What a fascinating animation!
Over 88 million patent filings are in our database. Plotting these filings over time reveals the most important countries/patent authorities.
While it was solely Japan, North American and European countries on top until the end of the the last century, China and South Korea show strongly increasing figures in the most recent years. In 2006, the historical amount was almost even. Then the Chinese race began. In terms of filings per year, China is already greatly ahead of all other countries and it would not come surprising to see China taking over the first place in terms of total amount of patent filings in 2019.
The European Patent Office (EPO) has already passed most European national offices, only Germany (DPMA) left. With 3.4 millions, PCT filings at WIPO (country code WO) are at a very similar level than EP filings.
Australia (just outside the top 10) and Brazil on position 17 are the only two countries that are not from Europe, North America or Asia.
