Robotics 4 November 2026 4 MIN READ
Industrial Robots by the Numbers
How many industrial robots exist, where they work, who has the most, and why density tells a different story than totals. IFR figures for 2025.
THE SHORT ANSWER
Industrial robots are reprogrammable multipurpose manipulators with three or more axes. The International Federation of Robotics counts 603,307 installed in 2025 and 5,079,078 in operation, with China taking 59% of new installations. Korea has the highest density, at 1,220 robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers in 2024.
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What counts as an industrial robot
The international standard ISO 8373:2021 defines an industrial robot as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator, programmable in three or more axes, which may be fixed in place or mounted on a mobile platform, for use in automation in an industrial environment. The word “multipurpose” matters: in practice, a machine built for a single fixed motion does not qualify. The International Federation of Robotics (IFR), which collects the world’s statistics, applies the same definition and notes that “reprogrammable” and “multipurpose” are interpretations taken from the older 2012 edition of the standard, because the 2021 edition no longer defines them. The standard says that a medical robot is not regarded as an industrial robot.
How many there are
IFR’s World Robotics 2026 report, published on 24 September 2026, covers the calendar year 2025.
- Installed in 2025: 603,307 robots worldwide, 11% more than in 2024 and a new record.
- Operational stock: 5,079,078 robots, 9% more than a year earlier, which passes five million for the first time. IFR expects it to exceed six million in 2028.
- Forecast: 655,000 installations in 2026 and 806,000 in 2029, a forecast IFR puts at 7% average annual growth from 2026 to 2029.
For comparison, the previous year’s report counted 542,076 installations in 2024 and a stock of 4,663,698. The small differences in the 2024 totals between IFR documents are normal revisions.
Where they are
Asia received 76% of the 2025 installations, 457,315 units. Europe fell 14% to 73,054, and the Americas rose 14% to a record 57,044.
By country, the ranking was:
- China: 354,226 robots, 20% more than in 2024 and 59% of the world’s installations. Chinese-brand robots accounted for 55% of installations in China, a figure IFR also gives as 57% in 2024.
- United States: almost 38,500, up 12%, which overtook Japan for second place.
- Japan: 36,219, down 19%, which moved it to third.
- Korea: 30,000, down 1%, in fourth.
- Germany: fewer than 25,000, down 8%, in fifth.
The biggest customers in 2025 were the electrical and electronics industry with 142,235 robots and the car industry with 138,429, followed by the metal and machinery industries with 108,571. IFR classes the work into handling and machine tending, welding and soldering, dispensing, processing and assembly. Handling was described as by far the largest application in IFR’s 2024 press slides. We could not confirm numerical shares for the applications, because IFR publishes them as images.
Density: robots per 10,000 workers
Counting robots does not say how automated an economy is. IFR’s measure of density is the number of operational industrial robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees. The latest published figures are for 2024, not 2025, so do not combine them with the installation numbers above.
- Korea: 1,220, the highest in the world.
- Singapore: 818, reached with a small stock because it has few manufacturing workers.
- Germany: 449, and Japan: 446.
- United States: 307, in eighth place.
- China: 166, in twenty-second place.
- Global average: 132.
Be careful with older articles. In September 2025 IFR gave China 567 robots per 10,000 and a global average of 177. In April 2026 it revised these to 166 and 132 after applying updated labour-market data from China’s national statistics bureau.
The first one
The first Unimate arm went to work on an assembly line in 1961 at a General Motors plant in New Jersey, where it lifted and stacked hot die-cast parts. The New York Times obituary of its inventor George Devol says that he applied for his patent in 1954 and explained the idea to Joseph Engelberger at a cocktail party where they discussed their favourite science-fiction writers. Devol coined the name Unimation, for Universal Automation. The Henry Ford museum calls Unimates the world’s first successful industrial robots. IEEE’s robot guide says early units sold for $35,000 in the early 1970s and used hydraulic actuators with a repeatability within one millimetre. Sources disagree on details: one industry association dates a prototype installation at General Motors to 1959, and the plant is named as Trenton by some and Ewing Township by others.
What to watch next
- Which countries add robots fastest, and whether Chinese brands keep their share at home.
- The 2025 density table, when IFR publishes it.
- Whether the forecast of 806,000 installations in 2029 holds, as automation spreads beyond cars and electronics.
Our take: the factory floor is where robots are already normal. Humanoid robots grab the headlines, but more than five million arms are working today, and nearly six in ten new ones are installed in a single country.
Questions and answers
What is an industrial robot?
ISO 8373:2021 defines it as an automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulator programmable in three or more axes, used in industrial automation. A medical robot is not counted.
How many industrial robots are there?
The International Federation of Robotics counted 5,079,078 operational industrial robots in 2025, after 603,307 new installations that year.
Which country has the most industrial robots?
China, with 354,226 installations in 2025, or 59% of the world's total. By density the leader is Korea, with 1,220 robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees in 2024.
When was the first industrial robot used?
The first Unimate arm went to work at a General Motors plant in New Jersey in 1961, lifting hot die-cast parts. One trade association dates a prototype installation to 1959.
Do you agree?
Take it to Chevlume: write your view, add your sources and let others answer. The closed alpha is by invitation.
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Sources
- Executive Summary World Robotics 2026 – Industrial Robots · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) / VDMA Services GmbH · Accessed
- Five Million Robots now Operate in Factories Globally (World Robotics 2026 press release) · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) · Accessed
- Executive summary World Robotics 2025 – Industrial Robots · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) / VDMA Services GmbH · Accessed
- Robot Density Surges in Europe, Asia, and Americas (World Robotics 2025 density data) · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) · Accessed
- US Robot Industry Returns to Double Digit Growth (preliminary results 2025) · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) · Accessed
- ISO 8373:2021 Robotics — Vocabulary, term 3.6 'industrial robot' (preview sample) · ISO (sample hosted by iTeh Standards) · Accessed
- World Robotics 2024 Industrial Robots – Introduction: sources and methods · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) · Accessed
- World Robotics 2024 press conference presentation · International Federation of Robotics (IFR) · Accessed
- Robot, First Unimate Robot Ever Installed on an Assembly Line, 1961 · The Henry Ford (museum collection) · Accessed
- George Devol, Developer of Robot Arm, Dies at 99 · The New York Times · Accessed
- Unimate · IEEE Robots Guide · Accessed
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