Welcome

This guide provides a starting point for researchers using numeric data for projects involving foreign direct investment and foreign aid.

Foreign Direct Investment

Balance of Payments Statistics - IMF (International Monetary Fund)
This database provides annual aggregate and detailed time series for balance of payments and international investment statistics for individual countries. It also provides world and regional data. Descriptions of individual countries' methodologies, compilation practices and data sources are noted.

Coordinated Direct Investment Survey - IMF (International Monetary Fund)
Detailed bilateral direct investment data.  Annual from 2009.

Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey - IMF (International Monetary Fund)
Detailed bilateral portfolio investment data.  Annual from 2001.

EIU Country Data (Harvard Login) - Economist Intelligence Unit
Includes foreign direct investment data at the country level. Various FDI variables can be found under the foreign payments series. The database provides actual data from 1980-present, with forecasts to 2030. This resource allows the user to select the countries, series and number of years.

Foreign Direct Investment Database - UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)
Provides inflow and outflow aggregate data for over 190 different economies. Data relating to inward and outward stocks of foreign direct investment are also included in this database. The UNCTAD investment website provides access to additional information including the World Investment Report.

International Debt Statistics - World Bank
Tracks the annual movement of international capital flows to developing countries.  Formerly titled Global Development Finance.  Also included in the World Development Indicators (WDI) Database. 

International Direct Investment Statistics - OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development)
Data is available by country and industrial sector. Most variables are available from 1982-present. This database allows the user to select the data (partner country, inflows, outflows, inflow position, outflow position, reporting country, and number of years) and select the download format.

International Economic Accounts - BEA (Bureau of Economic Analysis)
Includes Foreign Direct Investment Data in the US and US Direct Investment Abroad. There is some data that is available at the country and regional level.

International Financial Statistics Online - IMF (International Monetary Fund)
Contains time series data from 1948. It provides international statistics on international and domestic finance. Reports are made on most countries of the world detailing exchange rates, international liquidity, interest rates, money and banking, prices, inflation, deflation, government accounts, national accounts, and international transactions including direct investment abroad.