European patent applications by country, 2025
Patent applications filed with the European Patent Office, counted by the applicant's country of residence, per million inhabitants.
36 places ranked for 2025. Highest: Liechtenstein (10,517.1 per million people). Lowest: North Macedonia (0.6 per million people). The median is 58.9 per million people.
Highest 10
- 1. Liechtenstein 10,517.1 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 2. Switzerland 1,095.4 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 3. Finland 613.4 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 4. Luxembourg 548.4 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 5. Sweden 446.2 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 6. Denmark 445.9 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 7. Netherlands 388.3 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 8. Germany 292.9 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 9. Austria 245.0 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 10. Ireland 216.7 per million peoplep (provisional)
Lowest 10
- 36. North Macedonia 0.6 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 35. Serbia 2.0 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 34. Romania 2.2 per million peopleep (estimated, provisional)
- 33. Albania 3.4 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 32. Türkiye 7.7 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 31. Montenegro 8.0 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 30. Croatia 10.3 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 29. Slovakia 10.7 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 28. Bulgaria 11.2 per million peoplep (provisional)
- 27. Greece 11.9 per million peoplep (provisional)
The chart loads when you scroll to it.
Source: Eurostat.
In short
- Among the 36 countries with a value for 2025, the highest is Liechtenstein (10,517.1 per million people) and the lowest North Macedonia (0.6 per million people).
- Half of the countries are above 58.9 per million people and half below.
- From 2024 to 2025 the value rose in 18 countries and fell in 18.
- The figure for the European Union was 152.6 per million people in 2025, against 147.6 per million people in 2020 (+4.9). The source marks a break in the series during this period, so part of the change may come from a change in method.
Full ranking
| # | Country | Value | Period | Relative size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liechtenstein | 10,517.1 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 2 | Switzerland | 1,095.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 3 | Finland | 613.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 548.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 5 | Sweden | 446.2 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 6 | Denmark | 445.9 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 7 | Netherlands | 388.3 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 8 | Germany | 292.9 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 9 | Austria | 245.0 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 10 | Ireland | 216.7 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 11 | Belgium | 214.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 12 | Iceland | 195.2 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 13 | France | 158.7 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 14 | Norway | 129.8 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 15 | Malta | 125.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 16 | Italy | 80.9 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 17 | Slovenia | 80.3 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 18 | Estonia | 59.9 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 19 | Cyprus | 58.0 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 20 | Spain | 45.9 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 21 | Portugal | 34.2 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 22 | Lithuania | 32.2 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 23 | Czechia | 24.5 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 24 | Latvia | 20.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 25 | Poland | 17.0 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 26 | Hungary | 13.5 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 27 | Greece | 11.9 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 28 | Bulgaria | 11.2 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 29 | Slovakia | 10.7 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 30 | Croatia | 10.3 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 31 | Montenegro | 8.0 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 32 | Türkiye | 7.7 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 33 | Albania | 3.4 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 34 | Romania | 2.2 per million peopleep (estimated, provisional) | 2025 | |
| 35 | Serbia | 2.0 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 | |
| 36 | North Macedonia | 0.6 per million peoplep (provisional) | 2025 |
Places are ordered from the highest to the lowest value. Group medians on this site are the middle value of the members with data for the same year; they are not official aggregates.
How this ranking works
Every country is ranked on its value for 2025, the latest period that most countries have, so all values are for the same point in time. Countries without a value for 2025 are left out. Groups and aggregates such as the European Union are not ranked. Values are as published by Eurostat; the ranking is a plain ordering from the highest to the lowest value and says nothing about whether a high value is good or bad.
Earlier years: use the year selector above. Methodology · Coverage and freshness
Related
- Patent applications to the European Patent Office: trend, map and all years
- Liechtenstein and Switzerland side by side on every measure
- R&D spending and patent applications in Europe (scatter plot)
- Rankings within a group: European Union (27 countries) · Euro area (21 countries) · OECD (38 countries) · G20 countries