Robot growth in Europe outpaces Asia and North America

An increase of 9% outpaced growth in both Asia and North America. The European Union accounted for 80% of installations in Europe.

Asia suffered from the low demand of the electronics industry and the automotive industry: 382,073 units were installed in 2023, down 6%. The region is by far the world’s largest market. Installations in North America decreased by 2% to 47,730 units. Demand from the automotive industry fell by 6%. Across all industries, the result was still the third highest level of installations ever recorded.

"In Europe, high industrial order backlogs were cleared in 2023 due to supply chain constraints," says Marina Bill, President of the International Federation of Robotics. "In addition, there were early investments due to the expiry of support programs in 2023. All of this created a high base of demand for industrial robots in Europe."

Europe’s top three

• Germany, which belongs to the five major robot markets in the world, had a share of 31% of the total installations in Europe: a record-setting number of 28,355 robots (+7%) were newly installed in 2023.
• Italy followed with a market share of 11%: installations reached 10,412 units (down 9%), following a record level the previous year.
• In France, the robotic market ranked third in Europe with a market share of 7%; robot installations reached 6,386 units (down 13%) after a peak in 2022.

Automotive, metal, and electronics

Growth was strongly driven by the automotive industry in Europe: installations hit 25,508 units. This was up 32%. Demand came from traditionally strong automotive countries such as Germany (9,190 units, +29%), and Spain (2,341 units +142%), as well as from smaller markets: robot installations in Slovakia e.g., reached a new high with 1,635 units installed. This was an increase of 61% and four times more than in 2021 in the automotive sector. Installations in Europe’s metal and machinery industry reached 18,737 units. This was down 1%, but the second-best result recorded since 2018. The electrical and electronics industry recorded 6,036 units, an increase of 8%.

Europe’s robot stock

The stock of operational robots in Europe has grown by an average of 7% per year since 2018. There was a total of 777,596 units in operation on the factory floors.

Outlook

Robot installations in Europe are expected to fall significantly by 2024. The war in Ukraine, tight monetary policy, and the relative weakness of the European automotive industry compared to China's are dampening investment. On the other hand, there is still a lot of political support for investment in Industry 4.0, and the transition to carbon neutrality as well as the regionalisation of supply chains, are providing impetus. The emerging low-cost robotics segment is targeting new customer segments that have not yet used robots. Installations in Europe are expected to increase again from 2025.