The Top 20 Countries for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2025

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The Top 20 Countries that received the most Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in 2025 are shown in the 2026 World Investment Report published by UNCTAD. Developing countries accounted for nearly half of the countries in the list. The US remained the top country for FDI with investments of $277.0 billion followed by Singapore and Hong Kong, China.

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Source: 2026 World Investment Report, UNCTAD

FDI in China declined in 2025 slightly. Brazil’s FDI was up due to increased flows into natural resources and renewable resources sector. Services and manufacturing continue to drive higher flows into India and Mexico. It is interesting that despite thousands of sanctions, Russia received $25.0 in FDI.

One point to note is that FDI remains concentrated among a few countries. The top 20 countries 80 percent of FDI in 2025. So rest of the countries in the world lose out on economic growth.

Margin Debt Soars To Historic Levels

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Margin debt can be an indicator of excessive optimism or pessimism by equity investors. Historically during bull markets investors tend to borrow more pushing margin to very high levels. While using margin safely can be beneficial to some investors it is not for everyone. When equities are surging everyday margin can amplify gains but when the market declines it will lead to margin calls – which in turn, can cause forced selling if the margin calls are not met.

According to a recent news report, margin debt has increased by over 40% over the past 12 months. In the past when margin levels reached such high levels, market crashes occurred. The dot-com crash and the Global Financial Crisis are two examples. Currently margin interest rate is not cheap. At Fidelity, it goes from 11.825% to 10.075% based on loan balances. As stocks continue to rise, investors using margin are betting that the return on stocks will be higher than these rates they are willing to pay.

The below chart shows the total margin debt over the past 12 months from May 1999 through Mary 2026:

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Source: Barchart, CNBC via Thinking Out Load, SYZ Group

Average Annual Returns for US Bonds by Calendar Year 1926 to 2025

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Bonds are be an integral part of a well diversified portfolio. While equities can generate amazing returns when equity markets are booming but can decline when markets turn south. Bonds on the other hand, tend to earn average returns when bonds markets do well and their negative returns during other times are low. In addition, fixed income assets such as bonds provide a cushion effect to a portfolio when equity markets crash.

The following chart shows the Average Annual Returns for US Bonds by Calendar Year 1926 to 2025:

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Source: Student of the Market-January 2026, Blackrock

In 2025, US bonds performed very well relative to their average returns. Bonds can also earn amazing returns as shown above during the 12 years when they yielded over 10%.

Related ETFs:

  • iShares iBoxx $ Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (LQD)
  • Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)
  • SPDR® Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK)
  • iShares Core Total U.S. Bond Market ETF (HYG)
  • iShares TIPS Bond ETF (TIP)

Disclosure: No positions

On the Contribution of Dividends and Capital Appreciation in Total Returns

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Dividends form an integral part of evaluating the return on an investment. Dividend returns account for a higher proportion of total returns than capital appreciation in some markets. While in other markets such as the US, share price growth is the largest contributor of total returns. The following chart shows the split of total returns for select major indices:

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Source: Factset via Finding yield on the ASX by Steve Lambeth, FirstLinks

Foreign markets such as Australia, the UK, etc. are known for their high dividend yields. Australia in particular is a perennial income investor destination due to the favorable policy of dividend imputation.

The current dividend yield on the ASX200 is about 3.4% while the dividend yield of the D&P 500 is just 1.13%.

Related ETFs:

  • SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY)
  • iShares MSCI Australia ETF (EWA)

Disclosure: Long SPY