Patent Applications in China by Year, 2000-2021

About This Dataset

Patent applications filed each year by Chinese residents at China's national patent office, from 2000 to 2021. The series records one of the steepest sustained rises in any innovation statistic, taking China from a minor filer to the largest in the world within two decades.

✨ AI Insight

Chinese resident filings grew from 25,346 in 2000 to 1,426,644 in 2021, a rise of more than 56 times. The climb was almost unbroken: in twenty-one year-on-year changes there is a single decline, 2019, when filings fell by 150,247 from 1,393,815 to 1,243,568. Growth then resumed, and 2021 set a new series high. The fastest year was 2016, which added 236,729 filings on its own, more than China's entire annual total as recently as 2009. China passed the 100,000 mark in 2006, one million in 2016, and has added about 103,000 filings a year on average since 2010.

Source: World Bank / World Intellectual Property Organization

Key Findings

Auto-computed highlights from this dataset

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2021 leads with 1,426,644 in 2000-2021.

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Average value in 2000-2021: 572,198 · median: 354,448.

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Gap in 2000-2021: 2021 is 56.3× larger than 2000.