On 24 September 2020, the International Federation of Robots published its annual report on the use of robots.

According to the latest figures, in 2019, there was a record of 2.7 million industrial robots operating in factories around the world – an increase of 12% in comparison with 2018. Asia remains the strongest market for industrial robots with China reaching 783,000 operational units, an increase of 21%, followed by Japan with about 355,000 units (+12%). Europe reached an operational stock of 580,000 units in 2019 (+7%), with Germany remaining the main user with an operational stock of about 221,500 units, following by Italy (74,400 units), France (42,000 units) and the UK (21,700 units). The USA is the largest industrial robot user in the Americas, reaching a new operational stock record of about 293.200 units (+7%), followed by Mexico with 40,300 units and Canada with about 28,600 units.

If we consider the robot density, measured as robots installed per 10,000 employees, Singapore, followed by South Korea and Japan show the highest shares. In Europe, the countries with the highest density are Germany, Sweden and Denmark, which rank after Japan at the world level.

By costumer industry, automotive is the industry with the highest number of operational stock of industrial robots, followed by electrical/electronic and metal and machinery.

In terms of sales of new robots, 2019 remained on a high level with 373,000 units shipped globally. However, this is 12% less compared to 2018.

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