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Follow the money past the company that sent it, and a clearer picture emerges of who invests in Cyprus. At the end of 2025, investors based outside the European Union ultimately accounted for 79.4% of the foreign direct investment held in the country, according to figures released Wednesday by Eurostat.
That was the highest share by a wide margin among the 14 EU countries that reported comparable figures. Just four others drew a majority of their foreign direct investment from outside the bloc. In Greece, Spain, Sweden, and Denmark, the shares ranged from 51% to 55.1%.
The distinction comes down to who ultimately controls the investment. A company in one EU country might invest in a Cypriot business while being owned by a parent company in the United States. In this breakdown, Eurostat would count the United States as the source. The figures measure the value of investments held at the end of 2025, including investments made in earlier years.
The pattern ran the other way in nine of the 14 countries that reported data. The Czech Republic had the largest share of investment from within the EU at 75.1%, followed by Romania at 73.3% and Estonia at 64.8%.
Across the 14 reporting countries combined, the United States was the biggest ultimate source of foreign direct investment, accounting for 15.4% of the total. Germany followed at 11.5%, ahead of France at 9.4%, the United Kingdom at 9.3% and Switzerland at 5.8%. Those rankings cover the reporting countries as a group. Cyprus’ standout figure tells us how much of its foreign investment ultimately came from outside the EU. A country-by-country breakdown for Cyprus would show where that money is concentrated.
