France: foreign direct investment outflow 2011-2021

Since 2014, the amount of foreign direct investment outflow in France has fluctuated, and reached more than 13 billion euros in 2021. In other words, there were over 13 billion euros invested from France in foreign countries in a direct manner, meaning that these investments are linked to an ownership or a business from France. The main countries in which French investments went were located in the European Union: about 11.3 billion euros were destined to countries within the European Union, among which 9.1 billion euros to countries within the eurozone as of 2021.

Foreign direct investment inflows in France

  Regarding the inflows of foreign direct investments (FDI) from abroad, those amounted to about 22.8 billion euros in 2021, after having peaked in 2015 at more than 40 billion euros. Thus, France was investing lower amounts abroad than foreign investors did toward France. Similarly, in the case of FDI inflow in France, most of the amounts invested were from the European Union: 22.2 billion euros. 

Foreign direct investment projects in Europe

  In 2019, a vast majority of FDI projects in Europe concerned the digital sector, which accounted for around 1,200 projects across Europe that year, and business services. Moreover, the activities most invested in through FDI were sales and marketing, as well as manufacturing.