We often make assumptions about countries that we consider to be technologically advanced. We think a lot about China and the United States when we discuss these issues. But what is the reality? This graph try to give an answer by counting the number of patents filed by each country. The results are surprising, but we also need to qualify them.
WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) is the United Nations institution that lists all registered patents in the world. The Visual Capitalist website has been in charge of compiling them and preparing a graph that shows us the power of each country in terms of patents and according to the sector.
It must be remembered that a patent does not necessarily mean that the product in question will exist one day. It’s just an idea an innovation that someone thought up and recorded.
Almost 2 million patents in 2021
This graph analyzes the year 2021, when more than 1.6 million patents were registered. And honestly, China’s dominance is immense.
It must be taken into account that the country is home to a huge part of the world’s population but, without a doubt, much of that population is innovative. 607,758 patents come from the Asian country, that is, 38% of the world total.
The United States follows by far with 18%, followed by Japan with 16%. South Korea ranks fourth, Germany the fifth, France the sixth and the United Kingdom the seventh.
The “rest of the world’s countries”, among which we find Spain, have registered between all, only 11.6% of all patents in 2021. There are a few, about 2% whose origin is unknown.
On the other hand, the graph also shows us the distribution according to sectors such as information technology, communications or civil engineering and China sweeps these three mentioned. Japan takes the cake in video games and France in transport, thanks, above all, to the contribution of Airbus patents.
Image | Composition by Marcos Merino for Genbeta. Graphic by Visual Capitalist and photography by deBandera.
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