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In 2020, for the 13 EU Member States which report inward foreign direct investment (FDI) positions by ultimate investing economy, the total value amounted to €2 990 billion. 

This inward FDI by ultimate investing economy was concentrated among a relatively small number of developed countries. The top ultimate investing economy was that of the United States, making up a fourth of the total invested €752 billion (25.1% of the total value by ultimate investing economy), followed by those of Germany with €425 billion (14.2%), France with €367 billion (12.3%), the United Kingdom with €351 billion (11.7%) and Switzerland with €255 billion (8.5%). 

 

Bar chart: Total inward foreign direct investment positions, € billion, 2020

Source dataset: bop_fdi6_pos

 

Luxembourg was the biggest immediate investing economy

The total inward FDI positions for the immediate investing economy for the 13 EU Member States amounted to €3 162 billion. 

Luxembourg accounted for almost a fourth of the total investments with €725 billion (22.9% of the total by immediate investing economy), followed by the Netherlands with €598 billion (18.9%), Switzerland with €353 billion (11.2%), the United Kingdom with €350 billion (11.1%) and Germany with €271 billion (8.6%).

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Methodological notes:

  • FDI is the category of international investment in which an enterprise resident in one country (the direct investor) acquires an interest of at least 10% in an enterprise resident in another country (the direct investment enterprise), with FDI stocks (or positions) measuring the total value of direct investment at a given point in time. There are two possible ways to identify the home country of the direct investor: either by immediate or by ultimate investing economy. 
  • Eurostat has launched a voluntary data collection of inward FDI positions by ultimate investing economy. The 13 EU Member States reporting are Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Romania.
  • In FDI statistics by ultimate investing economy the FDI position in the enterprise is allocated to the ultimate investor that has control over the investment decision to have an FDI position in the enterprise. In these statistics the reporting country can also be the ultimate investor, which is not possible in FDI statistics by immediate investing economy.
  • This reallocation allows to identify the real country of the investor, which ultimately controls the investments, bears the risks, reaps the rewards and identifies the amount of round-tripping. Round-tripping is the process where funds that have been channelled abroad by resident investors are returned to the domestic economy in the form of direct investment. In the case of round-tripping investments the country‘s economy is not supplemented with genuine FDI.


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