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IP Facts and Figures 2025 • View original reporting
Image: IP Facts and Figures 2025
Global intellectual property (IP) filing activity in 2024 showed broad-based growth. Patent applications climbed 4.9% to 3.7 million, with utility models – a special form of patent right – posting a similar gain of 4% to reach 3.3 million. Design filing increased 2.2% to 1.6 million. The sole exception was trademarks, where the total application class count remained flat at 15.2 million.
Offices in Asia accounted for between about 65% and 70% of total worldwide filing in 2024 for patents, trademarks and designs, and nearly all (98.7%) utility model filing. Over the past decade, Asia’s global share of applications filed for these four IP rights has seen a substantial increase. For instance, Asia’s share of all patent applications filed globally rose from 60% in 2014 to 70.1% in 2024. Within Asia, filing is heavily concentrated in four jurisdictions: China, India, Japan and the Republic of Korea, which together accounted for 95.2% of all Asia's patent applications in 2024.
Patents in force worldwide grew 6% in 2024 to reach an estimated 19.7 million. The highest number of patents in force was in China (5.7 million), followed by the United States of America (US) with 3.5 million and Japan with 2.1 million.
The stock of active trademark registrations worldwide expanded 6.1% in 2024 to reach an estimated 93.2 million. The IP office of China recorded 49.8 million registrations in force – over half the global total – followed by the offices of the US with 3.6 million and India with 3 million.
Designs in force grew marginally by 0.2% in 2024, remaining at an estimated 6.1 million – effectively the same as in 2023. The top three offices were China (3.1 million), the US (448,554) and the Republic of Korea (414,402).
Data received by WIPO from a total of 94 national and regional authorities show there were an estimated 62,300 protected geographical indications (GIs) in existence in 2024. It is important to note that this overall total will inevitably include a degree of double counting, as GIs in force through bilateral, plurilateral or multilateral agreements could potentially be included multiple times. If GIs in force through various international agreements are excluded, then around 24,500 GIs were in force in 2024.