies

Taiwanese patents

Since Taiwan (ROC) is not a member of the United Nations, the number of patents filed in Taiwan is not reported. The number of patent applications filed with the Taiwan Intellectual Property Office (TIPO) in 2018 was 73,431, ^[16] which would place it in 6th place worldwide for that year, or 2nd place per capita. In 2014, Bloomberg ranked Taiwan #1 in Patent Activity, using UN data. ^{[17] [18]} The last WIPO Indicators report to mention the name Taiwan was in 2017, noting the large number of patents by Foxconn. ^{[19] [20] [21] [22]}

China has been criticized for its efforts in the UN to reduce the visibility of Taiwan, ^{[23] [24]} including via WIPO; in 2020 Beijing reportedly retaliated to the failed election of a Chinese director-general of the organization by preventing the Wikimedia Foundation from gaining observer status at the WIPO, on the grounds that Wikimedia has a Taiwan subsidiary. ^{[25] [26] [27]}

See also

• Top trademark applicants in the Madrid System
• Top patent applicants in the PCT System
• Top industrial design applicants in The Hague System
• Intellectual property analytics

References

1. "World Intellectual Property Indicators". www.wipo.int.
2. "WIPO IP Statistics Data Center". www3.wipo.int. Retrieved 2021-08-27.
3. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2021" (PDF). World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 28 April 2022. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
4. Office, European Patent. "PATSTAT. Worldwide Patent Statistical Database". www.epo.org. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
5. "Intellectual Property Statistics". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
6. "Publications: WIPO IP Facts and Figures". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
7. "Statistical Country Profiles". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
8. "Publications: PCT Yearly Review". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
9. "Publications: Madrid Yearly Review". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
10. "Publications: Hague Yearly Review". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
11. "About WIPO's IP Statistics". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2022-04-27. Text was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
12. "About the WIPO IP Statistics Data Center". ip-statistics. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
13. World Intellectual Property Organization. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2023". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
14. World Intellectual Property Organization. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2024". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
15. World Intellectual Property Organization. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2025-11-26.
16. "TIPO Statistics Report: Patent and Trademark Applications in 2018". Taiwan Intellectual Property Office. 18 March 2019. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
17. Lu, Wei; Chan, Marcus (6 August 2017). "In Global Innovation Race, Taiwan Is Tops in Patents, Israel Leads in R&D - Bloomberg". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2017-08-06. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
18. "MOST INNOVATIVE IN THE WORLD 2014: COUNTRIES" (PDF). Bloomberg. 13 March 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-13.
19. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2017" (PDF). WIPO. World Intellectual Property Organization.
20. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2018" (PDF). WIPO. World Intellectual Property Organization.
21. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2019" (PDF). WIPO. World Intellectual Property Organization.
22. "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2020" (PDF). WIPO. World Intellectual Property Organization.
23. Horton, Chris (8 May 2017). "Blocked by China, Taiwan Presses to Join U.N. Agency's Meeting". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
24. Lee, Kristine. "It's Not Just the WHO: How China Is Moving on the Whole U.N." POLITICO. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
25. Glosserman, Brad (9 March 2020). "China loses a skirmish in fight for global influence". The Japan Times. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
26. Hui, Mary (25 September 2020). "Beijing blocked Wikimedia from a UN agency because of "Taiwan-related issues"". Quartz. Retrieved 21 February 2021.
27. Magnier, Mark (30 September 2020). "Beijing blocks Wikipedia from UN agency to resist 'Western values': analysts". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 21 February 2021.

External links

• World Intellectual Property Organization
• WIPO IP Statistics Data Center