Robotics statistics
About 14% of robot installs name no customer industry
About 14% of the world's industrial robot installations come with no customer industry attached. On a base of 542,076 robots installed in the latest operating year, that is a large slice the IFR cannot assign to any sector.
That gap sits underneath every industry-share chart. When you read a figure like electronics at 24% or automotive at 23%, those percentages rest on a denominator that is missing roughly one robot in seven.
This page traces the unclassified share to the IFR's executive summary and makes the case for quoting sector splits with the gap attached, so the shares are honest about what they leave out. The gap is the story here, and it serves a careful reader better than any single sector percentage.
Data covers IFR World Robotics 2025 Executive Summary; industry classification of 2024 industrial robot installations. Published 2026-07-25. Last reviewed 2026-07-25. Last updated 2026-07-25. Edited by Mike Ramsey / Reliable Media.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14% | Installations with no industry stated | [A] | High | Installations the IFR could not assign to a customer industry. |
| No customer industry information | Why the gap exists | [A] | High | The IFR's stated reason for the gap. |
| 74% | Asia share of new deployments | [A] | High | Regional share, separate from industry shares. |
| 542,076 units | Global installations | [A] | High | Total installed in the operating year; the count is solid even where sector attribution is not. |
Why the numbers disagree
A 14% unclassified share is not noise you can wave away. The IFR reports no information available on the customer industry for those units, which means the sector percentages are computed on the robots that could be classified, not on the full 542,076. If the unclassified units skew toward any one sector, the published shares understate it.
Industry shares and regional shares are different cuts and should not be mixed. Asia took 74% of new deployments, a regional figure that is well measured, while the sector split carries the classification gap. Quoting the two side by side without saying which is which invites a reader to average things that do not belong together.
The headline count is solid; the sector attribution is where the softness lives. The IFR knows 542,076 robots were installed. It just cannot always say who bought them, so the total deserves more confidence than any single industry percentage drawn from it.
How to cite these figures
When you cite a sector share, add the caveat that about 14% of installations have no customer industry stated, so the shares rest on an incomplete base. One clause is enough, and it inoculates the whole claim against a fair challenge.
Name the year and the source, and keep regional shares like Asia's 74% separate from industry shares, because the two are measured differently. Presenting them as one pie is the fastest way to get a sector number wrong.
Watch the denominator: sector percentages are shares of the classified robots, not of the full 542,076 installed that year. Say what the percentage is a share of, and the reader can judge how much the gap moves it.
Where people go wrong
Presenting industry shares as exact when about one robot in seven has no industry attached to it. Precision to the point implies a completeness the underlying classification does not have.
Blending the 74% Asia regional share with sector percentages as if they were the same breakdown of the same denominator. They are different cuts, and stacking them produces a chart that double-counts or misleads.
Treating the unclassified 14% as random, when a sector skew hidden inside it would bias the published shares in a predictable direction. Unknown is not the same as evenly spread, and the honest move is to flag it rather than assume it away.
How we checked
We fetched the IFR World Robotics executive summary and confirmed the language in its text: 14% of installations with no information available on the customer industry, 74% of new deployments in Asia, and 542,076 robots installed.
The count and the unclassified share rate High because the summary states them plainly. We present the industry-share examples as context and lean on the gap itself, since that gap is the point of the page.
We kept the regional figure and the industry figures in separate buckets throughout, because the most common misuse of this data is treating a well-measured regional split and a gappy sector split as one clean pie.
Full source list
Primary sources, with live links. Every figure above traces to one of these.
- [A]International Federation of Robotics / VDMA Services2025
World Robotics 2025 – Industrial Robots (Executive Summary)
https://ifr.org/img/worldrobotics/Executive_Summary_WR_2025_Industrial_Robots.pdf
Common questions
- How many robot installations have no industry listed?
- About 14%, which the IFR reports as having no information available on the customer industry, out of 542,076 robots installed in the latest operating year.
- Why does the gap matter for sector charts?
- Because industry shares are computed on the robots that could be classified, not the full total. If the missing 14% leans toward one sector, that sector's published share is understated.
- Is the total install number affected too?
- No. The 542,076 count is solid. The uncertainty is in the sector attribution, not in how many robots were installed.
- Can I combine the 74% Asia share with the industry shares?
- Keep them separate. The regional split is well measured, while the sector split carries the classification gap, so they answer different questions.
More data, traced to source
- Where the world's new robots go: by region and by industry
Asia takes 74% of the world's new robot installations, Europe 16%, the Americas 9%. Within the US, automotive leads at 13,700 of 34,300 units. Where robots actually go, traced to source.
- Electronics passed automotive as the top robot buyer
The electronics industry took 24% of new robot installations and automotive 23%, so electronics was the largest customer industry again. The margin was thin. This page traces the split.
- Metal and machinery is the #3 robot industry: 16% of installs
Metal and machinery is now the third-largest customer industry for robots, at 16% of installations, up 2 points. It sits behind electronics (24%) and automotive (23%) in the latest IFR World Robotics yearbook.