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

Key figures

Since 1976 it is up 0.000038 percentage points from 0% in 1976. The World Bank has no value for 35 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

How it compares

In 2025, Nepal had the 140th highest value of the 163 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 Nepal in the 2025 ranking

• Senegal — 137th of 163: 0.00172%
• Uganda — 138th of 163: 0.000674%
• Mauritania — 139th of 163: 0.000504%
• Jamaica — 141st of 163: -0.0052%
• Suriname — 142nd of 163: -0.02%
• Gambia, The — 143rd of 163: -0.03%

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 15 values

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

• Bangladesh — 0.00754% (2025)
• India — 0.97% (2025)
• Sri Lanka — 0.09% (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for Nepal

• Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$21.1 billion (2025)
• Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$19.98 billion (2025)
• Services, value added (current US$) — US$24.73 billion (2025)
• Services, value added (current LCU) — 3.37 trillion (2025)
• Services, value added (% of GDP) — 54.37% (2025)
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current US$) — US$40.02 billion (2025)
• Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices (current LCU) — 5.45 trillion (2025)
• GDP (current US$) — US$45.49 billion (2025)
• GDP (current LCU) — 6.2 trillion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$36.54 billion (2025)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

What is Nepal's foreign direct investment, net outflows (% of GDP)?

0.000038% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1976?

It is up 0.000038 percentage points from 0% in 1976. The highest value was 0.000038% in 2025 and the lowest 0% in 1976.

How does Nepal rank?

140th highest of 163 economies with data for 2025.

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.

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