China vs United States: Patents - international collaboration in technology development
Patents - international collaboration in technology development over time
- China
- United States
How they compare
China currently reports 78,912 Co-inventions against 70,811 Co-inventions in United States, a difference of 8,101 Co-inventions.
That makes China's figure about 1.1 times United States's.
The two have swapped places 1 time across 34 shared years of data; in 1990 it was United States ahead.
China ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 112 countries.
Across the 4 decades both report, China averaged higher in 1 and United States in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | United States | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 4,242 Co-inventions | 41,801 Co-inventions | 37,559 Co-inventions | United States |
| 2000s | 27,407 Co-inventions | 72,421 Co-inventions | 45,014 Co-inventions | United States |
| 2010s | 37,464 Co-inventions | 83,236 Co-inventions | 45,773 Co-inventions | United States |
| 2020s | 81,564 Co-inventions | 77,688 Co-inventions | 3,876 Co-inventions | China |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher patents - international collaboration in technology development, China or United States?
- China, at 78,912 Co-inventions against 70,811 Co-inventions in United States as of 2023.
- What is the difference in patents - international collaboration in technology development between China and United States?
- 8,101 Co-inventions, with China ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and United States?
- 34 years are reported by both, from 1990 to 2023.
- How do China and United States rank globally for patents - international collaboration in technology development?
- China ranks 1st and United States ranks 2nd of 112 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, published as Patents - international collaboration in technology development — Co-inventions. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Patent statistics and indicators are suitable for tracking innovation in environment-related technologies. They allow the assessment of countries' innovation performance as well as the design of governments' environmental and innovation policies. This dataset presents data on shares of co-inventions and on shares of inventors’ collaborations across the OECD area and elsewhere, in environment-related technologies, using inventors’ country of residence. For more information on the methodology, click the link below on "Database documentation" Data source(s): OECD, STI Micro-data Lab: Intellectual Property Database, http://oe.cd/ipstats Contact: ENV.Stat@oecd.org Dataset release date: April 16, 2026 Database documentation