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

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2025, World's foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$) rose 31% on 2024 (from US$1.37 trillion to US$1.8 trillion).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +13% and a typical year strayed about 40.8% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 114.5% in 2021 and the biggest yearly fall was 53.7% in 2018. 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 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 16% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.

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

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 56 values

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

• Afghanistan — US$20.6 million (2021)
• Algeria — US$1.54 billion (2025)
• Bahrain — US$821.17 million (2025)
• Djibouti — US$149.04 million (2025)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — US$15.45 billion (2025)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — US$1.65 billion (2025)
• Iraq — −US$7.62 billion (2025)
• Israel — US$26.24 billion (2025)
• Jordan — US$2.02 billion (2025)

More economic policy & debt data for World

• Charges for the use of intellectual property, payments (BoP, current US$) — US$753.95 billion (2025)
• Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$) — US$1.88 trillion (2025)
• GDP (current US$) — US$118.35 trillion (2025)
• GDP (constant 2015 US$) — US$99.66 trillion (2025)
• GDP per capita (current US$) — US$14,406 (2025)
• GDP per capita (constant 2015 US$) — US$12,131 (2025)
• GNI (current US$) — US$117.7 trillion (2025)
• GDP (annual % growth) — 2.92% (2025)
• GDP per capita (annual % growth) — 1.99% (2025)
• Charges for the use of intellectual property, receipts (BoP, current US$)

Reading data like this

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Questions people ask

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

US$1.8 trillion in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1970?

It is up 14,468% from US$12.36 billion in 1970 (9.48% a year on average, compounded). The highest value was US$3.11 trillion in 2007 and the lowest US$12.36 billion in 1970.

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

In 2025, World's foreign direct investment, net inflows (BoP, current US$) rose 31% on 2024 (from US$1.37 trillion to US$1.8 trillion). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +13% and a typical year strayed about 40.8% from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

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.

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