Germany vs South Korea: Annual patent applications

Germany
39,822
in 2021
South Korea
186,245
in 2021
Germany rank
5th
South Korea rank
4th

Annual patent applications over time

  • Germany
  • South Korea
050.0k100.0k150.0k200.0k198020002021

How they compare

South Korea currently reports 186,245 against 39,822 in Germany, a difference of 146,423.

That makes South Korea's figure about 4.7 times Germany's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 42 shared years of data; in 1980 it was Germany ahead.

Germany ranks 5th and South Korea ranks 4th of 135 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Annual patent applications
Source
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
135 places, 3,804 data points, 1980–2021
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