Intellectual Property Earnings by Country 2023
Key Findings
About This Dataset
Intellectual Property Earnings by Country 2023The United States lead with $148.2 billion in intellectual property receipts, more than double second-placed Netherlands on $57.6 billion and roughly equal to the next three countries combined. This is arguably the clearest financial measure of a country's accumulated innovation, and America's lead is decisive. Japan on $51.9 billion and Germany on $48 billion complete a top four in which every member earns over $45 billion. The most revealing entry is China at $10.9 billion, ranked tenth: despite publishing more scientific papers than any nation, China earns barely 7% of what the United States does from licensing ideas, a gap between research volume and commercial ownership of intellectual property.
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- World Bank (IMF Balance of Payments)
- Coverage
- 10 entities · 2023 · 10 observations
- Measure
- Charges for the Use of Intellectual Property, Receipts (US$)
- Last updated
- 15 July 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
- Values use the measure and unit named on this page. Consult the dataset description and cited source for coverage, definitions and any unit conversions. Displayed values may be rounded for readability.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2023.
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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