Low income: Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)

Key figures

Since 1980 it is down 0.14 percentage points from 0.48% in 1980. The World Bank has no value for 31 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 0.62 percentage points in 1987 and the biggest yearly fall was 0.97 percentage points in 1986. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

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

How it compares

See how every economy compares in the full ranking.

What this measures

Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in an 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. This series shows net outflows of investment from the reporting economy to the rest of the world, and is divided by GDP.

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 weighted average.

All 11 values

Foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP) in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 0.22% (2021)
• Algeria — 0.02% (2025)
• Bahrain — 1.12% (2025)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 0.19% (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 0.03% (2025)
• Iraq — 0.17% (2025)
• Israel — 2.41% (2025)
• Jordan — 0.16% (2025)
• Kuwait — 1.9% (2025)
• Lebanon

More economic policy & debt data for Low income

• GDP (current US$) — US$642.67 billion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$837.36 (2025)
• GNI (current US$) — US$627.91 billion (2025)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Austria (current US$) — US$57.58 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Belgium (current US$) — US$350.05 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Canada (current US$) — US$677.23 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, European Union institutions (current US$) — US$3.08 billion (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Switzerland (current US$) — US$483.76 million (2023)
• Net bilateral aid flows from DAC donors, Germany (current US$)

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 Low income's foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)?

0.34% in 2021, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1980?

It is down 0.14 percentage points from 0.48% in 1980. The highest value was 0.48% in 1985 and the lowest -0.48% in 1986.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, 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….

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator BM.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS, 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.