Foreign investment projects and job creation in Belgium in 2025

European foreign direct investment hits a ten-year low

Europe experienced a challenging year for foreign direct investment. In 2025, the number of FDI projects across the continent dropped by 7%, reaching the lowest level in the past decade. Job creation from foreign investments fell even more sharply, dropping 25% year-on-year. Lingering geopolitical tensions, trade and tariff uncertainties, volatile energy prices, as well as subdued economic growth continued to weigh on investment decisions, particularly in manufacturing sectors exposed to global supply chain disruptions.

FDI flows reveal a two-speed Europe

Europe’s largest investment destinations also took the biggest hits: France recorded a 17% decline, the United Kingdom 14% and Germany 10%. By contrast, investment projects surged across key Southern, Central and Eastern European economies, with Spain (+7%), Poland (+10%), Romania (+16%), and Turkey (+20%) standing out.

Europe secured

5,026

FDI projects in 2025 (-7% decrease from 2024 )

202,186

jobs created by FDI (-25% increase from 2024)

Belgium maintains its position as project numbers fall

Against this European backdrop, Belgium’s performance broadly mirrored the downward trend, with a slightly stronger decline in project numbers (-11%) than the European average (-7%). Nonetheless, Belgium preserved its eighth position among Europe’s top recipient countries for foreign direct investment.

Belgium secured

187

FDI projects in 2025 (-11% decrease from 2024 )

6,094

jobs created by FDI (+ 13% increase from 2024)

Flanders leads, while Wallonia’s performance remains stable

Flanders attracted the majority of foreign investments, securing 125 projects, followed by Brussels (33) and Wallonia (29). While both Flanders and Brussels saw a decline in project numbers compared to the year before, Wallonia’s performance remained stable.

Job creation rebounds despite fewer projects

All this FDI activity generated a marked increase in job creation in Belgium compared to the previous year, reaching 6,094 jobs, a 13% increase. This growth was driven by a very limited number of large-scale projects. Some nuance is warranted: Belgium’s FDI-related job creation is still recovering from a sharp decline in 2023, when it fell from 8,071 to 4,918 jobs.

Changing balance between greenfield and expansion investments

Of all foreign investment projects in Belgium, 67% were greenfield investments. This category of investments continues to decline: in 2023, greenfield projects accounted for 72% of total FDI projects. The remaining investments related to the expansion of existing operations, indicating that Belgium continues to play a role in long-term investment strategies of international companies.

Manufacturing and business services remain key drivers

Manufacturing and business services continued to be the main drivers of foreign investment in Belgium, accounting for 46 and 44 projects respectively. Logistics, which overtook business services in the previous year, moved back to third place with 42 projects.

Top 3 activities
(by projects)

Manufacturing

Business services

Logistics

Sector dynamics: digital expansion alongside high-impact investments

In 2025, FDI in Belgium remained spread across a broad range of sectors, led by Software & IT Services, Transportation & Logistics and Business Services & Professional Services. Software & IT Services took the lead in project numbers, reflecting the growing importance of digital-driven investment.

At the same time, sectors such as Pharmaceuticals and Transportation Manufacturers & Suppliers generated a relatively high share of jobs compared to their number of projects, pointing to fewer but larger-scale investments.

Top 3
sectors
(by projects)

Software and IT services

Transportation & Logistics

Business Services & Professional Services

United States remains Belgium’s leading investor

The United States retained its position as Belgium’s largest foreign investor, despite a 21% decline in the number of projects, with 34 investments recorded. France and the Netherlands completed the top three investor countries, with 27 and 20 projects respectively.

Notable shifts in the investor landscape include a further decline in German investments, which halved compared with the previous year, and a strong increase from Turkey, which emerged as the fastest-growing investor in Belgium in 2025. These developments are consistent with broader trends at the European level, where investment into Europe from the United States and Germany declined by 38% and 28% respectively between 2019 and 2025.

Top investor countries (by projects)

		2025	Vs. 2024
1	United States	34	-21%
2	France	27	-4%
3	Netherlands	20	+11%
4	United Kingdom	14	+8%
5	China	9	-25%
6	Turkey	9	+80%
7	Germany	6	-54%
8	Italy	6	0%

Europe is clearly going through a difficult phase when it comes to attracting foreign investment. Uncertainty has become a structural factor in investment decisions, whether driven by geopolitics, energy costs or trade tensions. That context is reflected not only in the declining number of projects, but even more so in the sharp drop in jobs created across Europe, a trend Belgium managed to buck.

Tristan Dhondt

EY Belgium partner