The world's operating stock of industrial robots crossed 5 million units in 2025, up 9% year over year, according to the International Federation of Robotics. The fleet has more than doubled in seven years.

Installations — new units added to factory floors — rose 11% to 603,000 last year, the trade group reported in late September. IFR President Jane Heffner said in a statement that the "strongest growth is taking place in Asia," followed by the Americas and Europe. Automotive and electronics manufacturing supplied much of the growth over the past seven years, IFR data show.

The 2025 count is a confirmed figure. The forward numbers are IFR's forecast, not booked orders: installations are expected to grow 9% this year, or 655,000 unit deployments, and could reach 806,000 annually by 2029.

"Industrial automation is progressing at high speed," Heffner said.

Concentration in five markets

China accounted for 354,200 installations last year — more than half the global total and nearly ten times the figure of the next-largest market. The United States led the second tier at 38,400 installations, followed by Japan, South Korea and Germany. Those five countries together made up 80% of the world market.

India, ranked sixth, has tripled its robot demand over the past five years.

While automotive and electronics remain the two anchor industries globally, demand has broadened. Sectors such as metal and machinery, plastics and chemicals, and food quintupled their robotics demand between 2015 and 2025, IFR noted.

US mix: automotive leads, food grows fastest

In the United States, automotive drove the majority of robot installations last year, followed by metal and machinery, food, electronics, and plastics and chemicals. Food recorded the highest growth rate of any sector at 30% year over year. Electronics and other industries saw declines.

The installation growth ran alongside a shrinking US manufacturing workforce: federal labor data show the sector lost an estimated 68,000 jobs between Dec. 1, 2024 and Dec. 1, 2025.

IFR expects more manufacturers to deploy robots as they add production capacity in "high-wage economies" and "countries facing labor shortages." The organization said regional shifts may occur, but it sees no sign the long-term growth trend is ending.

Cheaper deployment is supporting that trend. Advances in AI, machine vision and sensing are making robots more accurate and reliable, while easier programming and system integration are cutting deployment costs and lowering barriers to entry.

Humanoids: pilots, not yet scale

Alongside industrial arms and autonomous mobile robots, humanoid sales are picking up. Nearly 7,000 humanoids were sold worldwide last year, IFR reported — a fraction of the 603,000 industrial installations. IFR said humanoids are on the cusp of moving from laboratory testing to pilot deployments as generative AI advances, but safety, security and reliability challenges remain despite significant hype and investor interest.

What to watch next: whether 2026 installations hit IFR's 655,000-unit forecast, whether China's share of the global market holds above 50%, and whether humanoid pilots convert into repeat production orders.