Foreign investment inflows to Germany have increased sharply

Foreign investment in Germany has increased significantly. According to the German Institute for Economic Research (IW) in Cologne, direct investment by foreign companies in Germany increased significantly in 2025.

During the year, foreign direct investment in the country amounted to 86 billion euros. This is 50 percent more than in 2024. The institute's experts noted that when assessing such growth, it is necessary to take into account the sharp decrease in investment in 2024. That year, foreign direct investment in Germany decreased by 32 percent.

Experts note that direct investment inflows can vary significantly from year to year. Individual large transactions themselves have a significant impact on the overall figure. In addition, investment statistics may be revised upwards or downwards later. Nevertheless, the 2025 figure was still 11 percent higher than the median investment in 2015–2024.

Meanwhile, there has been a significant change in the composition of countries investing in Germany. In particular, investments by US companies in Germany fell by 44 percent in 2025 to €11.8 billion. As a result, the US share of total foreign investment in Germany fell from 36 percent to 14 percent. Investments by UK companies, on the other hand, increased by 284 percent to €26 billion. This is equivalent to 31 percent of total foreign investment in Germany in 2025.

Investments from China, Chile and Saudi Arabia have also increased. However, according to IW, the share of these countries in total foreign investment in Germany remains relatively small.

The largest share of foreign investment in Germany comes from other EU countries. In 2025, the volume of investment from EU countries fell by 2.7 percent to 43 billion euros. Nevertheless, this accounts for almost half of all foreign investment in Germany during the year.