Foreign direct investment in Finland increased by 2.4 billion euros during 2024, reaching 83.5 billion euros by the end of the year, according to data published by Business Finland. Investment grew despite the unpredictable geopolitical situation surrounding Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The foreign direct investment stock is the total value of foreign ownership in Finnish companies over a given period, covering both new and existing capital investments, equity flows and intra-company loans. The latest increase points to steadily growing foreign interest in the activities of Finnish companies.
Kaija Laitinen, Invest in Finland senior adviser, said that the official statistics do not yet reflect several large projects that are already under development. “A number of large-scale projects have been discussed publicly, and investment decisions may already have been taken on them — data centres and green transition projects, for example,” she noted.
“These are not yet reflected in the official figures, because those only include capital flows that have actually been realised. Investment processes are lengthy and often take several years.”
Business Finland's Invest in Finland unit promotes the activities of foreign companies in Finland. It works with local and international institutions and interested parties to attract new investors and support existing ones. According to Kaija Laitinen, lasting political and regulatory stability is vital if investment plans are to be carried through.
Between January and August 2025, Invest in Finland recorded 300 new foreign investment projects, 62 more than in the same period of 2024, when the figure was 238. The most active sectors were business services, health and care, retail, digitalisation and clean technologies.
Sweden remains Finland's largest source of foreign direct investment. Swedish investment amounted to 20.7 billion euros at the end of 2024, a quarter of the total. Swedish companies also led on the number of new investment projects in 2025, with 90 recorded so far. Other leading countries of origin for investment were the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark and Norway.
While the total foreign direct investment stock is one measure of foreign presence, officials also track employment and the number of companies. Between 2010 and 2023, foreign-owned companies created 109,000 jobs in Finland. In 2023 alone they employed 321,000 people, or 21% of private sector employment.
Foreign direct investment stock figures are affected by varying corporate structures and changes of ownership. Business Finland noted that a comprehensive understanding of foreign investment trends requires tracking both capital values and real economic indicators.