Top 20 Most Patent Prolific Countries

Sep-14-2015 0 comments Cube Biosystems

According a study published by The Economist titled “Whose Brains are Draining?”, ranking the countries by the number of patents filed in 2012 generates a list that contains both developed and 'developing' nations. The list roughly tracks total economic size of the country. Japan has the lowest percentage of patents filed by its citizens in another country, while Inida has 48.7% of patents filed in another country. This percentage is one way to gauge 'brain drain'.

Ranking countries by patent filed per million population (based on 2015 population stats), produces a different order, where a couple of Nordic countries (invention may come from boredom during long winter nights!) and Israel come in at the top. Germany and Japan remain at the top in either ranking method.

Total Patents filed in 2012.

Rank	Country	No. Patent	GDP Per Capita	% Filed by Citizens Outside of Country
1	United States	519,553	$ 51,409	1.5%
2	Japan	362,321	$ 46,661	1.2%
3	Germanay	252,429	$ 43,903	7.5%
4	China	201,901	$ 6,194	17.2%
5	South Korea	136,436	$ 24,454	4.8%
6	France	92,933	$ 42,417	13.4%
7	United Kingdom	73,814	$ 41, 194	20.2%
8	India	52,167	$ 1,496	48.7%
9	Canada	46,865	$ 52,818	11.5%
10	Italy	41,579	$ 34,959	16.4%
11	Netherlands	35,669	$ 49,155	13.8%
12	Sweeden	33,902	$ 56,916	7.3%
13	Spain	26,702	$ 29,006	11.8%
14	Israel	25,627	$ 32,528	8.7%
15	Australia	20,363	$ 67,852	16.3%
16	Switzerland	19,955	$ 83,708	8.5%
17	Finland	19,189	$ 47,331	6.0%
18	Russia	16,6045	$ 4062	25.9%
19	Austria	15,711	$ 48,171	17.9%
20	Belgium	14,760	$ 44,987	13.3%

Patents Per Million in Population

Rank	Country	Patents per Million
1	Finland	3,489
2	Sweeden	3,459
3	Germanay	3,113
4	Israel	3,051
5	Japan	2,855
6	South Korea	2,654
7	Switzerland	2,320
8	Netherlands	2,111
9	Austria	1,827
10	USA	1,615
11	France	1,387
12	Belgium	1,327
13	Canada	1,313
14	Unitied Kingdom	1,139
15	Australia	852
16	Italy	685
17	Spain	575
18	China	147
19	Russia	113
20	India	41