Luxembourg, 3 December 2024
Net foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks held in non-EU countries by investors resident in the EU amounted to €9 160 billion in 2023, reflecting a 4.1% decrease from 2022 (€9 551 billion).
A similar trend was visible in investment stocks held by non-EU residents in the EU, which decreased to €7 446 billion in 2023, down 5.4% compared with 2022 (€7 874 billion).
In 2023, the EUˈs net investment position vis-à-vis the rest of the world remained relatively stable, with a 2.2% increase compared with 2022.
Special Purpose Entities (SPEs) continued to play a significant role in FDI. At the end of 2023 they accounted for 29% of the total EU FDI stocks held abroad, and for 33% of the FDI stocks held by the rest of the world in the EU.
USA and the UK: main FDI partners
At the end of 2023, the United States absorbed 26.6% (€2 437 billion) of the total FDI stocks held by the EU in the rest of the world, followed by the United Kingdom (€1 765 billion, 19.3%). They were ahead of Switzerland (€755 billion, 8.2%), Brazil (€312 billion, 3.4%) and Singapore (€263 billion, 2.9%). More than 2% of EU residents’ stocks were held in Canada (2.7%), China except Hong Kong (2.5%), Russia (2.4%), Bermuda (2.3%), Mexico (2.3%) and United Arab Emirates (2.0%) (Source dataset: bop_fdi6_pos).
In the opposite direction, the United States’ direct investors accounted for most of the FDI stocks held by the rest of the world in the EU (€2 299 billion, 30.9%). The United Kingdom (€1 314 billion, 17.6%) followed, ahead of Switzerland (€620 billion, 8.3%), the Cayman Islands (€353 billion, 4.7%), Singapore (€314 billion, 4.2%) and Bermuda (€276 billion, 3.7%). Among other countries, more than 2% of the FDI stocks in the EU were held by investors from Canada (3.3%), Japan (2.9%), Hong Kong (2.1%), Russia (2.1%) and the British Virgin Islands (2.0%) – (Source dataset: bop_fdi6_pos).
For more information
- Thematic section on globalisation of business
- Database on globalisation of business
- Statistics Explained article on FDI statistics methodology
Methodological notes
- These data are subject to revision.
- Foreign direct investment (FDI) stocks help to quantify the impact of globalisation and measure longstanding economic links between countries (according to immediate counterpart criteria). They provide an indication of the relative importance of a country’s economic presence abroad, or that of foreign partners in the reporting entity, measured in terms of FDI capital.
Source – Eurostat