Robots are taking over factories: More than 10% of South Korea’s workforce is now machines

The International Federation of Robotics (IFR) has published a study that shows that the use of robots in factories has more than doubled in the past seven years. South Korea tops the list of leading countries in terms of the use of robots in manufacturing, with China set to overtake Germany and Japan in this indicator by 2023.

The report notes that South Korea is the largest user of industrial robots (1,012 robots per 10,000 employees) and this indicator has grown by 5% annually since 2018. Next is Singapore, where there are 770 robots per 10,000 employees. China rounds out the top three with 470 robots per 10,000 employees.

According to IFR Director Takayuki Ito, the density of robots is an indicator of the extent of automation in global manufacturing and is an important indicator that allows comparing the level of automation in different countries.

“China’s huge investment in automation technology has enabled it to achieve such a high density of robots despite having a huge manufacturing workforce of about 37 million people,” Ito said.

Germany and Japan, with 439 and 419 robots per 10,000 employees, ranked fourth and fifth respectively in the IFR ranking. The United States has 295 robots per 10,000 employees, making it 10th on the IFR list. The average density of robots worldwide is expected to reach 162 in 2023, more than double the 74 robots per 10,000 employees seven years ago.