Foreign direct investment in Germany is increasing significantly

According to calculations by the German Economic Institute (IW), foreign companies invested significantly more money in Germany last year.

Compared to 2024, direct investments increased by around 50 percent to around 86 billion euros, according to IW calculations based on data from the Deutsche Bundesbank.

This means that foreign investments will have stabilized again in 2024 after a slump of almost 32 percent, the IW in Cologne wrote in a statement.

A lot of money flowed from Great Britain in particular.

Share of US investors fell sharply

According to the information, the origin of the capital has shifted significantly: companies from the USA invested 11.8 billion euros in Germany in 2025.

That was almost 44 percent less than the previous year.

The share of US investments in total foreign investments in Germany fell from more than 36 percent to around 14 percent.

Investors from the United Kingdom, on the other hand, increased their investments by around 284 percent to 26 billion euros, it was said.

With a share of almost 31 percent, according to IW information, they were the largest foreign investor in Germany.

Europe remains the most important source of capital

According to IW information, by far the largest share of foreign investment capital continued to come from Europe.

The EU states (excluding Germany) invested around 43 billion euros in Germany in 2025, despite a slight decline of 2.7 percent.

That corresponded to a good half of all foreign investments, as it was said.

Together with the United Kingdom, Europe accounted for more than 80 percent of foreign investments.

According to the IW, the figures underline Germany's continued particularly close and reliable economic relations with its European neighbors.

Direct investment flows can fluctuate from year to year and be distorted by individual large transactions, as the IW wrote.

In addition, the values ​​are often corrected later.

Compared to the median for the years 2015 to 2024, according to IW, there will still be an increase of almost 11 percent for 2025.