The number of industrial robots operating around the world continued to climb in 2024, extending a long expansion in industrial automation even as new investment slowed in some major markets.

The global operational stock of industrial robots reached an estimated 4,663,698 units in 2024, an increase of 9% from the previous year, according to the International Federation of Robotics. Since 2019, the worldwide stock has increased by an average of 11% a year.

The figure comes from the IFR's World Robotics 2025 Industrial Robots report, which compiles data from robot suppliers and national robotics associations. Importantly, the 4.66 million figure is an estimate of robots currently in use, not the number of robots sold or installed during 2024.

Annual installations tell a different, though closely related, story. 542,076 industrial robots were installed worldwide in 2024, virtually unchanged from 541,302 in 2023 and second only to the record 552,946 installations recorded in 2022.

The IFR describes operational stock as the number of industrial robots currently in use. It does not conduct a physical census of every operating robot worldwide.

For countries other than Japan, the IFR estimates the stock by assuming an average robot service life of 12 years and summing installations over that period. Japan's operational stock is calculated and reported separately by the Japan Robot Association. The IFR notes that a past study suggested actual average service life could be closer to 15 years, while some robots may remain in service for much shorter periods.

That methodology means the 4,663,698 figure should be understood as a calculated estimate rather than a directly observed count.

The underlying installation statistics are built from both primary and secondary sources. Major industrial robot suppliers report installations by country, industry and application directly to the IFR, while national robotics associations provide additional data that can be used for validation and to cover suppliers that do not report directly. The IFR says its resulting dataset covers almost the entire global industrial robot market.

The organization follows the ISO 8373 definition of an industrial robot, covering automatically controlled, reprogrammable, multipurpose manipulators programmable in three or more axes for industrial automation applications. This separates the industrial robot statistics from categories such as many autonomous mobile and service robots.

No country has contributed more to the expansion of the world's industrial robot stock than China.

China's operational stock reached 2,027,190 robots in 2024, crossing two million for the first time and accounting for about 43% of the worldwide total. Its stock had grown by an average of 21% a year since 2019.

Japan remained a distant second with 450,530 industrial robots in operation, representing roughly 10% of the global stock. IFR data show the United States with about 393,700, the Republic of Korea with about 391,900 and Germany with about 278,900. Together, the five largest national markets accounted for approximately 76% of the world's operational industrial robot stock.

China's position reflects not only its enormous manufacturing base but also years of rapid robot investment. Of the robots newly installed worldwide in 2024, 295,045 were installed in China, up 7% from 2023. The country alone accounted for 54% of global installations during the year.

The geographical concentration is also clear in annual deployment figures.

Asia, including Australia and New Zealand under the IFR's regional classification, installed 401,665 industrial robots in 2024, an increase of 5% from the previous year. That represented 74% of all new installations worldwide.

Europe moved in the opposite direction. Installations declined 8% to 85,006 units, although that was still the region's second-highest annual total on record. Germany remained Europe's largest market with 26,982 installations, followed by Italy with 8,783. Spain moved ahead of France to become Europe's third-largest market for new installations.

The Americas recorded 50,077 installations, down 10% from 2023. The United States accounted for 34,164 of them, or 68% of the regional total. Mexico recorded 5,594 installations and Canada 3,787.

The divergence between these regions is significant because operational stock accumulates investment made over many years. A single year's decline in installations does not immediately reduce the total number of robots estimated to be operating, particularly when new deployments remain substantial.

Despite the 9% increase in operational stock, the market for new industrial robots was essentially flat in 2024.

The 542,076 installations recorded worldwide were only 774 units above the revised 2023 figure, an increase of roughly 0.1%. They remained about 2% below the 2022 record. Even so, 2024 marked the fourth consecutive year in which annual installations exceeded half a million units.

The longer-term comparison is more striking. IFR figures show approximately 229,000 robots were installed globally in 2014, meaning annual deployment was well over twice that level a decade later.

The five largest installation markets were China, Japan, the United States, the Republic of Korea and Germany. Together they received 431,240 robots in 2024, equal to 80% of worldwide installations.

Industrial robot demand is also becoming more diversified across industries.

The electrical and electronics industry became the largest customer for new industrial robots in 2024, installing 128,899 units, up 2% from the previous year. The sector accounted for roughly one-quarter of global installations.

The automotive industry, historically one of the most important drivers of industrial robot investment, ranked second with 126,088 installations, down 7%. The gap between electronics and automotive amounted to fewer than 3,000 robots.

Metal and machinery producers ranked third, with installations rising 16% to a record 88,777 units. The sector accounted for 16% of worldwide installations.

The industry breakdown is not complete. The IFR reported that the customer industry was unknown for 14% of installations in 2024, a limitation that matters when comparing the relative scale of robot investment across sectors.

The growth in operational stock is also reflected in robot density, a separate IFR measure designed to make comparisons across manufacturing workforces.

Globally, manufacturing had an average of 177 industrial robots for every 10,000 employees in 2024. Asia averaged 204 robots per 10,000 manufacturing employees, compared with 148 in Europe and 131 in the Americas.

Robot density should not be confused with total robot stock. A country can have a relatively small manufacturing sector and a high number of robots relative to its workforce, while a much larger industrial economy can have more robots overall but a lower density.

The distinction helps explain why China's importance is particularly notable. The country is not simply adding robots rapidly relative to its industrial workforce. It has also accumulated by far the largest absolute stock, with more than two million industrial robots estimated to be operating in 2024.

The 4.66 million operational robots recorded for 2024 are the result of sustained investment rather than a single surge in purchases.

More than half a million new robots have been installed globally in each year since 2021, while the estimated operational stock has continued to expand as those installations accumulate. The result is an industrial automation base that is substantially larger than it was only a few years earlier.

The pattern is uneven. China now holds more than two-fifths of the world's operational industrial robots, while Asia accounts for nearly three-quarters of current annual installations. Europe and the Americas remain major users of industrial robotics, but both recorded lower installation volumes in 2024.

The central figure therefore captures more than the size of a single year's robot market. An estimated 4.66 million industrial robots were already operating worldwide in 2024, representing the accumulated result of years of investment in automated production across some of the world's largest industrial economies.