Global robot statistics
The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) through its Statistical Department compiles a well-established annual statistical data on the global robotics market.
The statistical data is collected from industrial robot suppliers worldwide either as primary data or as secondary data through national robotics associations.
For industrial robots, installations per country by type, industries and application are counted, including global installations for cobots (robots designed to be used in a collaborative setting) considered separately.
Participation in our statistical survey is open to all manufacturers of robots (hardware).
- More details on how to participate in the survey on industrial robots
- More details on how to participate in the survey on service robots
Market report
This data is published as an annual report called "World Robotics". This report provides comprehensive and up-to-date information on the global robotics market, including statistics, trends, and analyses. The publication covers various aspects of robotics, such as industrial robots including cobots, service robots as well as mobile robots, split into two books, World Robotics Industrial Robots as well as World Robotics Service Robots.
The publication includes data on the number of installed industrial robots, market trends, applications, and information on key players in the robotics industry. World Robotics Industrial Robots also provides estimates of the operational stock of industrial robots at year-end as well as a calculated robot density.
Both reports as well as a premium version including access to the World Robotics database (which contains historic data, in some cases dating back to 1993) can be purchased through the webshop of VDMA Verlag.
For more details on
- World Robotics Industrial Robots - covering Industrial Robots including cobots
- World Robotics Service Robots - covering service Robots, mobile robots and medical robots
Referenced by policy makers and the media
The report serves as a valuable resource for businesses, researchers, policymakers, and anyone interested in understanding the current state and future outlook of robotics worldwide.
World Robotics is globally reknowned data source on the use of robots worldwide.
There is a series of scientific publications from the economists basing their research on the World Robotics dataset.
- Georg Graetz, Guy Michaels; Robots at Work. The Review of Economics and Statistics 2018; 100 (5): 753–768. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a...
- A paper well descibing the dataset is Jurkat A, Klump R, Schneider F. Tracking the Rise of Robots: The IFR Database. Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik. 2022;242(5-6): 669-689. https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-...
- Moreover national governments and supranational organizations like the United Nations and the OECD are using IFR data as basis for their policy measures and benchmark for their own economy's standing and to measure the effects.
- Nolan, A. (2021), "Making life richer, easier and healthier: Robots, their future and the roles for public policy", OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 117, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/5ea15d....
- De Backer, K., et al. (2018), "Industrial robotics and the global organisation of production", OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers, No. 2018/03, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/dd98ff....
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (2023). Global Innovation Index 2023: Innovation in the face of uncertainty. Geneva: WIPO. https://doi.org/10.34667/tind....
