Robotics market
China builds most of the world's robots: 556,000 made in 2024
China produced 556,000 industrial robots in 2024, a 14.2% increase, and installed 295,000 of the world's new ones, about 54% of the global total.
That makes China both the largest maker and the largest buyer of industrial robots on earth, by a wide margin. The output figure comes from China's own statistics bureau; the installation share comes from the International Federation of Robotics.
This page traces each number to its source and separates China's production of robots from its use of them, two different measures that coverage often blurs.
Data covers China industrial robot output and installations, 2024 (NBS and IFR). Last reviewed by a human editor before publication.
The figures and where they come from
Each figure is rated for how safely you can cite it today. Ratings judge current usability, not whether a number was ever correct.
| Figure | What it is | Source | Citation Confidence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 556,000 units | Industrial robots produced (2024) | [A] | High | China's 2024 industrial robot output, reported by its statistics bureau as 55.6 ten-thousand (万) units. This is production, not installation. |
| +14.2% | Output growth | [A] | High | The year-over-year increase in China's robot output. |
| 295,000 units | Robots installed in China (2024) | [B] | High | China's own installations in 2024, per IFR. Distinct from production; a country can make and install different amounts. |
| about 54% | China's share of world installations | [B] | High | China installed roughly 54% of all industrial robots deployed worldwide in 2024, the single largest national share. |
Why the numbers disagree
Production and installation are different measures, and coverage mixes them constantly. China produced 556,000 robots and installed 295,000 in 2024; the two numbers are not the same and are not supposed to be. Some Chinese-made robots are exported, and some robots installed in China are imported, so neither figure is a subset of the other.
The two sources also count in different units and languages. China's statistics bureau reports output in ten-thousands (万) of units, so 55.6 万 means 556,000, a place where careless conversion introduces errors. The IFR reports installations and world share separately.
What both figures agree on is scale. Whether you measure by what China makes or by what it installs, it leads the world, and its installation share of about 54% means more than half of every year's new robots go to a single country.
How to cite these figures
Say whether you mean production or installation. Cite 556,000 produced (NBS) or 295,000 installed (IFR), and do not treat them as interchangeable.
Convert the Chinese figure carefully: 55.6 万 units is 556,000, not 55,600. The ten-thousand unit trips up a lot of coverage.
For China's weight in the global market, use the installation share of about 54%, attributed to the IFR.
Where people go wrong
Treating production and installation as the same number. China makes more robots than it installs, and the two figures come from different sources.
Mis-converting the output figure. 55.6 万 is 556,000; dropping or misreading the ten-thousand unit is a common error.
Assuming every robot China makes stays in China, or every robot it installs is Chinese-made. Both trade flows exist.
How we checked
The output figure comes directly from China's National Bureau of Statistics annual communique, the same agency whose employment revision reshaped the global robot-density rankings. We retrieved the communique and located the 55.6 万-unit output and 14.2% growth in its table.
The installation and world-share figures come from the IFR release we use elsewhere for density, retrieved and confirmed to carry the 295,000 and 54% figures. Using the two sources together lets the page separate what China makes from what it installs.
We kept production and installation as distinct rows rather than blending them into one 'China robots' number, because the difference between the two is exactly where reporting on this goes wrong.
Full source list
Primary sources, with live links. Every figure above traces to one of these.
- [A]National Bureau of Statistics of ChinaFebruary 28, 2025
National Bureau of Statistics of China, 2024 Statistical Communique on National Economic and Social Development (industrial robot output)
https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/zxfb/202502/t20250228_1958817.html - [B]International Federation of Robotics (IFR)April 8, 2026
IFR, "Robot Density Surges in Europe, Asia and the Americas" (World Robotics 2025), for China's installations and world share
https://ifr.org/ifr-press-releases/news/robot-density-surges-in-europe-asia-and-americas
Common questions
- How many robots does China make?
- China produced 556,000 industrial robots in 2024, up 14.2%, according to its National Bureau of Statistics. That is production; its installations that year were about 295,000.
- Does China install the most robots too?
- Yes. China installed about 295,000 industrial robots in 2024, roughly 54% of the world total, per the IFR, the largest national share.
- Why are the production and installation numbers different?
- They measure different things. China exports some of the robots it makes and imports some of the robots it installs, so production (556,000) and installation (295,000) are not the same and neither contains the other.
- What does 55.6 万 units mean?
- 556,000. Chinese statistics report the figure in ten-thousands (万), so 55.6 万 is 55.6 times ten thousand. Misreading the unit is a common source of error.
More data, traced to source
- Japan's robot factories: 176,215 built and 182,464 ordered in 2024
Japan is the world's dominant maker of industrial robots. In 2024 its makers built 176,215 units and took orders for 182,464, both down from 2023. The source figures, in units and yen.
- North American robot orders: the quarterly number every trade outlet quotes
Every US robotics headline about orders traces to one source: the quarterly data from the Association for Advancing Automation. Here are the figures, and how to read them without getting the story wrong.
- Robot density statistics and where they come from
The most-cited robot density figures are stale. Here are the current numbers, where each one comes from, and why the global average fell while automation kept rising.