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Total Patent Grants 1980-2021

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Inventions by Country 2024

There are thousands of human inventions across borders, around the world, and through the ages. Countries known for the most inventions include The United States, Japan, South Korea, German, and Taiwan.

Inventions by Country for Countries with Most Inventions

Invention rarely happens in a single burst of insight. It’s usually a steady incremental process guided by intuition, research, and thorough work.

Country
Total Patent Grants 1980-2021
Japan7,279,805
United States5,906,709
China3,809,679
South Korea2,234,200
Germany2,195,481
Russia1,509,434
France1,072,193
United Kingdom579,889
Switzerland443,122
Netherlands389,377

The United States

The U.S. is the hub of all innovative inventions. Most new technology was invented in America -- from personal computers, lasers, mobile phones, video games, photocopiers, and even the internet.

Other inventions from the U.S. include hearing aid, micro-ovens, steamboats, submarines, refrigerators, telegraphs, dishwashers, vacuum cleaners, cash registers, electric cookers, electronic TV, credit cards, air conditioners, and much more.

Japan

Out of total global inventions, Japan has achieved 15.85% innovations. Japanese have invented numerous electronic gadgets, such as compact disks, DVD, CD-ROM, B.D., Battery(lithium-ion), dry cell Battery, MiniDisk, Optical Fiber, Light Emitting Diode, and White L.E.D.

South Korea

South Korea has brought a lot of innovations in fields such as agriculture, technology, and astrology. They invented soybean cultivation, water gauge, heated greenhouse, pluviometer, Homi, refrigeration, underfloor heating, Korean pagoda, star charts, astronomical observatory, Internet café, table computer, M.P. man, and I.P.S. panel, etc.

Germany

German inventors have discovered many inventions, from household items to medical devices. Among their inventions are contact lenses, Bayer aspirin, accordion, automobile, bacteriology, gummy bears, Christmas tree, jeans, printing press, newspaper, pocket watch, motorcycle, automated calculator, parachute, x-rays, and coffee filters, among others.

Taiwan

Besides their popular inventions like the electrical gadgets including floating gate transistor, woodball, xiaoluren, integrated laptop projector, and connect 6, Taiwan inventors have discovered great food products like bubble tea, instant noodles, bubble tea, and a plastic cup.

China

Some famous inventions are paper making, gunpowder, printing, the compass, silk, tea production, alcohol, mechanical clock, earthquake detector, porcelain, bronze, kite, seed drill, toothbrush, paper money, acupuncture, and others.

France

France has produced inventions such as braille software, mayonnaise, pencil sharpeners, pasteurization, stethoscopes, canned food, hot air balloons, hairdryers, pressure cookers, submarines, ambulance services, photography, animation, and helicopters.

United Kingdom

The first programmable computer was invented in the United Kingdom, a discovery which makes the heart of other new inventions. Other inventions from the U.K are postage stamps, fire extinguishers, magazines, alternating current, vaccinations, railway, antiseptic surgery, radio, etc.

Canada

Canada has made 1.70% of inventions out of the total global inventions. Canadians are highly innovative. Their inventions include an electric wheelchair, insulin, light bulb, wonder bra, zipper, Robertson screw, artificial pacemaker, five-pin bowling, etc.

India

India has contributed a lot of inventions from mathematics, astronomy, cartography, and metrology. The most significant invention from India is the “zero,” without which mathematics couldn’t exist.

  • Patents fall into two broad categories: resident and abroad. A resident application is filed when the applicant is located in the country in which the application is filed (for example, a US citizen applying for a US patent). An abroad application is filed when the applicant is located in a different country, such as a US-based company filing an application with the French patent office.
  • Not every country releases patent data for each category. As such, anomalies may occur, such as the number of abroad or resident patents exceeding the total number of patents.
  • Patents are valid globally regardless of where they are granted.
  • If the country that originally issued the patent no longer exists, the patents have been credited to the country's modern successor (USSR to Russia, Czechoslovakia to the Czech Republic, East Germany to Germany).

Download Table Data

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Country
Total Patent Grants 1980-2021
# Patent Grants Resident 1980-2021
# Patent Grants Abroad 1980-2021
Resident Patent Grants 2021
Abroad Patent Grants 2021
Total Patent Grants 2021
Japan7,279,8054,715,1612,564,683141,853136,290278,143
United States5,906,7093,508,8922,397,817149,538149,092298,630
China3,809,6793,522,222287,461584,89154,438639,329
South Korea2,234,2001,658,928575,272110,35148,152158,503
Germany2,195,481899,7121,295,77529,3476,80097,347
Russia1,509,4341,464,42645,00815,3423,85019,192
France1,072,193522,974549,21920,37828,77049,148
United Kingdom579,889206,694373,1958,10020,95329,053
Switzerland443,122101,582359,4324,42822,35426,782
Netherlands389,377101,616287,7614,53916,40520,944
Italy360,949191,796218,7769,76313,40523,168
Sweden318,932102,870216,0623,47214,92918,401
Canada275,82667,552208,2742,27211,34013,612
Finland166,45352,722113,7311,7265,8517,577
Austria158,57765,56293,0152,2376,5138,750
Belgium140,72542,126101,1071,8806,3028,182
Spain133,25778,85654,4011,4433,9405,383
Australia125,97931,91395,6541,0705,2846,354
India116,76747,28869,4806,3848,23814,622
Denmark109,70824,56985,1391,4145,5306,944
Poland109,433100,7038,7303,4841,0544,538
Israel101,07816,64094,9941,0068,0269,032
Ukraine90,48984,8606,2609902501,240
Iran74,08173,3867262,704842,788
Norway65,59819,86945,7298053,2244,029
North Korea56,11155,9703181919
Czech Republic54,91245,6049,3155377111,248
Romania47,92146,3021,619372165537
Singapore43,5398,38135,1604313,6034,034
South Africa41,63725,74015,9275657481,313
Brazil35,20421,80514,8572,5521,0553,607
Hungary34,43922,60111,838147479626
Turkey31,72723,4968,5293,3777754,152
Belarus30,68320,90310,520343608951
New Zealand29,16712,30116,866691,2641,333
Luxembourg25,8746,06121,7214001,8552,255
Kazakhstan23,98021,3693,802565333898
Greece22,85418,8724,157308344652
Ireland20,7513,45736,3305473,4233,970
Saudi Arabia19,0982,42617,2703731,9442,317
Mexico17,7099,4348,2756186891,307
Argentina16,88413,4823,402281221502
Hong Kong16,3042,20614,0992831,7472,030
Malaysia14,2937,2927,0011,0405431,583
Liechtenstein14,2923,12911,163201575776
Bulgaria12,44910,6601,789192243435
Portugal8,4313,8184,613295542837
Uzbekistan7,9767,74123520330233
Chile6,1113,3702,741253307560
Slovenia6,0734,4903,817290290
Azerbaijan5,2713,0592,212129193322
Thailand5,0732,4492,624182444626
Moldova4,3723,923461572582
Slovakia4,2282,3701,858125181306
Cameroon4,1972,4563,96630484514
Latvia4,0683,1241,0778955144
Georgia3,7633,607156421961
Colombia3,5542,601979221139360
Armenia3,4202,976444264167
Lithuania3,2102,60860292111203
Indonesia3,1312,97744173620756
Ivory Coast2,9781752,80725400425
Sudan2,8622,8521444
Barbados2,68996,213466466
Morocco2,6532,21554599104203
Egypt2,6121,9576556366129
Malta2,5105611,97832233265
Philippines2,4291,2281,20150117167
Cuba2,4061,1441,522136881
Kyrgyzstan2,3461,949406391150
Iceland2,3235031,82045118163
Iraq2,2572,2413266
United Arab Emirates2,239532,3153373376
Serbia2,1551,2918644663109
Mongolia2,1162,0884969372
Sri Lanka2,0761,928160663298
Croatia2,0428401,202105767
Senegal1,9751161,8637112119
Monaco1,9476291,318207393
Vietnam1,8581,46639215374227
Venezuela1,8571,75754299
Estonia1,7425391,20320102122
Cyprus1,2971812,726234234
Uruguay1,2013241,0564141
Syria1,0781,0486311
Pakistan891679216461763
Peru879638242212748
Tunisia8748301971414
Bahamas852151,4192121
Mali820477749148157
Panama75114579041822
Algeria71566455995104
Jordan713292422102434
Burkina Faso6814064358085
Benin6243659046468
Nigeria6065858222
Niger601355707114121
Bangladesh5685421122323
Republic of the Congo5115348310160170
Mauritius481116335353
Macau4806476137137
Costa Rica4771383396060
Togo4362541158085
North Macedonia4154102944145
Lebanon3993273234646
Kenya392154238144660
Gabon376223637112119
Tajikistan3653172124949
Chad32919320
San Marino314113355102232
Guatemala2752166066
Seychelles271363412425
Zambia25363190
Guinea2461123834851
Zimbabwe24424025122
Dominican Republic241177848513
Trinidad and Tobago24114411633
Haiti2352352
Turkmenistan23123152
Bosnia and Herzegovina2091664755
Qatar2061439843135
Ecuador17711310777
Equatorial Guinea1750175
Central African Republic160915411617
Jamaica15876113246
Mauritania136813111617
Montenegro1341251966
Honduras130126611
Madagascar12210814
Belize10601621313
Samoa10542403333
Yemen99445611
El Salvador95802622
Mozambique81813
DR Congo76737
Burundi74286311
Namibia71514533
Eswatini6501,84666
Andorra65718341418
Bolivia59572222
Oman55311055
Albania503421257
Brunei491411988
Paraguay47116311
Bahrain3731141111
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines32015922
Guyana313132121
Nepal28261122
Tanzania2763066
Ethiopia2562111
Malawi24224
Nicaragua1816811
Rwanda17163
Guinea Bissau1711611617
Botswana16221
Liberia15151111
Ghana14132711
Comoros11011
Lesotho8812
Cambodia60933
Uganda546
Sao Tome and Principe406
Dominica4017
Fiji22911
Bhutan221
Somalia110
Papua New Guinea10311
Laos10322
Myanmar00822
Afghanistan003911
Angola007
South Sudan001
Sierra Leone009
Libya00511
Kuwait007732626
Eritrea004
Djibouti001
Suriname006
Cape Verde003
Maldives002
Vanuatu0027
Curacao001263535
Saint Lucia00422
Kiribati0043
Grenada005
Tonga0035
Antigua and Barbuda001346262
Saint Kitts and Nevis008699
Sint Maarten00322
Marshall Islands004033
Palau0013
Cook Islands002711
Nauru001
showing: 193 rows

Which country has the most inventions?

The United States is the top most inventive country in the world.

Frequently Asked Questions

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