What is the total number of U.S. Patents issued (all types) as of Dec.
31 2002? And what is the total number of patents granted by other
countries besides the U.S. as of Dec. 31 2002? I am trying to show or
prove that the US is the most inventive country in the world.

Hello Maryanna, and thank you for a most interesting question. 

The type of information you are looking for on international patent
statistics is periodically compiled in a report called the "Trilateral
Statistical Report".  This report is prepared by the European Patent
Office (EPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO) and the United States
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), although it includes information
from other countries as well.

You asked about data as of December 31, 2002, but I'm afraid that,
since 2002 ended barely a month ago, the numbers have not yet been
compiled by any of patenting agencies.  These compilations and
comparisons take a great deal of time to put together, and then be
cleared, by all the countries involved.  Instead, the most recent data
from the Trilateral report was published in the year 2000, and can be
found here:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/tws/tsr2000/

That report notes that there have been 4.4 million patents (formally
called "patents of invention" in the report) that have been issued
around the world.

Of these 4.4 million patents:

1,403,783 are from European countries.

1,242,853 are from the United States

1,005,304 are from Japan

716,948 are from other countries.  


The actual data from the report can be found here:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/tws/tsr2000/graph1-1.htm


These numbers alone don't tell the whole story.  Many of the patents
filed in one part of the world are filed from another part.  For
instance, about 25% of all patent in Europe are granted to U.S.
applicants, while while 20% of U.S. patents are granted to Japanese
applicants.  The recent (1999 and 2000) breakouts of country-of-origin
data can be found here:

http://www.uspto.gov/web/tws/tsr2000/43patents.htm


I hope this answers your question to your satisfaction.  Let me know
if I can be of further assistance.

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Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 03 Feb 2003 20:12 PST

Hello again.  A fellow researcher pointed out that the 4.4 million
figure was a bit ambiguous.  It is the number of patents of invention
issued around the world throughout modern times -- not just for a
single year.  My thanks to THV for his insight.

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Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 04 Feb 2003 09:22 PST

And regarding Socal's comment, I agree that he/she has found a useful
site, but as far as I can tell, it only has data from the US Patent
Office, and does not include European or Japan patents as does the
Trilateral report.

But if you have any questions about any of this, don't hesitate to use
the "Request for Clarification" button, and I'll be glad to provide
some more detail.

A better source of Patent statistics is:

http://www.patentratings.com

They have graphs and charts showing the breakdown of the US patent
data for US and International applications.