Innovators around the world filed 3.4 million patent applications in 2021, up 3.6% from the previous year, according to a report released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) earlier this week.

The "World Intellectual Property Indicators 2022," which compiles the latest data from some 150 national and regional IP offices, found that the 3.4 million applications comprised 2.4 million resident filings (70.1% of the total) and 1 million non-resident filings (29.9%).

Applicants from China filed around 1.54 million equivalent patent applications worldwide in 2021 (resident plus abroad filings), followed by the US (509,853) and Japan (412,851).

Here is a list of the top 10 countries with greatest number of equivalent patent applications in 2021.

10. Italy

34,166 applications