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Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a category of cross-border investment made by a resident in one economy (the direct investor) with the objective of establishing a lasting interest (at least a ten percent stake) in an enterprise in another nation’s economy (the direct investment enterprise). This thematic publication contains statistics pertaining to FDI, globalisation and their role in the Irish economy.
In 2023, Irish FDI positions abroad increased by €37 billion, while FDI positions in Ireland decreased by €50 billion (see Figure 1.1). As a percentage of GDP, outward FDI increased by 12 percentage points and inward FDI decreased by 4 percentage points.
| FDI Positions Abroad (left axis) | FDI Positions Inward(left axis) | Outward, % of GDP (right axis) | Inward, % of GDP (right axis) | |
| 2013 | 385.381096756 | 321.679504224 | 215.881658649563 | 167.431075182612 |
| 2014 | 511.262235803 | 385.466223292 | 261.18811779717 | 181.42291274872 |
| 2015 | 838.926049401 | 846.719784636 | 317.869683815669 | 311.040771838252 |
| 2016 | 833.475294983 | 817.775081693 | 300.077175879768 | 294.494664155681 |
| 2017 | 835.893692123 | 934.588289382 | 273.923971410214 | 293.678155179818 |
| 2018 | 844.615112207 | 951.980806973 | 259.272118316045 | 280.899086620742 |
| 2019 | 1002.6459 | 1134.5419 | 270.991715843624 | 287.573485092724 |
| 2020 | 1039.473 | 1165.0693 | 274.538387741506 | 307.03381745503 |
| 2021 | 1320.267 | 1263.5141 | 293.904059730598 | 281.27032147047 |
| 2022 | 1210.999 | 1350.2289 | 232.465984305174 | 259.192856704087 |
| 2023 | 1248.3168 | 1299.9367 | 244.791039156627 | 254.913540882279 |
Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2023, Annual National Accounts
Get the data: PXStat BPA34, PXStat ISQ01
The OECD Benchmark Definition of Foreign Direct Investment (4th Edition, BMD4) prescribes indicators for the level of globalisation in an economy. Inward FDI positions and inward FDI flows in reporting economies expressed as a percentage of GDP at current prices (Figures 1.2 and 1.3) allow for cross-country comparisons based on the relative importance of FDI. As these measures focus on investment, they reveal how much foreign ownership exists in an economy.
| FDI Inwards, % of GDP | |
| Ireland | 260.50198838868 |
| Netherlands | 240.57274715813 |
| Estonia | 95.42338273975 |
| Belgium | 93.166370460458 |
| United Kingdom | 88.885755485411 |
| Sweden | 74.182345702218 |
| Portugal | 70.518186652428 |
| Czechia | 63.033246471282 |
| Latvia | 61.905867698357 |
| Spain | 56.415366775282 |
| Hungary | 55.087426201421 |
| Lithuania | 50.472657326796 |
| Slovak Republic | 46.809043130382 |
| Austria | 44.703028913822 |
| Poland | 42.843701766248 |
| Norway | 36.227957580406 |
| Slovenia | 35.30855305123 |
| France | 33.273530668186 |
| Denmark | 32.297697707029 |
| Finland | 30.347238806405 |
| Germany | 28.17237896674 |
| Greece | 27.537680558342 |
| Italy | 21.743831952129 |
Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2023
Get the data: OECD Stat
As illustrated in Figure 1.2, foreign investors have a significant role in Irish business and make Ireland one of the most globalised nations in Europe. The discrepancy between the figure for Ireland here and in Figure 1.1 is due to vintage issues that will be resolved in revisions. Figure 1.3 shows inward FDI flows as a percentage of GDP. For a breakdown of these flows and positions by geography and investment type, see the 2023 Foreign Direct Investment release. The figure for Luxembourg (1287) in Figure 1.2 is omitted so that the other figures can be seen more clearly.
| FDI Inwards Flows, % of GDP | |
| Estonia | 11.176610428721 |
| Austria | 1.3222182188761 |
| Belgium | 4.7260531807555 |
| Sweden | 4.2718500478376 |
| Portugal | 3.6269994661915 |
| Poland | 3.4978626055141 |
| Lithuania | 3.2544582151627 |
| Latvia | 3.0411678896865 |
| Hungary | 2.775316152563 |
| Spain | 2.6614207955053 |
| Norway | 2.4438207336274 |
| Czechia | 2.2685657992362 |
| Greece | 2.1677507718271 |
| Slovenia | 2.1314953452692 |
| Finland | 2.0780867004292 |
| Italy | 1.4183829211681 |
| France | 1.3855606793618 |
| Denmark | 1.039600997251 |
| Germany | 0.67117921528316 |
| Slovak Republic | 0.13575087511123 |
| Ireland | -0.48564745773412 |
| United Kingdom | -3.0999330561984 |
| Netherlands | -15.970765211109 |
| Luxembourg | -34.857289385005 |
Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2023
Get the data: OECD Stat
Figure 1.4 illustrates a distributional analysis of FDI into Ireland. Firms are sorted by the size of their inward FDI investments and then grouped. As illustrated, the first group of 25 firms makes up 65% of Ireland’s inward FDI. This shows how highly concentrated Irish FDI is given that there are thousands of firms that receive FDI in Ireland.
| % of total FDI | |
| Top 25 | 65.4399728766086 |
| 26-50 | 18.2374391322731 |
| 51-75 | 9.09814181034724 |
| 76-100 | 4.54544249195999 |
| 101+ | 2.67900368881109 |
Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2023
Figure 1.5 shows Irish FDI abroad by an Ultimate Controlling Parent presentation. Figure 1.1 shows that Irish FDI abroad can be higher, for certain years, than the FDI position in Ireland. This is determined to a large extent by Redomiciled PLCs in Ireland. For confidentiality purposes, data in 2015, 2016, 2017 are redacted for US and other ultimately owned Irish resident investment abroad.
| Irish | United States | Other | |
| 2012 | 157.57722808 | 93.867325993 | 60.859636547 |
| 2013 | 259.015759851 | 66.823160787 | 59.542176118 |
| 2014 | 385.165771519 | 50.227091495 | 75.869372789 |
| 2015 | 615.780921458 | 0 | 0 |
| 2016 | 604.60212731 | 0 | 0 |
| 2017 | 525.483740359 | 0 | 0 |
| 2018 | 573.592520214 | 216.063173331 | 54.959418662 |
| 2019 | 761.58546451 | 185.341531242 | 55.718904248 |
| 2020 | 705.856892108 | 282.969627727 | 50.646480165 |
| 2021 | 967.463402053 | 290.61101718 | 62.192580767 |
| 2022 | 824.241349516 | 311.195538947 | 75.562111537 |
| 2023 | 908.364681733 | 266.322680894187 | 73.6294623045625 |
Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2023
Get the data: PXStat BPQ26
The direct investment figures depicted on this publication's infographic are presented according to the location of the Ultimate Controlling Parent. The FDI positions of the top ultimate investing countries are presented in Figure 1.6. As illustrated, the United States is the biggest investor in Ireland, accounting for almost €900 billion of our inward FDI positions. The figure for the Bermuda is redacted for confidentiality purposes.
| Inward FDI Positions | |
| United States | 897.344685902 |
| Ireland | 99.60890459 |
| Japan | 61.296528836 |
| Netherlands | 56.991741537 |
| United Kingdom | 31.215518293 |
| France | 25.660026884 |
| China | 21.01259143 |
| Canada | 12.643815447 |
Source Publications: Foreign Direct Investment Annual 2023
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