China and Global Translation Industry Data Update 2024

According to the latest "2024 China Translation Industry Development Report", as of December 31, 2023, the number of enterprises in the country (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) whose business scope includes translation business is 623,260, of which 11,902 enterprises have translation as their main business. The total output value of domestic translation enterprises continues to maintain steady growth, with a total output value of RMB 68.64 billion (approximately US$9.69 billion) in 2023, an increase of 5.6% compared with 2022.

Beijing is the region with the largest number of domestic translation companies. In terms of business areas, information and communication technology, education and training, and government foreign affairs are the top three areas of translation business volume.

In terms of translation technology development and innovation, the number of enterprises whose business scope includes machine translation and artificial intelligence translation business continues to grow rapidly, from 588 at the end of 2022 to 839 at the end of 2023. The number of related enterprises in Guangdong continues to lead the country. Translation technology has broad prospects for development. More than 80% of translation companies actively embrace big model technology, and more than 70% of relevant colleges and universities offer machine translation related courses.

The scale of translation talents in my country continues to grow, with a total of 6.42 million people, an increase of 6.8% compared with 2022. Among them, the number of full-time translators is about 950,000, and the scale of part-time translators is 5.47 million. The proportion of students with bachelor's and master's degrees in translation who are engaged in translation work after graduation has rebounded. my country's translation talents have provided strong support for the overall development of the country and various fields. The demand for compound talents has increased significantly, and the trend of high-level translation talents is obvious.

From a global perspective, the overall development trend of the global translation industry in 2023 is stable. According to research by international consulting agency CSA Research, the global translation industry market size in 2023 is about US$55.1 billion, an increase of 5.9% compared with 2022, and an average growth rate of 3.6% in the past five years; while Nimdzi Insights estimates that this scale is US$69.3 billion, an increase of 7.1% compared with 2022, and an average growth rate of 6.8% in the past five years.

The global translation market is still fragmented, but it is showing a trend of slow agglomeration. According to Nimdzi Insights, there are about 225,000 translation agencies and individuals with annual income of less than 10 million US dollars in the world, and the total income of these agencies and individuals accounts for about 77.3% of the industry's income. In the past three years, the market share of the top 100 translation companies in the world has increased year by year. In 2023, the revenue of the top 100 translation companies in the world accounted for 18.3% of the total revenue of the translation industry, an increase of 1.6 percentage points compared with 2022.

In terms of the distribution of global translation companies, large and medium-sized translation companies in Europe and the United States continue to occupy a leading position in the global translation market, but their leading advantage has gradually narrowed, and the strength of companies in Asia and Oceania has increased. In 2023, 22 translation companies in the United States entered the CSA Research list of the top 100 translation companies in the world, ranking first in number. The United Kingdom (14), China (9), Germany (9), and Spain (5) followed closely.

In terms of service content, translation and interpretation services are still the main business of global translation companies. However, driven by technology, translation services are diversified. For example, in the UK market, in addition to translation localization services, services such as subtitle translation, machine translation and post-editing also occupy an important position.

The talent demand in the global translation market is shifting from professional translation talents to talents with both professional and market capabilities. A survey by the American Language Company Association and Slator found that nearly 80% of translation companies are facing a talent shortage, among which sales positions are in short supply. Customer service skills, artificial intelligence and big data skills are considered to be important skills for talents in the translation industry in the next three years.

In terms of academic research in the field of global translation, a total of 235 academic research results were published in internationally renowned journals in the field of translation in 2023, and the authors came from 158 institutions in 40 countries on six continents around the world. China (including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan) ranked first among all countries with 82 academic results, and the United Kingdom (27) and Spain (22) ranked second and third respectively.

In general, driven by technological progress and market demand, the global translation industry has shown a trend of stable growth and diversified development. China's translation industry has performed outstandingly in the global market, with the number of companies and talent pool continuing to grow, and a clear trend of technological innovation and service diversification, providing strong support for national development and careers in various fields.

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