Geneva, Switzerland · 12 November 2025 — Innovators worldwide filed a record-breaking 3.7 million patent applications in 2024, representing a 4.9% increase over 2023 and the fastest year-on-year growth since 2018, according to the World Intellectual Property Indicators (WIPI) 2025 report published by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on 12 November 2025. The findings, drawing on data from approximately 150 national and regional intellectual property offices, confirm that global patenting activity has now risen for five consecutive years following a brief pandemic-era dip.
The report's publication marks a significant moment for the global innovation ecosystem: patent filings have nearly doubled over the past decade and a half, rising 1.9-fold from just under 2 million in 2010 to 3.7 million in 2024. The trajectory underscores the accelerating pace of invention worldwide, even as the geographic centre of gravity continues to shift eastward.
China Dominates Volume as Asia Consolidates Innovation Hub Status
The National Intellectual Property Administration of China (CNIPA) received 1.8 million patent applications in 2024, up 9% on 2023. This volume is more than three times the number submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), which ranked second with 603,194 applications. China's share of the world total has risen from 34.6% in 2014 to 49.1% in 2024 — nearly half of all global patent filings now flow through a single national office.
Japan's Patent Office (JPO) received 306,855 applications, followed by the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) at 246,245 and the European Patent Office (EPO) at 199,402. Offices located in Asia received approximately 2.6 million applications in 2024, constituting 70.1% of the world total — a share that has grown by 10.1 percentage points over the past decade from 60% in 2014.
India's Sustained Double-Digit Growth Signals Deepening Innovation Capacity
Among the most striking findings is India's continued ascent. Indian applicants filed 64,480 patent applications by origin in 2024, achieving 16.5% growth — the country's sixth consecutive year of double-digit expansion. India now ranks sixth globally by origin. The IP office of India has experienced the largest shift in the resident and non-resident filings distribution over the past decade among major offices, with resident filings rising from 28.1% of the total in 2014 to 60.1% in 2024, reflecting a robust expansion of domestic innovation activity.
Among the top 20 origins, Finland (+15.4%), India (+19.1%) and Türkiye (+14.6%) were the only three to record double-digit filings growth in 2024. Türkiye's IP office also saw the fastest growth among the top 20 offices by filing volume, with an 18.4% increase driven by resident filings.
Resident Filings Drive Global Growth as Non-Resident Activity Stabilises
The worldwide filing of 3.7 million applications comprised 2.7 million resident filings (72.6% of the total) and 1 million non-resident filings (27.4%). Resident filings grew by 6.8% in 2024 — the fastest rate of growth since 2016 — while non-resident filings remained stable. Over the past decade, resident filings have grown at an average annual rate of 4.1%, compared to 1.6% for non-resident filings.
This divergence has contributed to a significant drop in the global share of non-resident filings, which has decreased from 32.6% to 27.4% over the past decade. The trend suggests that domestic innovation capacity is expanding faster than cross-border patent protection strategies, particularly in emerging economies.
Computer Technology Dominates Patent Landscape
In 2023 — the latest year for which complete technology-sector data is available owing to the delay between application and publication — computer technology emerged as the most frequently featured field in published patent applications worldwide, accounting for 13.2% of the global total. It was followed by electrical machinery (7.2%), measurement (6.2%), digital communication (5.8%) and medical technology (4.9%).
Computer technology alone recorded an average annual growth rate of 10.3% between 2013 and 2023 — significantly outpacing all other top fields and the only field among the top 10 to witness double-digit growth over the decade. The combined share of the top five technology fields has risen from 29.4% in 2013 to 37.4% in 2023, driven primarily by rapid growth in computer-related technologies.
| Technology Field | Share of Global Filings (2023) | Avg. Annual Growth (2013–2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Computer Technology | 13.2% | +10.3% |
| Electrical Machinery | 7.2% | — |
| Measurement | 6.2% | +7.2% |
| Digital Communication | 5.8% | +6.6% |
| Medical Technology | 4.9% | — |
Patents in Force Reach 19.7 Million Worldwide
An estimated 19.7 million patents were in force across 142 jurisdictions in 2024, a 6% increase from 2023. China held the highest number with 5.7 million patents in force, followed by the US (3.5 million), Japan (2.1 million) and the Republic of Korea (1.3 million). Growth was driven mainly by China, which had an additional 698,234 patents in force in 2024 compared to the previous year.
In 2024, an estimated 2.1 million patents were granted worldwide, a 5.2% increase from 2023. China issued over 1 million patents — more than three times the amount issued by the US (319,815). China's IP office issued 123,980 additional patents in 2024 compared to 2023, which is 27 times more than the additional patents issued by the US.
Gender Gap Persists but Narrows Slowly
Women constituted 18% of all inventors listed in published Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) applications in 2024, up from 11.6% in 2010. About 37% of published PCT applications named at least one woman as inventor in 2024, compared to 23.1% in 2010. Among the top 20 origins, China and Türkiye had the largest proportion of women inventors, where one quarter of inventors were women. In contrast, for Austria, Germany and Japan, only around one in ten inventors named in published PCT applications were women.
Implications for Global Innovation Policy
The WIPI 2025 report paints a picture of an innovation landscape in which Asian economies, led by China and India, are deepening their domestic patenting capacity at a rate that is reshaping the global distribution of intellectual property. For research institutions, technology transfer offices, and policymakers, the data raises important questions about the quality versus quantity of filings, the role of non-resident filings in facilitating technology transfer, and the persistent underrepresentation of women in patenting activity.
The concentration of filings in computer technology also reflects the broader economy-wide shift toward digital and AI-driven innovation, a trend that has been amplified by the surge in corporate R&D investment in these sectors. As the WIPI data demonstrates, the patent system continues to serve as a leading indicator of where innovation capacity is being built — and where it is not.
Sources:
- WIPO, World Intellectual Property Indicators 2025, published 12 November 2025 —
- WIPO, WIPI 2025 Highlights: Patents —
- IP Stars, India's Emergence as a Global IP Powerhouse: WIPI 2025 —
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Institutional Research Desk · Foresight Institute of Research and Translation
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