In 2025, the volume of global foreign direct investment (FDI) flows increased by 14 percent, reaching $1.6 trillion. This data is presented in a preliminary report published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
According to information from the UN news service, this growth was made possible after two years of decline; however, the authors of the document emphasize that behind these figures lies a rather vulnerable reality.
The bulk of the increase is associated with transactions carried out through major international financial centers. More than $140 billion of the total growth came from such "transit flows." Without them, the actual growth of FDI would have been only about 5 percent, highlighting the instability of recovery processes in the investment sector.
Meanwhile, key indicators of investor sentiment remain low.
The volume of funding for international project initiatives decreased by 16 percent in value and by 12 percent in the number of deals, marking the fourth consecutive year of decline, returning to 2019 levels. The number of new greenfield projects decreased by 16 percent, with only a few large projects providing high aggregated figures.
Interestingly, FDI flows to developed economies increased by 43 percent, amounting to $728 billion.
The leading regions contributing to this growth were Europe and financial centers. The European Union saw an increase of 56 percent, driven by large transnational deals and a recovery in activity in countries such as Germany, France, and Italy.
At the same time, investments in developing countries decreased by 2 percent to $877 billion. This has most severely affected the least developed countries, where in three-quarters of them, FDI inflows either stabilized or decreased.
International infrastructure projects fell by 10 percent, attributed to a sharp decline in investments in renewable energy amid a reassessment of yield risks and regulatory uncertainty. At the same time, domestic investors are beginning to play an increasingly important role, which may exacerbate the gap in countries reliant on external financing for significant projects.
UNCTAD experts emphasize that predicting the development of the situation in 2026 is extremely difficult. If financial conditions ease and transnational deals become more active, FDI may increase slightly. However, the real investment activity, according to the authors of the report, is restrained by geopolitical tensions, policy uncertainty, and the fragmentation of the global economy. Without coordinated actions, global investments may concentrate only in limited regions and sectors.
