Cayman Islands: Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, Cayman Islands' foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$) rose US$32.61 billion on 2024 (from US$3.18 billion to US$35.78 billion).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +US$90.34 million and a typical year strayed about US$17.21 billion from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 1.9 standard deviations above that average, so it was larger than a typical year, though not out of the range seen before.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was US$34.46 billion in 2015 and the biggest yearly fall was US$77.82 billion in 2016. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2016 to 2025 the straight-line trend is upward, about US$2.07 billion a year. A straight line explains 31% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2025, Cayman Islands had the 17th highest value of the 198 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Cayman Islands in the 2025 ranking

• India — 14th of 198: US$40.79 billion
• United Kingdom — 15th of 198: US$37.59 billion
• Australia — 16th of 198: US$37.44 billion
• Saudi Arabia — 18th of 198: US$32.63 billion
• Spain — 19th of 198: US$28.61 billion
• Israel — 20th of 198: US$26.24 billion

What this measures

Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in the reporting economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. Data are in current U.S. dollars.

Limitations: FDI data do not give a complete picture of international investment in an economy. Balance of payments data on FDI do not include capital raised locally, an important source of investment financing in some developing countries. In addition, FDI data omit nonequity cross-border transactions such as intra-unit flows of goods and services. The volume of global private financial flows reported by the World Bank generally differs from that reported by other sources because of differences in sources, classification of economies, and method used to adjust and disaggregate reported information.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.

All 52 values

Foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$) in nearby economies

• Antigua and Barbuda — US$281.95 million (2025)
• Argentina — US$4.36 billion (2025)
• Aruba — US$71.08 million (2025)
• Bahamas, The — US$1.54 billion (2025)
• Barbados — US$273.09 million (2025)
• Belize — US$240,004 (2025)
• Bolivia — US$526.76 million (2025)
• Brazil — US$77.68 billion (2025)
• British Virgin Islands — US$42.91 billion (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for Cayman Islands

• Adjusted savings, mineral depletion (current US$) — US$0 (2021)
• Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$) — US$25.25 billion (2025)
• Adjusted savings, carbon dioxide damage (current US$) — US$32.69 million (2021)
• Adjusted savings, energy depletion (current US$) — US$0 (2021)
• Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP) — -22.43% (2024)
• Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) — 40.92% (2024)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current US$) — US$35.15 million (2024)
• Agriculture, forestry, and fishing, value added (current LCU) — 29.29 million (2024)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Cayman Islands's foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$)?

US$35.78 billion in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1974?

It is up 1.96 million% from US$1.83 million in 1974 (21.38% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$80.5 billion in 2015 and the lowest −US$3.14 billion in 2022.

How does Cayman Islands rank?

17th highest of 198 economies with data for 2025.

Is the latest change in foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$) unusual for Cayman Islands?

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator BX.KLT.DINV.CD.WD, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments database, International Monetary Fund (IMF), note: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments database, supplemented by data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and official national sources.; UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); Official… Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

Want to ask your own questions of data like this? Try AnalyzeIt: upload a file or ask about public data in plain words, and every figure comes with its working.