China’s Outbound FDI in 2025: USD 213.5 Billion of Flow and a Ninth Straight Year in the Global Top Three
- On 23 September 2026 the Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange jointly released the Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outbound Direct Investment 2025.
2026年9月23日，商务部、国家统计局和国家外汇管理局联合发布《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》。
- China’s outbound direct investment flow in 2025 was USD 213.58 billion (2135.8亿美元), up 11.1 per cent on the previous year.
2025年中国对外直接投资流量2135.8亿美元，比上年增长11.1%。
- The outbound investment stock reached USD 3.4 trillion, holding a place in the global top three for a ninth consecutive year, with its share of global investment rising to 7.4 per cent.
对外投资存量3.4万亿美元，连续9年保持全球前三，占全球投资的比重增加到7.4%。
- Outbound investment covers 18 industry categories of the national economy and is concentrated in leasing and business services, wholesale and retail, manufacturing and finance, while gradually extending into green and low-carbon fields, the digital economy and green minerals.
对外投资行业覆盖国民经济18个行业门类，主要集中在租赁和商务服务、批发零售、制造和金融四个领域，并逐步向绿色低碳、数字经济和绿色矿产等领域稳步拓展。
- By the end of 2025 China had established 58,000 overseas enterprises in 189 countries and regions, with 4.761 million employees in total, of whom 2.965 million were locally hired foreign employees.
截至2025年末，中国在境外设立企业5.8万家，遍布189个国家和地区；境外企业从业员工总数476.1万人，其中雇用外方员工296.5万人。
- Direct investment in Belt and Road partner countries was USD 46.05 billion in 2025, 21.6 per cent of the year’s flow, with 22,000 overseas enterprises established there and an investment stock of USD 407.25 billion.
2025年中国企业对共建”一带一路”国家直接投资460.5亿美元，占当年对外投资流量的21.6%；在共建”一带一路”国家设立境外企业数量2.2万家，投资存量4072.5亿美元。
- The figures sit alongside two official signals: on 10 September 2026 the National Financial Regulatory Administration said financial institutions would be guided to support intermediate-goods exports, overseas warehouses and cross-border e-commerce, and SAFE put inbound investment stock at close to USD 8 trillion at end-2025, with net inflow and an improving structure.
公报数据之外还有两点官方信号：2026年9月10日，金融监管总局表示将引导金融机构支持中间品出口、海外仓建设和跨境电商发展；国家外汇管理局介绍，截至2025年末各类来华投资存量接近8万亿美元，来华投资总体呈现净流入，结构更加优化。
China’s Outbound FDI in 2025: USD 213.5 Billion of Flow and a Ninth Straight Year in the Global Top Three | 2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报：对外投资存量连续9年全球前三
Overview
On 23 September 2026, the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) jointly released the Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outbound Direct Investment 2025 (《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》).
The bulletin is the annual accounting of China’s outbound direct investment (ODI). It matters to foreign-invested groups and Chinese groups with cross-border operations for two reasons: it fixes the official statistical scope against which outbound activity is measured, and it supplies the base figures that sit behind decisions about outbound lending, repatriation expectations and the shape of an offshore holding structure.
This note reads the 2025 numbers, sets out what the statistical scope covers, and draws out the implications for cross-border fund arrangement and group architecture. It deals with outbound investment only; the separate rules on foreign investment coming into China are not covered here.
The 2025 numbers at a glance
The headline figures for 2025 are:
- Flow: outbound direct investment of USD 213.58 billion (2135.8亿美元), up 11.1 per cent on the previous year.
- Stock: outbound investment stock of USD 3.4 trillion, holding a place in the global top three for a ninth consecutive year, with its share of global investment rising to 7.4 per cent.
- Enterprises and reach: by end-2025, 58,000 overseas enterprises established by China, spread across 189 countries and regions.
- Employment: 4.761 million employees in total in those overseas enterprises, of whom 2.965 million were locally hired foreign employees.
- Belt and Road: direct investment in Belt and Road partner countries of USD 46.05 billion in 2025, 21.6 per cent of the year’s flow, with 22,000 overseas enterprises established there and an investment stock of USD 407.25 billion.
Read together, the flow and stock figures describe a position that is both large in absolute terms and stable in relative terms: the flow grew at a double-digit rate, while the stock has stayed in the global top three for nine years running.
What the statistical scope covers
The bulletin is a joint product of three authorities, which is itself informative about scope. MOFCOM administers outbound investment records, the NBS supplies the statistical methodology, and SAFE holds the cross-border fund-flow data. The published figures therefore combine an enterprise-level record of outbound investment with the balance-of-payments view of the funds that move.
The industry coverage is broad: outbound investment spans 18 industry categories of the national economy. That breadth matters when reading the concentration figures below, because it means the headline flow is not the story of a single sector but the sum of many, even though a small number of sectors account for the bulk.
Where the investment goes: industries and destinations
The bulletin records that outbound investment is concentrated in four fields — leasing and business services, wholesale and retail, manufacturing, and finance. The concentration is a structural feature rather than a one-year result: these four fields host the holding and trading platforms through which much outbound activity is routed.
Alongside that concentration, the bulletin notes a gradual extension into green and low-carbon fields, the digital economy and green minerals. The shift is described as steady rather than abrupt, and it points to where new outbound capacity is being built beyond the traditional trading and platform sectors.
For a group planning an offshore structure, the industry map is a reminder that the choice of sector drives both the regulatory pathway and the practical treasury design. A manufacturing presence abroad and a leasing-and-services holding platform raise different questions about where value is created and where funds are held.
The Belt and Road share
In 2025, direct investment by Chinese enterprises in Belt and Road partner countries was USD 46.05 billion, equal to 21.6 per cent of the year’s total outbound flow. The number of overseas enterprises established in those countries reached 22,000, and the investment stock stood at USD 407.25 billion.
The share figure is useful for reading the geographic tilt of outbound activity: roughly one dollar in five of the year’s outbound flow went to Belt and Road partner countries. The stock figure, larger by an order of magnitude, reflects the accumulation of earlier years rather than the flow of a single year.
The employment footprint
The bulletin also records the human footprint of outbound investment. By the end of 2025, China had established 58,000 overseas enterprises, located in 189 countries and regions. Those enterprises employed 4.761 million people in total, of whom 2.965 million were locally hired foreign employees.
The local-hiring figure is the one to note for compliance and structuring purposes. A large locally hired workforce brings employment, payroll and social-security obligations in the host jurisdiction, and it is a practical reason why an outbound group’s governance and reporting lines have to run through the operating entity rather than only through the holding platform.
What the numbers mean for cross-border fund arrangement
The bulletin is a statistical release, not a rule-making instrument, so its implications are indirect but real. Three points follow for groups that arrange cross-border funds and design group architecture.
First, the scale of the stock — USD 3.4 trillion — sets the backdrop for outbound fund arrangements. A group’s own outbound lending and repatriation decisions sit within a much larger national stock, and the bulletin’s flow-and-stock framing is the reference point that supervisors and banks use when they read an individual group’s position.
Second, the industry concentration shapes where treasury functions sit. Because leasing and business services and finance are among the four concentrated fields, holding and financing platforms are a common feature of outbound structures. Where a group places such a platform determines which entity receives dividends and fees, and how those flows are documented.
Third, the Belt and Road share and the local-employment figure together point to structures with real operating substance abroad. A group that hires locally and operates in a partner country carries obligations on the ground, and its cross-border funding arrangements have to reflect that operating reality rather than treating the offshore entity as a pure conduit.
Related policy signals
Two official signals published around the same period sit alongside the bulletin.
On 10 September 2026, at a press conference of the State Council Information Office, Cong Lin, a vice head of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, said financial institutions would be guided to support intermediate-goods exports, the building of overseas warehouses and the development of cross-border e-commerce. The statement points to the financing side of outbound activity — the funding of exports, storage and online sales channels abroad.
Separately, SAFE said at a September 2026 State Council Information Office press conference that, as of the end of 2025, the stock of inbound investment of all types was close to USD 8 trillion, that inbound investment on the whole showed a net inflow, and that its structure had become more optimised. Read with the outbound bulletin, the two data points describe two directions of cross-border capital: outbound investment measured by the bulletin, and inbound investment measured by the balance-of-payments data.
Sources
- 中国经济网 — 商务部、国家统计局、国家外汇管理局联合发布《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》: https://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202609/t20260924_3233218.shtml
- 人民网财经 — 2025年中国对外直接投资流量与存量数据报道: https://finance.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2026/0925/c1004-40805387.html
- 商务部 — 政府信息公开入口: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zfxxgk/index.html
- 商务部 — 政策发布入口: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zcfb/index.html
- 央视新闻 — 《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》发布报道: https://big5.cctv.com/gate/big5/news.cctv.cn/2026/09/24/ARTIo1A2j1T9FqjuwBiH9WYP260924.shtml
- 长沙市贸促会 — 对外直接投资统计数据转载: http://mch.changsha.gov.cn/mcfw/jmxx/sjjm_1/202609/t20260917_12569254.html
Related reading
- see also: mnc-cash-pool-relaxation
- see also: foreign-investment-action-plan
2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报：对外投资存量连续9年全球前三
概述
2026年9月23日，商务部、国家统计局和国家外汇管理局联合发布《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》。
公报是对中国对外直接投资的年度统计。对在华外资集团和开展跨境经营的中国企业而言，它有两重意义：一是固定了衡量对外投资活动的官方统计口径，二是提供了境外放款、利润回流预期与离岸持股架构设计所参照的基础数据。
本文解读2025年数据，说明统计口径覆盖的范围，并梳理其对跨境资金安排与集团架构的含义。本文只涉及对外投资，不涉及外资来华的制度安排。
2025年数据一览
2025年的主要数据如下：
- 流量：对外直接投资流量2135.8亿美元，比上年增长11.1%。
- 存量：对外投资存量3.4万亿美元，连续9年保持全球前三，占全球投资的比重增加到7.4%。
- 企业与覆盖：截至2025年末，中国在境外设立企业5.8万家，遍布189个国家和地区。
- 就业：境外企业从业员工总数476.1万人，其中雇用外方员工296.5万人。
- 共建”一带一路”国家：2025年中国企业对共建”一带一路”国家直接投资460.5亿美元，占当年对外投资流量的21.6%；在共建”一带一路”国家设立境外企业数量2.2万家，投资存量4072.5亿美元。
将流量与存量放在一起看，可以读出两个特征：绝对规模大，相对地位稳。流量实现两位数增长，存量则连续9年位居全球前三。
统计口径覆盖的范围
公报由三家主管部门联合发布，这本身就说明了口径。商务部负责对外投资备案与记录，国家统计局提供统计方法，国家外汇管理局掌握跨境资金流数据。因此，公布的数据是把企业层面的对外投资记录与国际收支视角下的资金流动结合起来的结果。
行业覆盖面很宽：对外投资行业覆盖国民经济18个行业门类。在阅读下文集中度数据时，这一点值得注意——它意味着头部流量并非单一行业的故事，而是多个行业的加总，尽管其中少数行业占据了主要份额。
投向哪里：行业与目的地
公报记载，对外投资主要集中在四个领域——租赁和商务服务、批发零售、制造和金融。这种集中是结构性特征，而非某一年的结果：许多对外投资正是通过这些领域内的控股平台与贸易平台完成。
在集中之外，公报还指出对外投资正逐步向绿色低碳、数字经济和绿色矿产等领域稳步拓展。这一变化被描述为稳步而非突变，指向传统贸易与平台行业之外新增对外产能的落点。
对规划离岸架构的集团而言，行业版图提示：行业选择同时决定监管路径与实务财资设计。境外的制造业存在与租赁商务类控股平台，在价值创造地与资金留存地这两个问题上提出的要求并不相同。
共建”一带一路”国家占比
2025年，中国企业向共建”一带一路”国家的直接投资为460.5亿美元，相当于当年对外投资流量的21.6%。在这些国家设立的境外企业数量达2.2万家，投资存量4072.5亿美元。
占比数据有助于判断对外投资的地域倾向：当年对外投资流量中，约每五美元就有一美元投向共建”一带一路”国家。存量数据在量级上高出一个数量级，反映的是历年积累，而非单年流量。
就业足迹
公报同时记载对外投资的人员足迹。截至2025年末，中国在境外设立5.8万家企业，分布在189个国家和地区。这些境外企业从业员工总数476.1万人，其中雇用外方员工296.5万人。
从合规与架构角度看，值得关注的是外方雇用数据。外方员工规模较大，意味着在东道国产生用工、薪酬与社保义务，这也是境外集团的治理与汇报线必须穿过经营实体、而不能只停留在控股平台的现实原因。
对跨境资金安排的含义
公报是统计发布，不是规则制定文件，因此其含义是间接的，但确实存在。对安排跨境资金与设计集团架构的集团而言，有三点。
其一，存量的规模——3.4万亿美元——构成对外资金安排的背景。集团自身的境外放款与利润回流决策，处在远大于自身的国家存量之中，而公报的流量—存量框架，正是监管机构与银行在解读单个集团头寸时参照的口径。
其二，行业集中决定财资职能的落点。由于租赁和商务服务与金融位列四个集中领域，控股与融资平台是境外架构中的常见配置。集团把此类平台放在何处，决定了由哪一主体收取股息与费用，以及这些资金流如何留痕。
其三，共建”一带一路”国家占比与外方雇用数据共同指向具有真实境外经营实质的架构。在当地雇用并运营的集团，需承担在地义务，其跨境资金安排必须反映这一经营现实，而不能把境外主体仅当作通道。
关联政策信号
同期发布的两点官方信号与公报并行。
2026年9月10日，在国务院新闻办公室新闻发布会上，金融监管总局副局长丛林表示，将引导金融机构支持中间品出口、海外仓建设和跨境电商发展。这一表述指向对外投资的融资侧——出口、仓储与境外线上销售渠道的资金支持。
此外，国家外汇管理局在2026年9月国务院新闻办公室新闻发布会上介绍，截至2025年末，各类来华投资存量接近8万亿美元，来华投资总体呈现净流入，结构更加优化。与对外投资公报并读，两组数据描述了跨境资本的两个方向：公报衡量的对外投资，以及国际收支数据衡量的来华投资。
来源
- 中国经济网 — 商务部、国家统计局、国家外汇管理局联合发布《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》: https://www.ce.cn/xwzx/gnsz/gdxw/202609/t20260924_3233218.shtml
- 人民网财经 — 2025年中国对外直接投资流量与存量数据报道: https://finance.people.com.cn/BIG5/n1/2026/0925/c1004-40805387.html
- 商务部 — 政府信息公开入口: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zfxxgk/index.html
- 商务部 — 政策发布入口: https://www.mofcom.gov.cn/zcfb/index.html
- 央视新闻 — 《2025年度中国对外直接投资统计公报》发布报道: https://big5.cctv.com/gate/big5/news.cctv.cn/2026/09/24/ARTIo1A2j1T9FqjuwBiH9WYP260924.shtml
- 长沙市贸促会 — 对外直接投资统计数据转载: http://mch.changsha.gov.cn/mcfw/jmxx/sjjm_1/202609/t20260917_12569254.html
相关阅读
- 见：跨国公司本外币跨境资金集中运营业务实操指南（mnc-cash-pool-relaxation）
- 见：利用外资固稳促优行动方案（foreign-investment-action-plan）