Germany vs United States: Patents - technology diffusion
Patents - technology diffusion over time
- Germany
- United States
How they compare
United States currently reports 370,325 Patents against 52,279 Patents in Germany, a difference of 318,046 Patents.
That makes United States's figure about 7.1 times Germany's.
Across all 34 years both countries report, United States has been ahead every year.
Germany ranks 5th and United States ranks 2nd of 104 countries.
United States has averaged higher in every one of the 4 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | Germany | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 75,084 Patents | 166,536 Patents | 91,452 Patents | United States |
| 2000s | 77,277 Patents | 338,783 Patents | 261,506 Patents | United States |
| 2010s | 59,805 Patents | 406,901 Patents | 347,097 Patents | United States |
| 2020s | 53,613 Patents | 420,060 Patents | 366,447 Patents | United States |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher patents - technology diffusion, Germany or United States?
- United States, at 370,325 Patents against 52,279 Patents in Germany as of 2023.
- What is the difference in patents - technology diffusion between Germany and United States?
- 318,046 Patents, with United States ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for Germany and United States?
- 34 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2023.
- How do Germany and United States rank globally for patents - technology diffusion?
- Germany ranks 5th and United States ranks 2nd 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