Canadian Inward Foreign Direct Investment from the World

The stock of foreign direct investment in Canada has more than tripled since 1990. Despite the rapid growth, today’s inward investment profile looks slightly different than it did 19 years ago, at least insofar as source regions are concerned. For example, the proportion of the total accounted for by Europe has steadly increased from 28% to 34%. The United States’ share is decreasing, from 64% to 52%, while Asia’s share has increased slightly from 5.94% to 5.98%. In contrast to the outward investment picture, where Other North America represents about 17% of total investment stocks in 2009, inward investment from Other North America accounts for only 0.5% of the total. However, there is an important similarity between the inward and outward stocks – Barbados and Bermuda are Canada’s two largest source countries in Other North America, with both accounting for much larger investments than does Mexico.

Canadian Inward Foreign Direct Investment from the World (C$ millions)
	1980	1990	2006	2007	2008	2009
United States	50,368	84,089	265,096	290,983	283,494	288,287
Europe	12,434	36,400	124,513	156,926	188,242	186,966
Other North America*	872	1,674	4,613	3,557	3,327	2,848
Asia**	730	7,773	17,503	19,771	27,325	32,847
South and Central America	103	281	12,979	14,638	14,825	15,324
Other Regions***	201	715	12,467	24,264	23,617	23,128

Total	64,708	130,932	437,171	510,139	540,830	549,400

Adapted from the Statistics Canada CANSIM database http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca , CANSIM Table 376-0051, May 17, 2010; the Statistics Canada Website on the National Economic Accounts module, http://cansim2.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-win/cnsmcgi.pgm?Lang=E&RootDir=CII/&ARRAY_VREL=3760051&PortalID=3764&ResultTemplate=V3764 , May 17, 2010; 1980 figures are adapted from Statistics Canada, Canada’s International Investment Position, 2001, Catalogue No. 67-202-XIB 2001000 2001 March 27, 2002.

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Notes: Data used to produce this chart reflect the stock of foreign direct investment abroad held by Canadians. Stock refers to the magnitude of investment that has accumulated over time, as opposed to the flow of new investment made in a given period.
* Includes Mexico and islands between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
** Includes Asia up to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, plus Australia and New Zealand.
*** Data for the Middle East, which Statistics Canada includes in its Asia aggregate, has been included instead in the ‘Other Regions’ category.