EPO Statistics 2020 – Switzerland 1st country in number of European patent applications per million inhabitants

The European Patent Office (EPO) recorded 180,250 European patent applications in 2020 compared to 181,406 in 2019, a slight decrease (-0.7%). The most active sectors remain those related to medical technologies, digital communication and computer science.

Regarding the country of origin of applications in 2020, the United States remains at the top of the ranking with 25% of all applications, followed by Germany (14%), Japan (12%), China (7%), France (6%), South Korea (5% for 9106 applications) and Switzerland (5% for 8112 applications).

In terms of patent applications from EPO member countries, the top three countries are Germany (-3%), followed by France (+3.1%) and Switzerland (-1.9).

Per million inhabitants, Switzerland is again the country with the highest number of European patent applications (965.9 per million inhabitants), followed by Sweden and Denmark.

For a more detailed report:
https://www.epo.org/about-us/annual-reports-statistics/statistics/2020_fr.html