The world’s factories now operate five million industrial robots

The International Federation of Robotics estimates that the global stock of industrial robots in operation reached five million units in 2025. New installations rose to more than 600,000, an annual flow that adds to—but is smaller than—the installed base.

Factories worldwide had an estimated five million industrial robots in operation in 2025, a 9 percent increase from the previous year, according to figures released September 24 by the International Federation of Robotics. The federation also reported that factories installed more than 600,000 new units during the year, an 11 percent rise in annual installations. The numbers come from IFR’s World Robotics 2026 release.

The distinction between the two figures is useful. Operational stock is the estimated number of robots working in factories at a point in time. Installations count new units added over a year. The first describes the accumulated scale of industrial automation; the second indicates the pace of recent additions. Neither figure alone says how intensively the machines are used, what work they perform or how employment changes at a particular plant.

The continued expansion reflects a long investment cycle rather than a sudden appearance of autonomous factories. Industrial robots are established equipment in manufacturing, especially in repetitive or precision tasks. New installations can automate existing production, support increased output or help employers manage labor shortages. The aggregate global figure cannot distinguish among those motivations.

IFR is the industry federation that compiles the annual report, so the release is a primary source for its estimate, not an independent audit of every robot counted. Readers should consult the report’s country tables and methodology before making claims about which markets led growth or how the stock is distributed. The press release alone supports the global totals and year-over-year changes.

These numbers also describe industrial robots, not every machine that might be called a robot. They should not be conflated with mobile service robots, humanoid research systems or software agents. Different categories have different definitions and deployment economics.

Five million machines is a notable marker of automation’s industrial scale. But a count is only a beginning for evaluating its social and economic impact. The questions that follow are where installations are growing, which tasks they take on, what new jobs accompany them and who captures the productivity gains. Those answers require more than a worldwide total.