China (People’s Republic of) vs Japan: Patents - technology diffusion
Patents - technology diffusion over time
- China (People’s Republic of)
- Japan
How they compare
China (People’s Republic of) currently reports 1.77 million Patents against 251,752 Patents in Japan, a difference of 1.52 million Patents.
That makes China (People’s Republic of)'s figure about 7.0 times Japan's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 34 shared years of data; in 1990 it was Japan ahead.
China (People’s Republic of) ranks 1st and Japan ranks 3rd of 104 countries.
Across the 4 decades both report, China (People’s Republic of) averaged higher in 2 and Japan in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China (People’s Republic of) | Japan | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 28,009 Patents | 371,482 Patents | 343,473 Patents | Japan |
| 2000s | 176,321 Patents | 397,516 Patents | 221,196 Patents | Japan |
| 2010s | 977,251 Patents | 312,548 Patents | 664,704 Patents | China (People’s Republic of) |
| 2020s | 1.69 million Patents | 271,359 Patents | 1.42 million Patents | China (People’s Republic of) |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher patents - technology diffusion, China (People’s Republic of) or Japan?
- China (People’s Republic of), at 1.77 million Patents against 251,752 Patents in Japan as of 2023.
- What is the difference in patents - technology diffusion between China (People’s Republic of) and Japan?
- 1.52 million Patents, with China (People’s Republic of) ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China (People’s Republic of) and Japan?
- 34 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2023.
- How do China (People’s Republic of) and Japan rank globally for patents - technology diffusion?
- China (People’s Republic of) ranks 1st and Japan ranks 3rd of 104 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Patents - technology diffusion. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Patent statistics and indicators are suitable for tracking innovation in environment-related technologies. They allow the assessment of countries' innovation performance as well as the design of governments' environmental and innovation policies. This dataset presents data on patent applications by patent office. For more information on the methodology, click the link below on "Database documentation" Data source(s): OECD, STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org Dataset release date: April 16, 2026 Database documentation