Replacing Workers: Which Country Has the Most Robots per Factory Worker?
China operates more industrial robots than any other country. But measured against the number of manufacturing workers, the country with the highest rate of robot use is not China.
Data from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR) show that South Korea had the highest robot-to-manufacturing-worker ratio in 2024. The measure, known as robot density, counts the number of operational industrial robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers.
The indicator offers a different perspective from simply counting total robots. A country with millions of robots may still have a low robot density if it also has a very large manufacturing workforce.
South Korea has the highest robot density
South Korea ranked first, with 1,220 robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers in 2024. That was more than nine times the global average of 132 robots.
Singapore followed with 818 robots per 10,000 workers. There was a considerable gap between Singapore and Germany and Japan, which ranked third and fourth with 449 and 446 robots respectively.
Sweden completed the top five with 377 robots, followed by Denmark with 329 and Slovenia with 315.
South Korea’s high robot density is closely linked to its industrial structure. Electronics and automotive manufacturing are two of the country’s main industries, and are also the world’s two largest industrial-robot-using sectors. Together, they accounted for nearly half of new robot installations worldwide in 2024.
The need for automation is also becoming more pressing amid labour shortages. South Korea’s fertility rate was just 0.75 births in 2025, while Singapore’s stood at 0.96.
China has the most robots, but a lower density
China presents a different picture. It operated about two million industrial robots in 2024, or around 43% of all operational industrial robots worldwide.
However, because of its large manufacturing workforce, China recorded just 166 robots per 10,000 workers, placing it 22nd in the ranking.
This shows that total robot numbers and robot density measure different things. China leads in the number of robots in operation, while South Korea uses robots far more intensively relative to the size of its manufacturing workforce.
US robot installations continue to rise
The United States ranked eighth in 2024, with 307 robots per 10,000 manufacturing workers. Although it remains well behind South Korea, the number of new robots installed in the country continues to grow.
A total of 38,400 new robots were installed in the US in 2025, up 12% on the previous year. This exceeded Japan’s 36,200 installations and made the US the second-largest robot market after China, with 354,200 installations.
The automotive industry was the largest user of robots in the US, with about 13,500 installations in 2025. The IFR expects the trend to continue in 2026, driven by the reshoring of manufacturing and labour shortages.
Automotive manufacturing drives robot use in Europe
Europe had more countries in the ranking than any other region. Fifteen of the 22 countries with the highest robot densities were European, with the automotive industry among the main drivers.
This concentration is evident in Central Europe. Slovenia had 315 robots per 10,000 workers, while Czechia had 216, Slovakia 210 and Hungary 172.
All four have substantial automotive industries. Slovakia, for example, produced 183 cars per 1,000 people in 2024, the highest rate in the world and more than three times Germany’s figure of 51 cars.
Czechia also recorded production of 134 cars per 1,000 people and is a manufacturing base for several major producers, including Skoda Auto, Hyundai and Toyota.