China’s huge investment in industrial robotics has made it one of the most automated nations on the planet in the space of just a few short years.
According to the latest study by the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), the number of operational robots in China’s manufacturing industry reached a ratio of 392 units per 10,000 employees in 2022, a robot density now similar to that of Japanese industry.
China currently ranks fifth in the world, behind South Korea (1,012 per 10,000 employees), Singapore (730), Germany (415) and Japan (397).
As the following infographic shows, China and South Korea are the countries that have made the most progress in the race to industrial automation in recent years.
In Europe, robot density has seen a pretty big jump in Swiss industry, with the ratio more than doubling between 2017 and 2022 – from 129 to 296 robots per 10,000 employees.
France’s manufacturing industry still had a lower level of robotization than most of its neighboring European industries: 180 robots per 10,000 employees in 2022 – compared, for example, with 216 in Belgium (and Luxembourg) and 219 in Italy.
Anna Fleck writes for Statista
