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FDI Inflows by Country: 2025 Data and How to Read It

2026-10-20

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Global foreign direct investment inflows reached $1.624 trillion in 2025, up from $1.532 trillion in 2024 and $1.321 trillion in 2023, according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report 2026. The United States received the most, but the order of the next countries depends on which institution you ask and how it treats financial centers. This guide gives you the 2025 figures by country, explains why the sources disagree, and shows how to compare countries without being misled.

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TL;DR

Table of Contents

FDI inflows in 2025: the headline numbers

UNCTAD splits 2025 inflows by region. Developing economies took in $901 billion, against $723 billion for developed economies. Regionally, UNCTAD reports the following:

Region 2025 FDI inflows
North America $344 billion
Europe $285 billion
South-East Asia $244 billion
Latin America and the Caribbean $188 billion
West Asia $111 billion
Africa $70 billion
South Asia $46 billion

The OECD’s April 2026 FDI in Figures measures the world total differently: global flows were up 15% from 2024 to USD 1,660 billion, but only 6% once large fluctuations in selected European economies are excluded. That gap is the first lesson of this topic. The headline depends on the method.

FDI by country: a selected 2025 table

The table below uses UNCTAD’s 2025 annex table, in billions of US dollars. It covers a selection of large and notable economies, not the full top ten, so do not read the order as a complete league table. UNCTAD’s figures are as published in the World Investment Report 2026.

Economy 2025 FDI inflows (UNCTAD)
United States $277.3 billion
Singapore $150.898 billion
Hong Kong $116.475 billion
China $104.659 billion
Brazil $76.877 billion
United Kingdom $75.206 billion
Germany $74.272 billion
Canada $66.975 billion
United Arab Emirates $48.243 billion
Mexico $40.871 billion
India $38.891 billion
Australia $35.253 billion

The OECD’s own release puts the United States at about $288 billion, China at $80 billion and Brazil at $77 billion. The U.S. and Brazil land close to UNCTAD’s numbers. China’s figure is $24 billion lower, which is a material gap. The institutions apply different statistical treatments, and both are right on their own terms.

So when someone says “the top three recipients are the United States, China and Brazil,” ask which dataset, which basis and which release date. A ranking that omits those three details is not reproducible.

Which countries moved most in 2025

Level matters less than change for investors watching momentum. UNCTAD’s 2026 data show several notable moves:

Small-economy surges like Guinea’s often trace to one or two large projects. If you want to understand what a country’s rise means for local conditions, compare it with growth. Our GDP growth ranking and the list of fastest-growing economies show whether capital is arriving in economies already expanding.

For a single-country view of where the money goes, a Paraguay-focused write-up on FDI by sector in Paraguay shows how a smaller destination looks once you break inflows down by industry. It is written in Spanish.

Which countries moved most in 2025 — overview diagram

Why the sources disagree

Three things cause most of the differences you will see between tables.

1. Conduit flows. Money often passes through financial centers on its way to its final destination. UNCTAD notes that its data include transactions through European economies with high levels of conduit flows. This is why a country with a small real economy can post a large number, and why the EU total swung from -$7 billion in 2023 to $231 billion in 2024 and $164 billion in 2025 in UNCTAD’s overview table.

EU FDI totals from 2023 through 2025

2. Statistical basis. The OECD’s users’ guide to FDI statistics explains that FDI flows combine equity, reinvested earnings and intercompany debt. Data can be shown on an asset/liability basis or a directional basis, and special-purpose entities may be included or excluded. Each choice can reorder countries.

3. Revisions and sources. The World Bank’s metadata warns that FDI data are not a complete picture of international investment, omit capital raised locally, and may differ across providers because of source, classification and adjustment choices. Numbers for the latest year get revised, sometimes by billions.

A practical rule: pick one source, note its release date, and compare countries only within it.

What counts as FDI

In the World Bank’s definition, a direct-investment relationship normally means owning at least 10% of voting stock. Net inflows include equity capital, reinvested earnings and other capital. The World Bank indicator for net inflows in current US dollars covers 1970 to 2025 and is sourced mainly from IMF balance-of-payments data, supplemented by UNCTAD and official national sources.

The OECD describes inward flows as transactions that increase foreign investors’ investment in resident enterprises, minus decreases. That is why a country can show a negative number. As UNCTAD and the OECD both caution, negative flows can reflect asset sales, loan repayments or negative reinvested earnings, and intra-company debt is the most volatile component. A negative year does not necessarily mean investors are leaving.

How to compare countries responsibly

Use three lenses, not one.

  1. Annual inflows in dollars tell you how much capital arrived. The United States will always look large here simply because its economy is large.
  2. Inflows as a share of GDP tell you how important the capital is relative to the economy. The World Bank publishes net inflows as a percent of GDP, which is the fairer way to set a small economy beside a large one. Our GDP explainer covers the denominator.
  3. FDI stock tells you how much foreign ownership has accumulated. UNCTAD says its annual flow figures do not show the total stock built up over time. India’s 2025 inflow of $38.9 billion sits against a far larger stock, which UNCTAD’s India fact sheet reports separately.

Two more checks help. First, look at composition: the OECD notes that greenfield investment stalled in 2025 while cross-border mergers and acquisitions held up. Greenfield projects build new capacity and jobs, while an acquisition mostly changes who owns existing assets. Second, look at partners and sectors. The OECD publishes inward flows by partner country and industry, and the International Trade Centre’s Investment Map covers total flows and stocks for about 200 countries and territories, with sector or partner breakdowns for more than 115.

If you also care about the macro backdrop, FDI sits alongside other external-balance data. Our piece on the current account by country shows how GDP shares change the picture, and the foreign reserves ranking covers another side of cross-border money.

What a big inflow does and does not tell you

A one-year jump is a poor proxy for new factories. UNCTAD says large transactions, corporate restructurings, intra-company financing and flows through financial centers can sharply distort annual totals. Before you treat a rising number as a sign of economic strength, check whether the same country also shows rising output per person. Our GDP per capita ranking and map make that check quick.

For property investors, FDI is a top-down signal, not a buying decision. It says capital is arriving, not that a given market is cheap or that returns are high. A step-by-step guide to international real estate investment covers the property side once you have narrowed down a country. On the financing side, compare borrowing costs first: mortgage rates by country can differ by many percentage points for the same loan.

Our perspective

We built Fiatmap on one rule: every figure comes from official statistics, and we say which ones. FDI is the topic where that rule matters most. Two honest sources can give you two different Chinas, and neither is wrong.

So we do not read FDI as a scoreboard. We read it as one input among several: capital arriving, relative to GDP, next to growth, inflation and borrowing costs. A country with strong inflows and weak real returns on savings is a different story from one with the same inflows and stable prices. That is why we put inflation, mortgage rates and growth on the same map, so you can hold the whole picture in view rather than a single ranked column.

If you take one habit from this article, make it this: write down the dataset, the basis and the release date next to every number you quote.

— Torstein

Put the numbers in context with Fiatmap

Fiatmap covers 128 countries with official-source data on mortgage rates, inflation and more than 35 macro metrics. You can compare countries side by side, and the FiatMap Global Money Dataset is free to download under CC BY 4.0. To see how price levels sit alongside investment flows, start with the inflation ranking, or embed live maps from our widgets page.

FAQ

Which country has the highest FDI inflows?

The United States. UNCTAD reports $277.3 billion for 2025 and the OECD about $288 billion. Singapore and Hong Kong rank high in UNCTAD’s table partly because of their role as financial centers.

Why do UNCTAD, the OECD and the World Bank show different FDI figures?

They use different statistical treatments, treat special-purpose entities and conduit flows differently, and revise data at different times. The World Bank series draws mainly on IMF balance-of-payments data. Always cite the source and release date.

Is FDI as a share of GDP better than dollar inflows?

It answers a different question. Dollars show how much capital arrived, and the GDP share shows how large that capital is relative to the economy. Use the share when comparing a small economy with a large one.

Where can I download FDI data by country?

The World Bank offers a net inflows series from 1970 to 2025, with a companion series as a percent of GDP. UNCTAD publishes annex tables and country fact sheets, and the OECD publishes flows by partner and industry.

Sources

The figures on this site are collected from official statistics and each carries its own source and date — see /sources and the dataset. Where this article states a number, the country and ranking pages are what it should agree with.