EPO patents

Output

Data publication

How many European patent applications were filed in 2025, and how many patents were granted? How does the number of patent applications from the Netherlands compare with the average for the EU-14 countries over the period 2009-2025? This data publication presents figures on European patent applications and grants, and compares the number of aplications per capita across countries.


have been applied for and granted in Europe by 2025? How does the number of Dutch patent applications compare to the average of EU-15 countries (2009-2025)? In this data publication we provide information on the number of European patents applied for and granted and we compare the number of patents applied for with the number of inhabitants of countries.

In short

  • Most European patents are filed from the US, Germany, China and Japan.
  • Switzerland has the highest number of European patent applications per million inhabitants.
  • Between 2009 and 2025, the Netherlands consistently applies for more European patents than the average of EU-14 countries.

How many European patents are filed and granted in 2025?

Source: European Patent Office (EPO)
Notes: The number of patent requests consists of direct European requests (submitted to the EPO) and the international (PCT) requests that entered the European phase in 2025. Applications are allocated to countries based on the country residence of the first applicant listed on the application form. Patents granted in 2025 generally relate to applications filed in earlier years. The procedure from filing to grant typically takes approximately three to five years. 

Analysis
The largest number of European patent applications in 2025 came from the United States (47,008), followed by Germany (24,476), China (22,031) and Japan (21,304). China has therefore overtaken Japan in terms of application. However, Japan (13,336) still ranks above China (11,577) in terms of patents granted. South Korea also counts a substantial share, with 14,355 applications. Within Europe, Germany has the largest number of applications, followed by France (10,932), Switzerland (9.914) and the Netherlands (7,006). The technology fields with the most applications in 2025 were computer technology (17,844), digitale communication (17,802), electrical machinery, apparatus and energy (16,997), medical technology (15,905) and transport (9,846). In total, 201,974 European patent applications were filed in 2025. 

The Dutch organizations with the most patent applications in 2025 were Philips, Signify, Airbus, NXP, Stellantis and ASML. The leading technology fields for Dutch applications were medical technology, electrical machinery, apparatus and energy, and computer technology. The number of applications in these three fields increased between 2024 and 2025 by 10.1%, 15.9% and 8.7%, respectively. 

The number of patents granted in a given year does not directly correspond tot the number of applications filled in that year. The procedure from filing to grant typically takes three to five years, meaning that patents granted in 2025 generally relate to applications filed several years earlier.  

How many European patents are filed per million inhabitants in 2025?

Source: EPO
Notes: The number of patent requests consists of direct European requests (submitted to the EPO) and the international (PCT) requests that entered the European phase in 2025. The requests are counted based on the country of residence of the first applicant as stated on the application form.

Analysis
As in 2024, the Netherlands ranks fifth among the countries shown above in terms of European patent applications per million inhabitants. Switzerland has by far the highest number of applications per million inhabitants. Finland, Sweden and Denmark also have more applications per million inhabitants than the Netherlands.  

How does the number of European patent applications filed by the Netherlands compare with the average of EU-14 countries?

Source: EPO
Notes: The number of patent requests consists of direct European requests (submitted to the EPO) and the international (PCT) requests that entered the European phase in a certain year. The requests are counted based on the country of residence of the first applicant as stated on the application form. The EU-14 average covers the countries that were members of the European Union before the 2004 enlargement, excluding the United Kingdom. This ensures comparability over time, as the United Kingdom is no longer part of the EU following Brexit. Presenting the United Kingdom separately also allows its patenting trends to be compared more clearly with those of the Netherlands and the EU-14 average, without affecting the average itself. The Eu-14 comprises Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

Analysis
The Netherlands consistently filed more European patent applications than the EU-14 average throughout the period 2009-2025. In 2025, the Netherlands recorded 7,006 applications, compared with an average of 4,476 for the EU-14 countries. The gap between the Netherlands and this average is smaller than in 2009. Following a decline between 2009 and 2012, the number of Dutch applications increased to a peak of 7,147 in 2015. The level then remained relatively stable, with a slight decline in 2020. Applications increased again from 2021 to 2023, followed by a slight decline in 2024 and 2025. 

Throughout the period, the United Kingdom filed fewer applications than the Netherlands but remained consistently above the EU-14 average. The number of British applications increased between 2013 and 2019 and has fluctuated since then. In 2025, it stood at 5,875. The United States filed by far the most patent applications. The number of American applications increased from 32,846 in 2009 to a peak of 48,170 in 2023, with intermittent declines, including in 2020. Applications fell slightly in 2024 and 2025, reaching 47,008 in 2025. 

China recorded the strongest proportional growth among the countries shown. The number of applications rose from 1,629 in 2009 to 22,031 in 2025 (+1,252%). China overtook the United Kingdom in 2015 and the Netherlands in 2016. Following a slowdown in growth in 2023 and 2024, applications increased more sharply again in 2025, by 9.7%. The Chinese applications therefore reached almost half the American applications in 2025. 

The data in this publication comes from the EPO. Until 2017, the Rathenau published numbers from Eurostat on EPO patents. Eurostat no longer publishes these data. In Eurostat statistics, patent requests made by different countries were counted in each of these countries as a fraction of an request. The EPO counts patent requests based on the country of residence of the first applicant as stated on the application form. The number of requests is therefore not comparable to previous data publications.

For an explanation of the used definitions and abbreviations we refer to the webpage Definitions for Science in Figures.

Footnotes

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