Research and analysis

Overview of Greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) 2003 to 2023

Published 26 February 2025

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This note summarises Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) trends over the last 21 years, between 2003 to 2023, using data from fDi Markets. The note uses data covering the entire time period available. The methodology and sector breakdowns are outlined in the methodological note that accompanies this publication. This is an update to the November 2023 ‘Overview of Greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI)’ publication and the figures included in this update take precedence to previous publications.

The UK has attracted the third highest amount of Greenfield FDI globally over the last 21 years, totalling £750.4 billion over 19,136 projects. The UK is behind China (£1,276.0 billion over 20,225 projects) and the USA (£1,142.2 billion over 29,330 projects).

In 2020 and 2021, the UK was the second highest destination for Greenfield FDI, only behind the US. However, in 2022, Egypt[footnote 1] overtook the UK for one year only, and in 2023, India became the second highest destination for Greenfield FDI behind the US, followed by the UK.

Over the last 21 years, the G7 countries combined received £3,059.0 billion over a total of 87,736 projects. The UK received more than Germany (£352.1 billion) and France (£205.1 billion) combined (£557.2 billion). However, the 2 countries combined received more projects than the UK over the 21 years (26,935). Germany is the ninth highest country ranked by Greenfield FDI capital expenditure and France is 17th.

Over the same period, the GCC countries received £571.6 billion over a total of 13,106 projects, the EU received £2,197.5 billion over 79,916 projects, and the OECD received £5,811.5 billion over 159,799 projects.

Table 1: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 in selected countries and country groups[footnote 2] and 5-year Annualised Growth Rates (AGR)

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023* 2003 to 2023 2018 to 2022 AGR 2019 to 2023 AGR
China £93.2 £90.7 £57.3 £86.7 £70.1 £85.0 £78.6 £71.4 £82.4 £59.0 £61.9 £62.8 £45.5 £48.7 £40.9 £86.2 £58.0 £27.8 £25.4 £15.4 £29.2 £1,276.0 -35.0% -15.8%
France £2.6 £4.2 £8.0 £12.2 £12.9 £17.1 £8.0 £4.9 £6.2 £5.8 £6.2 £5.1 £5.7 £9.7 £10.3 £14.3 £13.2 £11.6 £9.8 £15.8 £21.3 £205.1 2.6% 12.8%
Germany £13.0 £7.0 £9.6 £11.1 £10.5 £19.5 £12.5 £10.7 £12.4 £8.0 £8.7 £6.6 £12.7 £10.3 £14.7 £17.9 £21.4 £20.7 £46.9 £35.3 £42.5 £352.1 18.4% 18.7%
India £12.2 £19.9 £16.7 £43.1 £30.1 £49.5 £37.7 £27.7 £33.2 £23.1 £18.3 £22.4 £48.0 £46.1 £20.9 £43.4 £30.7 £17.3 £13.0 £46.8 £63.1 £663.1 1.9% 19.8%
United Kingdom £15.0 £15.3 £14.5 £21.7 £20.0 £77.2 £45.9 £21.6 £28.0 £54.5 £34.9 £33.3 £44.6 £30.4 £29.0 £30.8 £28.6 £34.1 £49.5 £74.1 £47.4 £750.4 24.5% 13.4%
United States £21.3 £21.3 £26.4 £29.0 £32.9 £41.4 £57.5 £42.8 £54.2 £51.7 £54.5 £46.9 £53.4 £43.5 £64.9 £64.6 £71.3 £51.6 £84.5 £129.6 £98.8 £1,142.2 19.0% 8.5%
                                                 
GCC £16.6 £35.3 £17.8 £39.3 £13.8 £62.8 £38.6 £22.1 £26.1 £19.4 £13.3 £20.5 £14.5 £20.7 £15.6 £38.2 £29.2 £21.5 £18.0 £51.8 £36.4 £571.6 7.9% 5.7%
G7 £79.0 £70.4 £86.6 £98.1 £92.4 £181.8 £146.3 £104.0 £129.8 £135.9 £128.4 £111.6 £134.3 £112.6 £140.3 £181.9 £158.1 £144.6 £253.4 £297.0 £272.8 £3,059.0 13.0% 14.6%
EU £72.6 £74.8 £85.3 £118.2 £123.4 £160.1 £91.6 £81.0 £80.1 £60.4 £66.8 £53.7 £66.5 £71.6 £91.4 £127.3 £122.2 £104.7 £163.8 £195.4 £186.8 £2,197.5 11.3% 11.2%
OECD £240.4 £167.1 £175.3 £223.3 £215.3 £357.8 £268.0 £236.4 £241.6 £220.5 £248.5 £204.4 £227.7 £212.6 £255.9 £344.5 £301.4 £252.6 £414.0 £530.2 £474.0 £5,811.5 11.4% 12.0%

*Extra year of data

When comparing the annual growth rate over 5 years for investment flows (to smooth out the year-to-year volatility) between last year’s data (2018 to 2022) and this year’s additional data (2019 to 2023) we can see that:

  • China saw an increase in investment in 2023 compared to 2022, which has fed through to an improvement in the 5-year AGR. However, the growth rate remains negative, with investment still occurring but at a lower rate than historically
  • lower investment levels in 2023 compared to 2022 for the UK and USA have fed through to lower levels of the 5-year AGR for the 2 countries but still show positive growth

In the UK, 1.3 million Greenfield FDI jobs have been created between 2003 and 2023, giving the UK a global rank of ninth on this measure. The countries that created the most jobs are India with 5.3 million jobs, China with 5.0 million jobs, and the USA with 2.7 million jobs.

In 2022, the UK attracted 95,246 jobs, the highest on record for the UK in any calendar year. In the latest calendar year, 2023, the UK ranked seventh, behind India (537,593 jobs), Vietnam (261,942 jobs), the USA (200,286 jobs), Mexico (167,095 jobs), China (94,002 jobs) and Poland (89,684 jobs).

Over the last 21 years, the G7 countries combined totalled to 6.4 million jobs, with the UK attracting more FDI jobs than Germany (694,645 jobs), ranked 16th, and France (548,830 jobs), ranked 18th, combined (1.2 million jobs).

Over the same period, the GCC countries attracted 1.1 million jobs, the EU attracted 8.4 million jobs, and the OECD attracted 16.0 million jobs.

Table 2: Greenfield FDI Jobs (thousands) 2003 to 2023 in selected countries and country groups[footnote 3] and 5-year AGR

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023* 2003 to 2023 2018 to 2022 AGR 2019 to 2023 AGR
China 375 367 282 366 304 385 304 304 303 243 248 252 181 169 151 247 169 90 135 55 94 5,022 -31.3% -13.6%
France 7 12 24 32 32 40 24 17 17 19 18 13 20 25 36 39 36 28 31 43 37 549 2.7% 0.7%
Germany 20 16 16 22 25 52 30 28 34 19 24 19 33 36 38 39 48 41 56 48 51 695 5.0% 1.5%
India 132 170 162 324 210 296 180 214 262 183 143 201 275 292 205 333 288 155 148 547 538 5,257 13.2% 16.9%
United Kingdom 36 38 31 53 50 74 66 52 64 60 59 70 74 60 53 65 59 50 86 95 79 1,275 10.0% 7.7%
United States 64 70 76 77 95 94 108 132 124 125 154 157 144 128 171 162 154 124 159 210 200 2,729 6.6% 6.8%
                                                 
GCC 25 30 35 74 39 108 53 51 46 56 40 40 36 36 37 48 60 34 57 89 94 1,086 16.8% 12.1%
G7 185 187 197 234 247 316 273 274 278 263 297 310 302 294 354 385 352 302 418 466 456 6,391 4.9% 6.7%
EU 290 316 394 591 564 700 316 322 307 246 252 214 264 320 402 498 519 404 503 492 447 8,360 -0.3% -3.7%
OECD 574 528 580 661 757 934 698 651 649 611 698 665 666 704 805 941 936 750 976 1,120 1,061 15,966 4.4% 3.2%

*Extra year of data

When comparing the annual growth rate over 5 years for Greenfield FDI jobs (to smooth out the year-to-year volatility) between last year’s data (2018 to 2022) and this year’s additional data (2019 to 2023) we can see that:

  • similar to capital expenditure, China has seen an increase in jobs in 2023 compared to 2022, feeding through to an improvement in its 5-year AGR, although it remains negative

  • there have been minimal changes in the 5-year AGR for other countries. France, Germany, and the UK show slightly lower rates compared to the previous period, whilst India and the USA have seen slight increases

A total of £5,065.5 billion across all countries was invested across the following 8 sectors over 2003 to 2023:

  • advanced manufacturing
  • clean energy industries
  • creative industries
  • defence
  • digital and technologies
  • financial services
  • life sciences
  • professional and business services

This made up 37.8% of global Greenfield FDI across all sectors, accounting for 163,502 projects (57.6%) and attracting 18.9 million jobs (42.7%).

Over the 21 years, a total of £398.6 billion was invested into the UK over these 8 sectors. This made up 53.1% of all Greenfield FDI into the UK across all sectors, accounting for 12,967 projects (67.8%) and attracting 691,488 jobs (54.2%).

The UK is strong in attracting investment in the clean energy industries sector (£242.7 billion over 614 projects and 56,610 jobs), the digital and technologies sector (£67.4 billion over 5,556 projects and 221,052 jobs) and the advanced manufacturing sector (£46.0 billion over 1,512 projects and 161,387 jobs).

However, the UK brings in comparably less investment to the defence Sector (£1.1 billion over 105 projects and 8,126 jobs), the life sciences sector (£3.1 billion over 252 projects and 9,955 jobs) and the creative industries sector (£5.6 billion over 509 projects and 24,470 jobs). This may be due to sector-specific characteristics and barriers, such as national security barriers in defence and the lower tradability of creative industries sub-sectors, as well as the relative size of the sectors.

Over the 21 years, the largest investors into these 8 sectors globally have been the USA with £1,022.6 billion, Germany with £524.1 billion, and Japan with £395.5 billion. The UK ranks fourth with £334.8 billion. When we compare this to the largest investors into the UK into these sectors, the largest investors are the USA with £78.7 billion, Germany with £60.8 billion and France with £33.1 billion. Japan is ranked fifth with £23.7 billion, just behind Spain with £25.1 billion. This suggests that there are opportunities to grow investment relationships with these investors into the UK, whilst also supporting growth in these sectors.

Table 3: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for the Top 10 global investors across selected sectors

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2003 to 2023
Canada £2.0 £2.4 £3.2 £3.2 £4.0 £3.9 £4.7 £2.8 £5.3 £4.0 £7.8 £8.4 £7.8 £7.4 £5.1 £8.2 £9.8 £6.8 £8.0 £14.1 £23.6 £142.6
China £0.8 £1.1 £1.8 £4.2 £3.9 £5.1 £7.8 £7.4 £9.9 £8.1 £8.4 £17.5 £15.1 £13.8 £12.1 £20.4 £14.8 £19.4 £10.4 £21.6 £53.1 £256.5
France £7.0 £6.0 £6.3 £9.3 £13.4 £16.9 £15.7 £11.5 £16.4 £11.9 £11.2 £9.5 £11.4 £17.7 £12.5 £12.2 £17.4 £18.8 £14.3 £36.7 £26.8 £302.8
Germany £15.6 £13.3 £16.7 £19.8 £22.0 £31.2 £25.0 £25.4 £24.9 £18.9 £23.9 £23.1 £20.4 £18.4 £23.7 £31.4 £28.9 £19.4 £37.3 £33.1 £51.7 £524.1
Italy £3.2 £1.9 £4.0 £2.6 £7.6 £8.3 £8.1 £6.8 £10.4 £8.0 £9.0 £6.5 £4.5 £9.5 £5.9 £6.9 £7.1 £5.9 £11.6 £10.3 £12.0 £150.2
Japan £18.8 £17.1 £13.0 £15.7 £16.9 £21.9 £17.6 £18.5 £26.4 £21.4 £21.2 £15.2 £16.1 £11.5 £15.5 £24.8 £18.2 £15.2 £26.7 £24.8 £18.8 £395.5
Spain £2.9 £2.0 £1.7 £3.5 £5.0 £15.0 £19.4 £16.3 £16.8 £7.4 £8.9 £9.1 £6.8 £8.2 £10.1 £10.5 £9.2 £13.6 £11.3 £16.8 £18.0 £212.5
South Korea £4.2 £3.5 £6.6 £6.1 £7.2 £5.5 £4.8 £6.7 £6.3 £5.4 £3.1 £12.7 £7.3 £6.3 £7.7 £13.5 £11.8 £5.0 £6.3 £46.0 £20.1 £196.1
United Kingdom £6.3 £7.8 £6.8 £10.0 £12.0 £14.5 £14.7 £15.9 £17.5 £18.0 £14.9 £14.1 £15.2 £11.1 £12.7 £13.6 £20.0 £17.5 £14.8 £29.1 £48.4 £334.8
United States £28.9 £27.8 £29.4 £34.4 £35.8 £55.9 £39.0 £48.4 £53.1 £41.0 £49.4 £50.2 £49.9 £45.3 £44.4 £58.2 £57.1 £49.5 £70.6 £91.2 £63.0 £1,022.6

Table 4: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for the Top 10 investors into the UK across selected sectors

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2003 to 2023
Canada £0.0 £0.5 £0.2 £0.3 £0.5 £0.6 £0.8 £0.1 £0.2 £0.4 £0.2 £0.5 £1.5 £2.1 £0.3 £0.3 £0.4 £0.0 £0.2 £7.6 £0.1 £16.9
Denmark £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.8 £2.8 £1.5 £0.0 £0.6 £0.0 £1.4 £0.0 £3.5 £0.8 £0.0 £0.8 £0.9 £2.0 £0.1 £0.3 £1.3 £17.0
France £0.1 £0.4 £0.2 £0.6 £0.6 £1.5 £0.3 £0.3 £2.8 £0.8 £1.6 £0.3 £0.7 £3.0 £2.1 £0.3 £1.5 £3.9 £2.4 £7.0 £2.7 £33.1
Germany £0.1 £0.1 £0.5 £1.4 £0.6 £3.6 £3.0 £2.1 £2.9 £0.7 £5.9 £3.1 £2.1 £0.3 £2.6 £3.2 £4.4 £1.5 £12.8 £3.4 £6.3 £60.8
India £0.2 £0.1 £0.2 £0.3 £0.2 £0.3 £0.4 £1.1 £0.9 £0.9 £1.1 £0.2 £1.1 £0.1 £0.6 £0.2 £0.2 £0.2 £0.4 £2.5 £4.7 £16.0
Japan £0.3 £0.5 £0.1 £0.7 £0.3 £1.3 £0.7 £0.3 £0.5 £0.9 £1.5 £0.6 £0.4 £0.4 £0.4 £0.4 £0.2 £1.0 £1.1 £9.8 £2.2 £23.7
Norway £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.3 £1.9 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £1.3 £0.0 £0.9 £0.0 £0.0 £0.2 £0.1 £10.4 £0.0 £0.7 £0.1 £16.1
Portugal £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £2.5 £0.0 £0.0 £0.7 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £2.3 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £11.2 £0.1 £16.8
Spain £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.1 £0.5 £2.3 £1.6 £2.8 £1.6 £0.2 £0.2 £3.3 £0.7 £1.6 £4.6 £0.2 £1.1 £0.3 £0.8 £3.1 £0.1 £25.1
United States £1.6 £2.3 £1.8 £2.4 £3.1 £3.4 £3.4 £4.5 £4.2 £3.5 £3.3 £5.2 £8.6 £2.7 £3.0 £3.9 £5.1 £4.4 £3.6 £4.0 £4.6 £78.7

When looking at investment across all sectors globally, the largest investors are the USA with £2,506.5 billion, Germany with £968.1 billion and Japan with £893.7 billion. The UK ranks fourth, with £861.0 billion. However, when comparing this to the largest investors into the UK across all sectors, the largest investors are the USA with £164.0 billion, France with £99.4 billion and Germany with £87.1 billion. Japan ranks at number 4, with £34.9 billion.

Eight out of the top 10 investors into the UK across all sectors match the top 10 investors into the UK across the selected sectors. Across the selected sectors, Portugal (at number 8 with £16.8 billion) and India (at number 10 with £16.0 billion) are replaced with Ireland (at number 5 with £32.6 billion) and Australia (at number 10 with £22.0 billion) across all sectors. This shows the importance of maintaining relationships with countries that invest across all sectors, and not just on the selected sectors listed.

Table 5: Capital expenditure (£billon) 2003 to 2023 for the Top 10 Investors across all sectors into the UK versus the Top 10 Investors into the UK across selected sectors

Rank Top 10 investors into the UK across all sectors Capital expenditure (£billion) Top 10 investors into the UK across selected sectors Capital expenditure (£billion)
1 United States £164.0 United States £78.7
2 France £99.4 Germany £60.8
3 Germany £87.1 France £33.1
4 Japan £34.9 Spain £25.1
5 Ireland £32.6 Japan £23.7
6 Spain £29.7 Denmark £17.0
7 Canada £26.7 Canada £16.9
8 Denmark £26.6 Portugal £16.8
9 Norway £24.6 Norway £16.1
10 Australia £22.0 India £16.0

Further than total investment levels, growth rates amongst the selected sectors have also been considered. Amongst the top 40 investors into these selected sectors, the countries with the highest growth rates from 2019 to 2023 were the UAE with 292.8% growth, Saudi Arabia with 228.7% growth and Vietnam with 139.3%. Amongst these top 40 investors, the countries with the lowest growth rates were Thailand with 9.5%, Russia with 10.2% and Austria with 13.3%.

When looking across all investors into these sectors, the country with the highest growth rate was the Republic of Kosovo with a growth of 4,930.0%. However, this was due to an investment total of only £0.002 billion in 2019, and then £0.08 billion in 2023. The Republic of Kosovo was ahead of North Macedonia with 1,158.8% and Andorra with 385.2%. However, like the Republic of Kosovo, their investment levels were minimal, totalling to £0.03 billion and £0.8 billion in 2023, respectively.

Table 6: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for countries with the Top 10 growth rates (2019 to 2023) (out of the Top 40 investors) across selected sectors

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2003 to 2023
Australia £0.5 £0.5 £0.9 £1.0 £1.0 £2.3 £30.0 £1.5 £3.1 £1.9 £1.8 £3.7 £2.7 £1.6 £1.5 £36.7 £2.7 £2.1 £14.2 £20.8 £9.9 £140.5
Belgium £0.3 £0.4 £0.3 £0.8 £8.9 £2.8 £1.5 £1.1 £19.8 £0.7 £1.1 £0.5 £1.5 £0.5 £16.3 £2.0 £0.7 £7.2 £14.8 £13.6 £8.2 £103.2
Czech Republic £0.1 £0.1 £0.1 £0.3 £0.8 £1.5 £0.4 £0.3 £1.1 £0.4 £1.0 £0.2 £0.5 £0.8 £0.4 £1.9 £1.2 £0.7 £0.3 £8.6 £0.8 £21.5
Denmark £0.6 £0.4 £0.7 £0.6 £2.1 £5.5 £4.0 £4.6 £3.2 £0.6 £2.4 £0.7 £5.9 £2.0 £3.0 £3.8 £3.5 £4.3 £4.1 £14.8 £13.4 £80.2
Luxembourg £0.1 £0.7 £0.0 £0.1 £1.3 £1.3 £1.0 £1.0 £0.8 £1.2 £1.0 £1.3 £2.1 £2.1 £1.1 £2.0 £3.5 £1.4 £1.3 £9.5 £4.4 £37.3
Norway £0.1 £0.6 £1.0 £0.9 £4.3 £1.3 £2.7 £11.0 £15.4 £1.3 £2.0 £1.3 £2.1 £0.9 £0.6 £8.9 £4.6 £12.6 £6.3 £13.5 £2.5 £94.0
Portugal £0.1 £0.7 £0.3 £1.0 £1.6 £1.9 £6.3 £0.9 £0.9 £1.9 £1.1 £0.8 £4.2 £2.8 £0.5 £0.5 £2.5 £2.4 £4.4 £12.5 £45.6 £92.7
Saudi Arabia £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.2 £0.7 £0.2 £0.2 £0.3 £0.3 £0.4 £0.2 £1.0 £0.7 £0.7 £1.3 £3.0 £0.9 £2.3 £11.0 £6.9 £30.4
UAE £0.4 £0.1 £0.3 £0.9 £1.4 £1.2 £2.8 £2.1 £1.7 £54.2 £1.8 £2.4 £2.2 £2.1 £1.1 £0.9 £4.0 £3.5 £6.6 £31.5 £46.8 £167.9
Vietnam £0.2 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.5 £0.7 £0.2 £0.3 £1.0 £0.1 £0.2 £0.3 £0.2 £1.5 £0.3 £0.1 £0.1 £0.1 £1.8 £3.5 £2.6 £13.8

High levels of investment may not always be associated with a high growth rate. When looking at the top 40 investors into these sectors globally, the USA and Germany rank at number one and 2 in terms of investment over the 21 years (see capital expenditure in Table 3), but they have relatively low growth rates from 2019 to 2023 of 36.6% (ranking 30th) and 37.0% (ranking 29th), respectively. Alternatively, the UAE, with £108.9 billion, and Saudi Arabia, with £30.4 billion, have lower investment levels but the highest growth rates (growth rates as stated). Although the UK ranks fourth in terms of investment, it ranks 22nd in terms of growth rates (48.8%). These results are expected, given that countries such as the US, Germany and the UK have engaged in outward FDI for a longer period, compared to countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia that are still emerging in this area.

When comparing the UK’s outward FDI growth with a number of selected competitor countries[footnote 5], the UK’s annual growth rate at the beginning of the 5 years to 2023, 2019 to 2020, was the fourth highest at 7.8%, behind China (12.7%), France (9.1%) and Spain (8.9%). Although investment continued to increase from 2019 to 2021, it did so at a decreasing rate, pushing the UK’s growth rate levels to the third lowest in 2021 at 6.1%, ahead of China (6.0%) and South Korea (5.1%). Since then, the UK’s growth rate increased in both 2022 and 2023, reaching the third highest spot with a growth rate of 16.9%. Countries like Canada, China and South Korea may have been pushed ahead of the UK in terms of growth over the period because of their large increases in investment in 2022 for South Korea (35.4%), and in 2023 for China (26.1%) and Canada (19.8%), whilst Japan falls behind possibly because of its consistently low increases in investment.

Table 7a: Cumulative annual Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) since 2003 (2019 to 2023) for the UK and selected competitor countries across selected sectors

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Canada £90.1 £96.9 £104.9 £119.0 £142.6
China £152.1 £171.4 £181.8 £203.4 £256.5
France £206.2 £225.0 £239.4 £276.1 £302.8
Italy £110.3 £116.3 £127.9 £138.2 £150.2
Japan £310.0 £325.1 £351.8 £376.7 £395.5
South Korea £118.7 £123.7 £130.0 £176.0 £196.1
Spain £152.9 £166.5 £177.7 £194.5 £212.5
United Kingdom £225.0 £242.5 £257.3 £286.4 £334.8

Table 7b: Cumulative annual greenfield FDI growth rates for the UK and selected competitor countries across selected sectors

2020 2021 2022 2023
Canada 7.6% 8.3% 13.4% 19.8%  
China 12.7% 6.0% 11.9% 26.1%  
France 9.1% 6.4% 15.3% 9.7%  
Italy 5.4% 10.0% 8.1% 8.7%  
Japan 4.9% 8.2% 7.1% 5.0%  
South Korea 4.2% 5.1% 35.4% 11.4%  
Spain 8.9% 6.8% 9.5% 9.3%  
United Kingdom 7.8% 6.1% 11.3% 16.9%  

When looking at the investment into the UK across these selected sectors and the growth rates for each sector over 10 years, growth rates have been volatile, with no sector receiving consistent levels of investment year-on-year. Even though the clean energy sector has ranked at number one in terms of investment levels, growth rates have often been relatively low when compared to sectors such as defence and life sciences (although these growth rates are from low investment levels). When comparing the AGR over 10 years for investment flows (to smooth out the year-to-year volatility) between last year’s data (2013 to 2022) and this year’s additional data (2014 to 2023), we can see that:

  • the advanced manufacturing, creative industries and life sciences sectors are the only sectors to have seen improvements in their 10-year AGR. The life sciences sector shows a particularly large improvement (although investment levels remain relatively low)

  • the professional and business services sector saw the largest decrease in its 10-year AGR compared to last year’s data, due to slightly lower investment in 2023

Table 8a: Annual Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) (2012 to 2023) for selected sectors into the UK

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Advanced manufacturing £3.2 £1.8 £1.5 £2.4 £1.5 £2.1 £1.4 £1.0 £1.0 £2.0 £3.7 £9.0
Clean energy industries £5.0 £14.0 £8.8 £12.6 £12.9 £10.9 £5.7 £11.5 £21.7 £19.7 £56.8 £19.2
Creative industries £0.1 £0.1 £0.2 £0.2 £0.3 £0.3 £0.2 £1.1 £0.2 £0.3 £0.2 £0.9
Defence £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.1 £0.2
Digital and technologies £3.1 £4.1 £4.6 £7.6 £3.0 £3.0 £4.1 £3.7 £3.0 £3.8 £5.1 £4.5
Financial services £1.3 £0.7 £0.8 £0.7 £0.6 £0.7 £0.9 £0.8 £0.2 £0.7 £1.0 £0.7
Life sciences £0.1 £0.1 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.2 £0.1 £0.2 £0.4 £0.6 £0.2 £0.2
Professional and business services £0.5 £0.5 £0.6 £0.6 £0.5 £0.5 £0.6 £0.6 £0.4 £0.5 £0.9 £0.6

Table 8b: Annual Greenfield FDI growth rates and 10-Year AGR for selected sectors into the UK

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2013 to 2022 AGR 2014 to 2023 AGR
Advanced manufacturing -41.9% -19.9% 59.8% -35.9% 37.1% -30.8% -27.1% -7.5% 111.1% 81.1% 143.4% 8.0% 22.2%
Clean energy industries 181.6% -37.0% 42.1% 2.6% -15.4% -47.6% 100.9% 89.6% -9.4% 188.4% -66.3% 16.8% 9.0%
Creative industries -42.6% 122.4% -4.7% 56.6% 14.7% -14.2% 351.9% -79.1% 45.1% -32.0% 277.1% 13.2% 20.0%
Defence 280.0% 343.9% 721.9% -83.4% 305.3% -44.3% 15.1% 120.1% -76.3% 193.6% 168.0% 42.4% 34.7%
Digital and technologies 32.0% 11.9% 66.7% -61.1% 2.3% 34.2% -9.2% -19.0% 26.0% 34.1% -10.7% 2.4% -0.2%
Financial services -48.6% 18.6% -14.0% -4.8% 11.3% 22.9% -14.5% -74.3% 241.0% 49.1% -26.4% 4.5% -0.9%
Life sciences 0.4% -87.2% 838.7% -53.0% 280.7% -60.4% 144.3% 95.0% 81.6% -62.2% -18.8% 12.1% 37.6%
Professional and business services -11.8% 35.3% 0.3% -24.9% 5.3% 23.1% -10.8% -27.5% 27.8% 73.5% -35.5% 7.4% -1.1%

A total of £7,094.5 billion across all countries was invested across 11 out of 17 NSI sectors over 2003 to 2023:

  • advanced materials
  • communications
  • computing hardware
  • cryptographic authentication
  • data infrastructure
  • defence
  • energy
  • satellite and space technologies
  • suppliers to the emergency services
  • synthetic biology
  • transport

There were no investments made into the 6 remaining NSI sectors. This made up 52.9% of global Greenfield FDI across all sectors, accounting for 116,892 projects (41.2%) and attracting 14.0 million jobs (31.7%).

Over the 21 years, a total of £492.9 billion was invested into the UK over these 11 NSI sectors. This made up 65.7% of all Greenfield FDI into the UK across all sectors, accounting for 8,905 projects (46.5%) and attracting 497,507 jobs (39.0%). The UK is strong in attracting investment in the energy sector (£375.0 billion over 927 projects and 92,827 jobs), the data Infrastructure sector (£48.0 billion over 4,430 projects and 175,670 jobs) and the transport sector (£25.2 billion over 628 projects and 81,154 jobs).

However, the UK brings in comparably less investment to the computing hardware sector (£1.0 billion over 106 projects and 5,401 jobs), the defence sector (£1.1 billion over 105 projects and 8,126 jobs) and the satellite and space technologies sector (£1.2 billion over 49 projects and 3,027 jobs). As well as the relative size of the sectors, there may also be sector-specific characteristics and barriers that limit investment into these areas.

Over the 21 years, the largest investors into the NSI sectors globally have been the USA with £1,390.8 billion and the UK with £511.2 billion. The UK is ahead of France with £424.5 billion and Germany with £416.0 billion. When we compare this to the largest investors into the UK in the NSI sectors, the largest investors are France with £90.7 billion, the USA with £83.0 billion and Germany with £66.8 billion.

Other countries that are part of the top 10 investors in the NSI sectors globally but not for the UK include China, South Korea and the Netherlands. The UK instead receives investment from Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Portugal, all of which are not top 10 investors globally into the NSI sectors. This suggests opportunities for the UK to grow investment relationships with the top 10 global investors, whilst also supporting growth in the NSI sectors.

Table 9: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for the Top 10 global investors across the NSI sectors

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2003 to 2023
Canada £36.1 £14.1 £30.0 £6.6 £5.8 £24.4 £18.8 £11.4 £14.9 £11.6 £10.2 £15.3 £7.8 £7.5 £5.3 £8.7 £8.1 £10.4 £9.6 £17.2 £25.2 £298.9
China £7.8 £2.7 £5.0 £8.3 £11.2 £24.8 £11.5 £7.8 £17.9 £6.9 £15.2 £23.9 £31.8 £23.7 £17.2 £36.5 £22.0 £23.7 £9.5 £16.1 £50.3 £373.9
France £9.7 £8.0 £8.7 £18.6 £17.5 £62.6 £21.3 £17.3 £13.5 £26.9 £8.5 £23.9 £11.6 £14.4 £9.0 £23.1 £17.7 £17.6 £19.6 £46.5 £28.5 £424.5
Germany £10.5 £9.9 £11.5 £16.0 £21.4 £24.5 £23.2 £21.2 £14.9 £13.2 £18.0 £15.4 £11.3 £15.8 £18.8 £21.9 £28.2 £13.7 £35.3 £27.2 £44.1 £416.0
Japan £10.0 £19.7 £17.4 £36.6 £15.6 £21.8 £17.2 £12.9 £14.4 £8.8 £21.2 £15.8 £15.5 £13.1 £11.2 £19.0 £16.4 £11.0 £12.0 £16.9 £17.7 £344.2
Netherlands £12.2 £10.0 £8.3 £9.5 £9.0 £16.8 £13.1 £15.2 £5.5 £1.9 £5.8 £7.4 £4.7 £2.9 £4.0 £27.4 £10.1 £9.0 £7.9 £5.3 £11.1 £197.2
South Korea £4.8 £6.8 £9.8 £9.3 £5.4 £13.1 £7.2 £12.1 £14.4 £12.2 £8.9 £4.9 £6.8 £15.3 £11.1 £4.0 £15.3 £4.0 £17.1 £43.0 £9.1 £234.7
Spain £12.5 £7.0 £2.2 £9.7 £8.4 £18.8 £21.6 £17.3 £16.9 £7.8 £9.1 £9.8 £8.4 £9.4 £11.4 £11.1 £10.1 £13.4 £11.0 £17.1 £18.4 £251.4
United Kingdom £32.5 £14.9 £22.5 £19.2 £26.4 £34.7 £37.5 £31.3 £26.8 £13.1 £20.7 £15.1 £24.1 £14.5 £10.6 £14.8 £20.9 £16.5 £15.6 £42.4 £57.0 £511.2
United States £113.2 £64.4 £65.4 £57.5 £36.5 £81.8 £62.3 £40.0 £56.1 £33.8 £54.2 £46.1 £54.6 £69.8 £47.4 £67.7 £50.5 £52.7 £119.9 £118.8 £98.2 £1,390.8

Table 10: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for the Top 10 investors into the UK across the NSI sectors

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2003 to 2023
Canada £2.7 £1.0 £0.3 £0.2 £0.4 £2.8 £2.5 £0.0 £0.1 £1.6 £0.1 £0.4 £1.4 £2.1 £0.3 £0.3 £0.3 £0.1 £1.3 £7.5 £0.1 £25.6
Denmark £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.8 £4.5 £1.5 £0.1 £0.7 £1.2 £1.3 £0.0 £7.0 £0.8 £0.1 £0.9 £0.9 £2.2 £0.0 £0.3 £1.4 £23.7
France £0.0 £0.1 £0.4 £0.5 £1.8 £35.0 £0.9 £0.2 £2.6 £19.5 £1.9 £2.3 £1.6 £3.3 £2.1 £0.6 £1.4 £4.0 £2.6 £7.1 £2.8 £90.7
Germany £0.1 £1.3 £1.5 £1.5 £2.2 £4.0 £4.9 £2.1 £3.1 £0.4 £6.1 £3.1 £2.3 £1.2 £2.7 £2.9 £4.5 £1.8 £13.3 £1.7 £5.9 £66.8
Ireland £0.4 £0.9 £0.1 £1.2 £0.3 £1.2 £2.2 £0.1 £0.6 £2.7 £0.9 £0.1 £2.3 £0.8 £0.2 £2.0 £0.2 £0.7 £2.7 £3.7 £0.9 £24.1
Japan £0.1 £0.0 £2.5 £0.1 £0.1 £0.9 £0.2 £0.2 £0.3 £0.2 £1.3 £0.7 £0.1 £0.1 £0.1 £0.4 £0.2 £0.9 £0.7 £9.6 £0.3 £18.9
Norway £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.0 £0.3 £1.9 £0.1 £0.6 £3.0 £1.5 £0.0 £4.2 £0.1 £0.2 £0.2 £0.0 £10.4 £0.0 £0.7 £0.1 £23.5
Portugal £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £2.5 £0.0 £0.0 £0.7 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £2.3 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £11.2 £0.0 £16.8
Spain £0.1 £0.4 £0.2 £0.0 £0.5 £2.3 £1.6 £2.8 £2.0 £0.1 £0.2 £3.2 £0.7 £1.5 £4.4 £0.2 £1.1 £0.3 £0.9 £3.1 £0.1 £25.6
United States £6.6 £2.7 £3.0 £3.3 £3.3 £2.8 £5.3 £3.5 £3.1 £3.2 £3.3 £4.5 £8.4 £1.9 £2.1 £3.6 £4.5 £4.2 £3.9 £5.5 £4.3 £83.0

Nine out of the top 10 investors into the UK across all sectors match the top 10 investors into the UK across the NSI sectors. Across the NSI sectors, Portugal (at number 10 with £16.8 billion) is replaced with Australia across all sectors (at number 10 with £22.0 billion). This shows the importance of the UK maintaining relationships across these countries with the potential of growing investment into the NSI sectors.

Table 11: Capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for the top 10 investors across all sectors into the UK versus the top 10 investors into the UK across NSI sectors

Rank Top 10 investors into the UK across all sectors Capital expenditure (£billion) Top 10 investors into the UK across NSI sectors Capital expenditure (£billion)
1 United States £164.0 France £90.7
2 France £99.4 United States £83.0
3 Germany £87.1 Germany £66.8
4 Japan £34.9 Spain £25.6
5 Ireland £32.6 Canada £25.6
6 Spain £29.7 Ireland £24.1
7 Canada £26.7 Denmark £23.7
8 Denmark £26.6 Norway £23.5
9 Norway £24.6 Japan £18.9
10 Australia £22.0 Portugal £16.8

In terms of growth rates, amongst the top 40 investors into the NSI sectors, the countries with the highest growth rates from 2019 to 2023 were the UAE with 108.4% growth, Saudi Arabia with 101.4% growth and Taiwan with 83.6% growth. The countries with the lowest growth rates were Russia with 4.5%, Thailand with 4.7% and Azerbaijan with 5.8%.

When looking across all investors into the NSI sectors, the country with the highest growth rate was Uzbekistan with 18,307.7%, due to total investment of £0.0001 billion in 2019, and £0.02 billion in 2023. Uzbekistan was ahead of Trinidad & Tobago with 1,063.7% and Lithuania with 269.5%. However, their investment levels were minimal over the 21 years, totalling to £0.1 billion and £3.9 billion, respectively.

Table 12: Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) 2003 to 2023 for countries with the Top 10 growth rates (2019 to 2023) (out of the Top 40 investors) across the NSI sectors

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2003 to 2023
Belgium £0.2 £0.3 £0.3 £0.7 £1.0 £2.3 £0.9 £1.0 £1.4 £0.8 £1.3 £0.7 £2.0 £3.7 £1.6 £2.4 £0.9 £1.8 £1.2 £9.1 £5.2 £39.0
Czech Republic £0.3 £0.4 £0.0 £0.3 £1.4 £1.8 £0.6 £0.3 £1.1 £1.7 £0.8 £0.1 £0.2 £0.8 £0.3 £1.9 £1.2 £0.6 £0.2 £8.6 £0.9 £23.4
Denmark £0.9 £0.6 £4.7 £0.8 £2.3 £7.8 £4.3 £1.2 £3.4 £2.1 £2.9 £2.8 £9.6 £3.0 £3.4 £4.7 £3.7 £5.2 £5.3 £16.1 £15.6 £100.4
Israel £2.0 £0.2 £0.2 £0.4 £0.2 £1.4 £0.4 £2.6 £0.9 £1.0 £1.7 £1.0 £1.1 £0.8 £0.8 £1.2 £1.2 £0.6 £1.6 £6.0 £3.7 £29.1
Norway £1.9 £7.9 £2.7 £1.0 £4.7 £3.8 £4.2 £3.4 £4.7 £4.2 £2.7 £1.6 £5.8 £1.3 £2.1 £2.8 £4.7 £12.6 £6.0 £7.2 £13.2 £98.4
Portugal £0.5 £0.8 £0.5 £0.9 £2.3 £2.7 £6.4 £1.1 £0.8 £2.0 £1.0 £1.1 £0.6 £2.7 £0.5 £0.6 £2.5 £2.2 £4.4 £12.5 £2.0 £48.3
Saudi Arabia £0.0 £0.2 £0.8 £0.9 £0.6 £1.3 £1.6 £0.1 £2.4 £0.3 £0.6 £0.2 £9.7 £1.6 £1.5 £1.3 £15.5 £1.7 £1.9 £18.2 £17.3 £77.7
Singapore £1.9 £1.5 £1.3 £3.6 £1.0 £4.9 £3.5 £1.2 £1.7 £0.7 £4.5 £3.7 £4.2 £6.9 £5.8 £5.0 £17.8 £18.3 £9.0 £10.4 £13.6 £120.5
Taiwan £4.8 £7.3 £1.9 £2.0 £4.0 £14.2 £2.5 £6.9 £4.0 £3.0 £2.6 £5.3 £6.7 £4.1 £2.5 £16.2 £1.9 £11.9 £10.7 £38.7 £13.7 £164.8
UAE £0.7 £1.1 £5.7 £1.0 £4.6 £11.9 £15.3 £4.7 £5.5 £4.6 £5.7 £4.7 £6.9 £2.7 £4.0 £2.9 £6.1 £4.0 £7.8 £37.5 £46.3 £183.8

Similarly to the selected sectors, high levels of investment may not always be associated with a high growth rate. When looking at the top 40 investors into the NSI sectors globally, the USA and the UK rank at number one and 2 in terms of investment over the last 21 years (see capital expenditure in Table 9), but they have relatively low growth rates from 2019 to 2023 of 38.9% (ranking 18th) and 34.6% (ranking 23rd), respectively. Alternatively, the UAE, with £183.8 billion, and Saudi Arabia, with £77.7 billion, have lower relative investment levels but the highest growth rates (growth rates as stated). Similarly to the selected sectors, these results are expected due to countries like the USA and the UK engaging in outward FDI for a longer period.

When comparing the UK’s outward FDI growth with a number of selected competitor countries[footnote 8], the UK’s growth rate at the beginning of the 5-year period to 2023, 2019 to 2020, was the sixth lowest at 4.3%. Similarly to the selected sectors, investment continued to increase from 2019 to 2021 but at a decreasing rate, and in 2021, the UK had the sixth lowest growth rate at 3.94%, ahead of China (3.2%) and Canada (3.87%). Since then, the UK’s growth rate increased, reaching the second highest spot in 2023 with a growth rate of 12.6%. Countries such as Germany and South Korea may have pushed ahead of the UK in terms of growth over the period because of South Korea’s relatively large increase in investment in 2022 of 23.5% and Germany’s consistently high growth in investment since 2019, particularly in 2021 (11.4%) when other countries increased investment at a relatively smaller scale. Japan on the other hand, falls behind possibly because of its consistently low increases in investment.

Table 13a: Cumulative annual greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) since 2003 (2019 to 2023) for the UK and selected competitor countries into NSI sectors

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Canada £236.5 £246.9 £256.4 £273.7 £298.9
China £274.2 £297.9 £307.4 £323.6 £373.9
France £312.3 £329.9 £349.6 £396.0 £424.5
Germany £295.7 £309.4 £344.7 £371.9 £416.0
Japan £286.6 £297.6 £309.5 £326.5 £344.2
South Korea £161.5 £165.5 £182.6 £225.6 £234.7
Spain £191.5 £205.0 £215.9 £233.0 £251.4
United Kingdom £379.7 £396.2 £411.7 £454.1 £511.2

Table 13b: Cumulative Annual Greenfield FDI growth rates for the UK and selected competitor countries into NSI sectors

2020 2021 2022 2023
Canada 4.4% 3.87% 6.7% 9.2%  
China 8.6% 3.2% 5.2% 15.6%  
France 5.6% 6.0% 13.3% 7.2%  
Germany 4.6% 11.4% 7.9% 11.9%  
Japan 3.8% 4.0% 5.5% 5.4%  
South Korea 2.5% 10.3% 23.5% 4.0%  
Spain 7.0% 5.4% 7.9% 7.9%  
United Kingdom 4.3% 3.94% 10.3% 12.6%  

When looking at investment into the UK across the NSI sectors and the growth rates over 10 years for each sector, there is volatility in growth rates across all sectors, particularly in the computing hardware, defence, satellite and space technologies, suppliers to the emergency services and synthetic biology sectors. A key point of volatility to highlight is the large growth rate in 2015 in the satellite and space technologies sector of 7,886.2%. Although investment levels into the sector are relatively low, the large growth is due to the sector receiving £0.004 billion in 2014, and then £0.3 billion in 2015, although the number of projects over both years remained constant, at 2 per year.

When comparing the AGR over 10 years for investment flows (to smooth out the year-to-year volatility) across the NSI sectors between last year’s data (2013 to 2022) and this year’s additional data (2014 to 2023), we can see that:

  • the communications and synthetic biology sectors were the only 2 sectors to see improvements in their 10-year AGR, with the synthetic biology sector seeing a particularly large improvement (although investment levels remain relatively low)
  • the satellite and space technologies and computing hardware sectors saw the largest decreases in their 10-year AGR due to lower levels of investment in 2023 (although investment levels are generally relatively low for the sectors)

Table 14a: Annual Greenfield FDI capital expenditure (£billion) (2012 to 2023) for NSI sectors into the UK

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Advanced materials £0.3 £0.1 £0.3 £0.2 £0.3 £0.2 £0.3 £0.2 £0.4 £0.8 £0.3 £0.4
Communications £0.5 £1.4 £0.9 £4.2 £0.7 £0.9 £1.0 £1.5 £0.9 £1.2 £1.4 £1.1
Computing hardware £0.1 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0
Cryptographic authentication £0.7 £0.3 £0.3 £0.2 £0.2 £0.2 £0.2 £0.2 £0.0 £0.2 £0.2 £0.1
Data infrastructure £2.6 £2.7 £3.8 £3.3 £2.4 £2.2 £3.3 £2.7 £2.0 £2.5 £3.5 £4.2
Defence £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.1 £0.2
Energy £30.6 £19.2 £12.0 £21.1 £13.0 £11.4 £7.8 £11.7 £21.8 £21.3 £58.0 £19.5
Satellite and space technologies £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.3 £0.0 £0.0 £0.0 £0.2 £0.1 £0.3 £0.2 £0.0
Suppliers to the emergency services £0.0 £0.1 £0.1 £0.1 £0.1 £0.2 £0.2 £0.0 £0.1 £0.3 £0.1 £0.1
Synthetic biology £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.1 £0.0 £0.2 £0.1 £0.2 £0.4 £0.6 £0.1 £0.2
Transport £1.1 £1.6 £1.4 £1.3 £2.1 £1.1 £1.6 £0.8 £1.6 £1.7 £4.0 £1.2

Table 14b: Annual Greenfield FDI growth rates and 10-Year AGR for NSI sectors into the UK

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2013 to 2022 AGR 2014 to 2023 AGR
Advanced materials -57.5% 137.7% -28.7% 37.7% -36.9% 83.7% -30.7% 80.7% 119.7% -67.5% 51.5% 10.3% 4.9%
Communications 179.6% -35.1% 358.0% -82.6% 26.3% 7.9% 52.5% -39.0% 34.7% 10.2% -18.7% -0.3% 2.2%
Computing hardware -57.2% 9.3% -71.3% -51.5% -54.1% 435.3% 570.8% -97.2% 1,050.0% 189.7% -83.2% 9.8% -10.8%
Cryptographic authentication -60.6% -3.1% -25.0% 9.7% -32.8% 31.1% -19.9% -86.7% 888.7% 8.0% -51.6% -2.4% -9.7%
Data infrastructure 5.1% 37.8% -10.8% -27.6% -7.6% 45.6% -18.0% -24.4% 22.9% 41.6% 19.6% 2.9% 1.3%
Defence 280.0% 343.9% 721.9% -83.4% 305.3% -44.3% 15.1% 120.1% -76.3% 193.6% 168.0% 42.4% 34.7%
Energy -37.2% -37.5% 76.0% -38.7% -11.9% -31.4% 49.1% 86.6% -2.3% 172.2% -66.3% 13.1% 5.5%
Satellite and space technologies 556.5% -67.4% 7,886.2% -98.5% 110.3% 178.3% 653.1% -24.7% 82.8% -37.7% -99.0% 34.6% -8.1%
Suppliers to the emergency services 98.9% 13.0% -42.5% 11.9% 248.9% -11.4% -83.3% 398.2% 105.4% -69.4% -39.6% 1.8% -5.0%
Synthetic biology 152.3% -88.3% 838.2% -64.3% 495.3% -66.0% 169.3% 111.7% 80.0% -80.5% 50.7% 5.2% 39.8%
Transport 38.6% -11.1% -7.6% 63.9% -47.0% 40.5% -49.4% 97.3% 8.1% 136.9% -70.5% 11.0% -1.8%

  1. Egypt saw a growth of 155.9% in projects from 2021 to 2022, as the number of projects increased from 59 to 151. ↩

  2. These selected country groups are not mutually exclusive, and a number of countries may overlap in more than one country group. ↩

  3. Please refer to footnote 2. ↩

  4. The selected sectors and fDi Market subsectors in this analysis represent an initial mapping to the high-level sectors mentioned within the Industrial Strategy Green Paper. This analysis is based on initial judgements made by the authors and the mappings may be subject to change in the future, based on the finalised Industrial Strategy. This is not an official government position. The full mapping of sub-sectors to these selected sectors is outlined in the methodological note. ↩

  5. Selected competitor countries are: Canada, China, France, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Spain. These countries were selected based on being closest in rank to the UK in terms of their total capital expenditure. ↩

  6. The National Security and Investment NSI Act legally requires anyone, including businesses and investors, to tell the government about acquisitions of certain entities in 17 sensitive areas of the economy (called ‘notifiable acquisitions’) that could harm the UK’s national security. View a full list of the 17 NSI sectors. ↩

  7. This analysis is based on initial judgements on potential sub-sector mappings made by the authors and may be subject to change in the future. This is not an official government position. The full mapping of sub-sectors to the NSI sectors is outlined in the methodological note. ↩

  8. Selected competitor countries are: Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Spain. These countries were selected based on being closest in rank to the UK in terms of their total capital expenditure. ↩

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