Mexico vs South Africa: Patents - technology diffusion

Mexico
3,505 Patents
in 2023
South Africa
4,592 Patents
in 2023
Mexico rank
16th
South Africa rank
13th

Patents - technology diffusion over time

  • Mexico
  • South Africa
05.0k10.0k15.0k20.0k199020062023

How they compare

South Africa currently reports 4,592 Patents against 3,505 Patents in Mexico, a difference of 1,087 Patents.

That makes South Africa's figure about 1.3 times Mexico's.

The two have swapped places 4 times across 34 shared years of data; in 1990 it was South Africa ahead.

Mexico ranks 16th and South Africa ranks 13th of 104 countries.

Across the 4 decades both report, Mexico averaged higher in 3 and South Africa in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade Mexico South Africa Difference Ahead
1990s 4,744 Patents 5,813 Patents 1,069 Patents South Africa
2000s 15,290 Patents 6,337 Patents 8,953 Patents Mexico
2010s 18,762 Patents 6,254 Patents 12,509 Patents Mexico
2020s 15,278 Patents 4,957 Patents 10,321 Patents Mexico

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher patents - technology diffusion, Mexico or South Africa?
South Africa, at 4,592 Patents against 3,505 Patents in Mexico as of 2023.
What is the difference in patents - technology diffusion between Mexico and South Africa?
1,087 Patents, with South Africa ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Mexico and South Africa?
34 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2023.
How do Mexico and South Africa rank globally for patents - technology diffusion?
Mexico ranks 16th and South Africa ranks 13th 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

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Mexico vs South Africa: Patents - technology diffusion. Statizoid, drawing on Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Retrieved 20 August 2026, from https://science-tech.statizoid.com/compare/patents-technology-diffusion/mexico/south-africa/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://science-tech.statizoid.com/compare/patents-technology-diffusion/mexico/south-africa/">Mexico vs South Africa: Patents - technology diffusion</a> — Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Patents - technology diffusion
Unit
Patents
Source
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Licence
OECD Terms and Conditions (attribution required)
Coverage
118 places, 3,266 data points, 1990–2023
Last refreshed

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