Number of active patent families worldwide 2019, by authority protected

In the last twenty years the number of patent families active in China has risen steadily. Notable years are 2009 and 2014 in this development. In 2009 the number of active patent families in China surpassed South Korea's active patents. At that point only the United States and Japan had more active patent families. In 2014, China surpassed both countries. The statistic is based on data provided by PatentSight.