Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows

Malta had the highest foreign direct investment, net inflows of 194 countries in 2020, at 191.92% of GDP. Cyprus had the lowest, at -296.01% of GDP. The median was 1.54% of GDP and the figure for the World was 1.33% of GDP. Source: the World Bank.

Highest191.92Malta

Lowest-296.01Cyprus

Median1.54194 countries

World1.33History

Top 40 countries, 2020

% of GDP. Source: World Bank, Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	Countries	2020 % of GDP	Change on 2019
1	Malta	191.92	-6.28 pts
2	Cayman Islands	123.31	+105.13 pts
3	Hungary	105.64	+46.06 pts
4	Hong Kong	34.05	+17.99 pts
5	Guyana	23.45	-28.55 pts
6	Singapore	22.58	-5.59 pts
7	Mozambique	22.39	+0.61 pts
8	Palau	17.01	+0.86 pts
9	Grenada	13.54	-3.65 pts
10	Mongolia	12.91	-4.29 pts
11	Estonia	12.01	+2.25 pts
12	Maldives	11.87	-4.91 pts
13	Mauritania	11.23	+22.42 pts
14	Montenegro	11.21	+3.6 pts
15	Gambia	10.46	+6.54 pts
16	Cambodia	10.41	+0.43 pts
17	São Tomé and Príncipe	10	+4.14 pts
18	Andorra	9.43	-3.95 pts
19	Ireland	8.09	+0.42 pts
20	Lithuania	7.94	+1.71 pts
21	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	7.55	-0.01 pts
22	Senegal	7.52	+2.97 pts
23	Albania	7.02	-0.69 pts
24	Bermuda	6.92	+6.86 pts
25	Antigua and Barbuda	6.83	-0.93 pts
26	Aruba	6.54	+8.79 pts
27	Saint Lucia	6.51	+2.9 pts
28	Serbia	6.24	-1.69 pts
29	Somalia	6.19	+1.03 pts
30	Curaçao	6.15	-0.57 pts
31	New Caledonia	6.05	-1.59 pts
32	Nicaragua	5.87	+1.9 pts
33	Seychelles	5.79	-7.97 pts
34	United Kingdom	5.77	+5.08 pts
35	Fiji	5.66	-0.37 pts
36	United Arab Emirates	5.57	+1.45 pts
37	Turkmenistan	5.25	-0.99 pts
38	Israel	5.1	+0.75 pts
39	Laos	5.1	+1.07 pts
40	Lebanon	5.07	+1.37 pts
41	Trinidad and Tobago	5.06	+4.27 pts
42	Djibouti	5.03	-0.63 pts
43	Barbados	4.85	+1.36 pts
44	Brunei	4.71	+1.94 pts
45	Vietnam	4.56	-0.26 pts
46	Chile	4.51	-0.37 pts
47	Germany	4.49	+2.58 pts
48	Dominica	4.32	-5.47 pts
49	Kazakhstan	4.21	+2.16 pts
50	Bahamas	4.19	+0.56 pts
51	Vanuatu	4.05	-0.93 pts
52	Bulgaria	3.97	+0.73 pts
53	Belize	3.72	-0.22 pts
54	Cape Verde	3.71	-1.75 pts
55	Georgia	3.48	-4.45 pts
56	Czechia	3.39	-0.8 pts
57	Sweden	3.36	+0.41 pts
58	Costa Rica	3.35	-0.85 pts
59	Poland	3.31	+0.16 pts
60	Turks and Caicos Islands	3.31	+1.35 pts
61	Democratic Republic of the Congo	3.21	+0.32 pts
62	Uganda	3.17	-0.52 pts
63	Dominican Republic	3.13	-0.04 pts
64	Spain	2.92	+0.76 pts
65	Bahrain	2.85	+0.52 pts
66	Mexico	2.82	+0.51 pts
67	Latvia	2.81	-0.56 pts
68	Colombia	2.76	-1.57 pts
69	Madagascar	2.75	-0.62 pts
70	Ghana	2.68	-3 pts
71	Sudan	2.65	+0.1 pts
72	Niger	2.64	-3.13 pts
73	Mali	2.59	-1.6 pts
74	Brazil	2.59	-1.1 pts
75	Croatia	2.54	-3.93 pts
76	Oman	2.52	+0.25 pts
77	Uzbekistan	2.46	-0.84 pts
78	Ethiopia	2.43	-0.35 pts
79	Myanmar	2.41	+0.1 pts
80	India	2.41	+0.62 pts
81	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2.39	+0.2 pts
82	Belarus	2.27	+0.29 pts
83	New Zealand	2.25	+0.81 pts
84	Malawi	2.14	+1.64 pts
85	Mauritius	1.94	-1.09 pts
86	Philippines	1.89	-0.42 pts
87	Uruguay	1.82	-0.54 pts
88	Portugal	1.81	-2.69 pts
89	Indonesia	1.81	-0.42 pts
90	Sint Maarten	1.79	-3.45 pts
91	Jamaica	1.77	-2.14 pts
92	Canada	1.76	-1.05 pts
93	Greece	1.73	-0.69 pts
94	China	1.69	+0.4 pts
95	Cameroon	1.66	-0.93 pts
96	Jordan	1.59	+0.09 pts
97	El Salvador	1.55	-1.04 pts
98	Egypt	1.52	-1.3 pts
99	Tunisia	1.47	-0.48 pts
100	Rwanda	1.46	-1.05 pts
101	Romania	1.44	-1.51 pts
102	Tanzania	1.43	-0.57 pts
103	Zambia	1.35	-1 pts
104	Moldova	1.35	-3.09 pts
105	Australia	1.35	-1.42 pts
106	Tajikistan	1.31	-1.25 pts
107	Guatemala	1.29	-0.22 pts
108	Argentina	1.27	-0.22 pts
109	Marshall Islands	1.26	-0.96 pts
110	Guinea	1.25	+0.92 pts
111	Guinea-Bissau	1.23	-3.26 pts
112	Japan	1.21	+0.44 pts
113	Malaysia	1.2	-1.3 pts
114	Azerbaijan	1.19	-1.93 pts
115	Kiribati	1.19	+1.45 pts
116	Chad	1.18	+3.6 pts
117	Morocco	1.17	-0.17 pts
118	Ecuador	1.17	+0.25 pts
119	Côte d’Ivoire	1.13	-0.27 pts
120	Benin	1.11	-0.41 pts
121	Türkiye	1.03	-0.2 pts
122	Honduras	1.01	-2.83 pts
123	Slovenia	0.95	-3.04 pts
124	Eswatini	0.94	-1.83 pts
125	South Africa	0.93	-0.38 pts
126	Paraguay	0.82	-0.46 pts
127	Sierra Leone	0.76	-1.1 pts
128	Tonga	0.75	+1.96 pts
129	France	0.73	-1.23 pts
130	Algeria	0.69	-0.02 pts
131	Pakistan	0.68	-0.01 pts
132	Burundi	0.66	-0.39 pts
133	Gabon	0.65	-0.99 pts
134	United States	0.64	-0.83 pts
135	Russia	0.63	-1.25 pts
136	Lesotho	0.6	+3 pts
137	Solomon Islands	0.58	-1.44 pts
138	Sri Lanka	0.51	-0.32 pts
139	Palestine	0.51	-0.26 pts
140	Samoa	0.51	+0.75 pts
141	South Korea	0.5	-0.05 pts
142	Iran	0.48	+0.04 pts
143	Papua New Guinea	0.47	-0.88 pts
144	Zimbabwe	0.47	-0.28 pts
145	Peru	0.46	-1.79 pts
146	Armenia	0.46	-0.27 pts
147	Bangladesh	0.41	-0.14 pts
148	Nigeria	0.4	+0.05 pts
149	Nepal	0.38	-0.16 pts
150	Denmark	0.36	+1.46 pts
151	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0.32	-5.32 pts
152	Comoros	0.32	-0.04 pts
153	Botswana	0.21	-0.35 pts
154	Saudi Arabia	0.21	-0.14 pts
155	Ukraine	0.19	-3.57 pts
156	Tuvalu	0.19	-0.37 pts
157	Haiti	0.17	-0.33 pts
158	Afghanistan	0.06	-0.06 pts
159	North Macedonia	0.06	-4.3 pts
160	Suriname	0.04	-2.06 pts
161	Cuba	0	-0.03 pts
162	Kenya	-0.01	-0.47 pts
163	Equatorial Guinea	-0.09	-7.32 pts
164	Bhutan	-0.11	-0.59 pts
165	French Polynesia	-0.28	-0.49 pts
166	Central African Republic	-0.36	-0.16 pts
167	Venezuela	-0.46	-2.62 pts
168	Kuwait	-0.5	-0.87 pts
169	Burkina Faso	-0.56	-1.57 pts
170	Togo	-0.79	-5.73 pts
171	Thailand	-0.86	-1.88 pts
172	Norway	-0.86	-4.71 pts
173	Italy	-0.89	-2.66 pts
174	Finland	-0.94	-7.04 pts
175	Slovakia	-1.06	-3.21 pts
176	Namibia	-1.42	-0.01 pts
177	Iraq	-1.58	-0.26 pts
178	Qatar	-1.69	-0.09 pts
179	Bolivia	-2.67	-2.23 pts
180	Nauru	-2.67	-4.42 pts
181	Austria	-2.76	+0.09 pts
182	Panama	-2.86	-9.57 pts
183	Liberia	-2.96	-5.57 pts
184	Luxembourg	-3.1	-237.41 pts
185	Angola	-3.19	+1.86 pts
186	Iceland	-3.99	-1.76 pts
187	Kyrgyzstan	-4.85	-9.16 pts
188	Belgium	-5.69	-3.72 pts
189	Timor-Leste	-16.21	-8.41 pts
190	Republic of the Congo	-17.29	-7.08 pts
191	Netherlands	-23.6	-9.91 pts
192	Macao	-24.58	-36.35 pts
193	Switzerland	-31.55	-34.59 pts
194	Cyprus	-296.01	-727.8 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Net foreign investment inflows to acquire a lasting management interest of at least 10% of voting stock, as a percentage of GDP. Includes equity, reinvested earnings and other capital recorded in the balance of payments.

Net inflows subtract disinvestment from new investment. Negative values indicate net disinvestment; zero is a valid net balance. Flows can exceed GDP, particularly in financial centers. The latest year varies by country.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the countries are compared on one definition. 8 countries with data in other periods have no value for 2020 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

World Bank, World Development Indicators. Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

World Bank. (2026). Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS) (Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows, 2020) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS

MLA 9

Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS), Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows, 2020. World Bank, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fdi-net-inflows-gdp/countries?period=2020. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

World Bank. 2026. Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS). Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows, 2020. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fdi-net-inflows-gdp/countries?period=2020.

Harvard

World Bank (2026) Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS), Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows, 2020 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/fdi-net-inflows-gdp/countries?period=2020 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{world_countries_by_foreign_direct_2020,
  author = {{World Bank}},
  title = {{Foreign direct investment, net inflows (\% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS): Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows, 2020}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fdi-net-inflows-gdp/countries?period=2020. Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Foreign direct investment, net inflows (\% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - World Bank
TI  - Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS): Countries by foreign direct investment, net inflows, 2020
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - World Bank
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/fdi-net-inflows-gdp/countries?period=2020
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/fdi-net-inflows-gdp/countries?period=2020.
N1  - Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER  -

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Questions

Which country has the highest foreign direct investment, net inflows?

Malta, with 191.92% of GDP in 2020, according to the World Bank.

Which country has the lowest foreign direct investment, net inflows?

Cyprus, with -296.01% of GDP in 2020.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: World Bank, Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP) (BX.KLT.DINV.WD.GD.ZS). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 8 countries have no value for 2020 and are not ranked.

Foreign direct investment, net inflows: other rankings

EU countries