China vs United States: Foreign direct investment, net outflows

China
157.21 billion BoP, current US$
in 2025
United States
422.23 billion BoP, current US$
in 2025
China rank
3rd
United States rank
1st

Foreign direct investment, net outflows over time

  • China
  • United States
-200.0B0200.0B400.0B600.0B197019972025

How they compare

United States currently reports 422.23 billion BoP, current US$ against 157.21 billion BoP, current US$ in China, a difference of 265.02 billion BoP, current US$.

That makes United States's figure about 2.7 times China's.

The two have swapped places 2 times across 44 shared years of data; in 1982 it was United States ahead.

Globally, China ranks 3rd and United States ranks 1st of 191 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Foreign direct investment, net outflows (BoP, current US$)
Unit
BoP, current US$
Source
Balance of Payments database, International Monetary Fund (IMF), note: International Monetary Fund, Balance of Payments database, supplemented by data from the United Nations Conference on Trade and D
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
238 places, 10,019 data points, 1970–2025
Last refreshed

Foreign direct investment refers to direct investment equity flows in an economy. It is the sum of equity capital, reinvestment of earnings, and other capital. Direct investment is a category of cross-border investment associated with a resident in one economy having control or a significant degree of influence on the management of an enterprise that is resident in another economy. Ownership of 10 percent or more of the ordinary shares of voting stock is the criterion for determining the existence of a direct investment relationship. This series shows net outflows of investment from the reporting economy to the rest of the world. Data are in current U.S. dollars.