Countries by Gross capital formation (constant LCU)
Iran, Islamic Rep. ranks 1st in gross capital formation measured in constant local currency units, recording a value of 33,729,781,415,444,500 — more than seven times the value posted by Indonesia (rank 2, 4,248,345,370,000,000). At the opposite end, Djibouti ranks 166th with a negative value of -22,755,219,000, the only country in the dataset with a negative figure. The gap between first and last is driven largely by differences in currency scale and the local currency unit framework rather than direct economic size comparisons.
Ranking 2024
| Rank | Country | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iran | 33,729,781,415,444,500 |
| 2 | Indonesia | 4,248,345,370,000,000 |
| 3 | Vietnam | 2,253,277,000,000,000 |
| 4 | South Korea | 661,465,300,000,000 |
| 5 | Colombia | 175,282,000,000,000 |
| 6 | Japan | 139,401,215,779,000 |
| 7 | Somalia | 89,727,946,880,000 |
| 8 | India | 69,230,694,829,900 |
| 9 | Tanzania | 60,054,321,427,800 |
| 10 | Cambodia | 52,610,730,790,200 |
| 11 | Paraguay | 51,828,018,764,685 |
| 12 | China | 50,261,375,960,800 |
| 13 | Chile | 48,149,313,008,600 |
| 14 | Uganda | 40,113,827,631,000 |
| 15 | Iraq | 34,585,771,415,100 |
| 16 | Laos | 34,527,224,264,000 |
| 17 | Guinea | 33,211,929,792,480 |
| 18 | Russia | 26,920,255,446,800 |
| 19 | Mongolia | 15,682,995,070,000 |
| 20 | Côte d'Ivoire | 12,632,416,221,000 |
| 21 | Bangladesh | 10,794,188,033,600 |
| 22 | Hungary | 9,822,645,753,000 |
| 23 | Madagascar | 8,011,319,125,100 |
| 24 | Kazakhstan | 7766990660144.21 |
| 25 | Senegal | 7,590,262,419,000 |
| 26 | Costa Rica | 6580793298096.71 |
| 27 | Mexico | 6,340,352,795,000 |
| 28 | DR Congo | 5,991,915,472,200 |
| 29 | United States | 5,358,217,623,000 |
| 30 | Philippines | 5,273,221,540,800 |
| 31 | Cameroon | 4,983,800,000,000 |
| 32 | Algeria | 4942297113182.99 |
| 33 | Pakistan | 4831045437939.5 |
| 34 | Gabon | 4062876152624.53 |
| 35 | Mali | 3259016386538.77 |
| 36 | Benin | 3,187,500,000,000 |
| 37 | Niger | 3,163,845,940,100 |
| 38 | Sri Lanka | 3138990609512.55 |
| 39 | Chad | 2,779,655,633,400 |
| 40 | Rwanda | 2,773,312,810,000 |
| 41 | Burkina Faso | 2,677,539,519,100 |
| 42 | Angola | 2639367051609.36 |
| 43 | Kenya | 1,934,356,000,000 |
| 44 | Serbia | 1,919,992,568,100 |
| 45 | Armenia | 1869789884332.52 |
| 46 | Czechia | 1,689,090,000,000 |
| 47 | Dominican Republic | 1,457,138,930,900 |
| 48 | Republic of Congo | 1,397,513,699,800 |
| 49 | Togo | 1,388,270,000,000 |
| 50 | Saudi Arabia | 1,386,039,000,000 |
| 51 | Sweden | 1,336,021,000,000 |
| 52 | Egypt | 1,213,390,000,000 |
| 53 | Norway | 1,051,474,731,000 |
| 54 | Nepal | 960540965445.61 |
| 55 | Iceland | 901,112,592,000 |
| 56 | Malawi | 873,525,000,000 |
| 57 | Ethiopia | 844,123,588,900 |
| 58 | Brazil | 819939955454.91 |
| 59 | Germany | 745,159,190,000 |
| 60 | Australia | 651,877,000,000 |
| 61 | South Africa | 647,067,808,600 |
| 62 | Denmark | 584,626,949,000 |
| 63 | Albania | 565846526311.81 |
| 64 | Canada | 563,389,013,000 |
| 65 | France | 543,844,600,000 |
| 66 | Ukraine | 531,174,155,700 |
| 67 | Hong Kong | 499,288,000,000 |
| 68 | United Arab Emirates | 494,548,208,300 |
| 69 | Poland | 472,748,800,000 |
| 70 | United Kingdom | 472,533,481,000 |
| 71 | Italy | 422,668,600,000 |
| 72 | Morocco | 416817117717.7 |
| 73 | Israel | 382,131,444,000 |
| 74 | Equatorial Guinea | 371,386,104,200 |
| 75 | Malaysia | 361,800,963,000 |
| 76 | Kyrgyzstan | 341,390,529,500 |
| 77 | Uruguay | 301,018,970,000 |
| 78 | Spain | 279,990,000,000 |
| 79 | Mozambique | 260,264,534,200 |
| 80 | Qatar | 252,499,645,800 |
| 81 | Guinea-Bissau | 210,255,105,000 |
| 82 | Switzerland | 209,174,298,000 |
| 83 | Mauritania | 193,339,233,500 |
| 84 | Afghanistan | 185,816,839,300 |
| 85 | Netherlands | 183,229,600,000 |
| 86 | Lebanon | 179,953,000,000 |
| 87 | North Macedonia | 154,509,000,000 |
| 88 | Romania | 145,999,300,000 |
| 89 | Tunisia | 137,084,521,400 |
| 90 | Singapore | 134,160,700,000 |
| 91 | Peru | 131,281,000,000 |
| 92 | Argentina | 125,830,812,800 |
| 93 | Belgium | 122,581,400,000 |
| 94 | Central African Republic | 121,147,185,000 |
| 95 | Guatemala | 104,102,055,100 |
| 96 | Mauritius | 102,934,074,000 |
| 97 | Austria | 92,645,642,000 |
| 98 | Bhutan | 89887017127.26 |
| 99 | Ireland | 84,221,994,000 |
| 100 | New Zealand | 77,957,958,000 |
| 101 | Botswana | 64,597,841,200 |
| 102 | Comoros | 64,150,493,800 |
| 103 | Nicaragua | 63,768,366,200 |
| 104 | Bolivia | 58100336630.56 |
| 105 | Macao | 56,817,000,000 |
| 106 | Honduras | 53,568,500,000 |
| 107 | Finland | 52,948,019,000 |
| 108 | Belarus | 51,917,000,000 |
| 109 | Cabo Verde | 48,962,837,200 |
| 110 | Portugal | 47,863,460,000 |
| 111 | Moldova | 44,159,049,600 |
| 112 | Namibia | 42,971,927,000 |
| 113 | Greece | 35,478,772,000 |
| 114 | Vanuatu | 35,113,000,000 |
| 115 | Haiti | 33,074,400,800 |
| 116 | Ghana | 31,844,989,900 |
| 117 | Panama | 27524445203.71 |
| 118 | Gambia | 27485429484.03 |
| 119 | Bulgaria | 26,818,085,300 |
| 120 | Maldives | 21,164,337,300 |
| 121 | Slovakia | 20,855,347,000 |
| 122 | Ecuador | 20,469,184,200 |
| 123 | Georgia | 17185744912.05 |
| 124 | Croatia | 15,386,337,200 |
| 125 | Yemen | 13,266,970,900 |
| 126 | Sierra Leone | 12863360224.85 |
| 127 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 11,935,243,400 |
| 128 | Slovenia | 11,249,482,000 |
| 129 | Luxembourg | 10,419,081,000 |
| 130 | Lithuania | 9,449,603,000 |
| 131 | Libya | 9,311,700,000 |
| 132 | Eswatini | 9,176,635,100 |
| 133 | Oman | 8,954,300,000 |
| 134 | Puerto Rico | 8,426,300,000 |
| 135 | Cuba | 8,300,000,000 |
| 136 | Estonia | 7,829,950,000 |
| 137 | Kuwait | 7,691,600,000 |
| 138 | Lesotho | 7,351,367,700 |
| 139 | Latvia | 7,204,093,000 |
| 140 | Zimbabwe | 6,847,244,100 |
| 141 | Greenland | 6,513,600,000 |
| 142 | El Salvador | 6,093,150,200 |
| 143 | Cyprus | 6,005,122,000 |
| 144 | Brunei | 5535740840.3 |
| 145 | Bahrain | 4,748,000,000 |
| 146 | Seychelles | 4,517,204,800 |
| 147 | Bahamas | 3,875,300,000 |
| 148 | Malta | 3634366963.72 |
| 149 | Palestine | 2,851,200,000 |
| 150 | Solomon Islands | 2343237858.81 |
| 151 | South Sudan | 2,134,913,600 |
| 152 | Kosovo | 2059149061.63 |
| 153 | Venezuela | 1555749716.75 |
| 154 | Montenegro | 1,418,332,000 |
| 155 | Belize | 1,063,872,600 |
| 156 | Bermuda | 850,300,000 |
| 157 | Samoa | 738,101,500 |
| 158 | Timor-Leste | 543832551.31 |
| 159 | Tajikistan | 520,964,700 |
| 160 | Tonga | 265778552.56 |
| 161 | San Marino | 234888997.94 |
| 162 | Kiribati | 97975637.24 |
| 163 | Sudan | 90,768,500 |
| 164 | Palau | 80988637.27 |
| 165 | Marshall Islands | 56428382.4 |
| 166 | Djibouti | -22,755,219,000 |
Analysis
Gross capital formation measures the net addition to the capital stock of an economy. Per the source definition: 'Gross capital formation includes acquisitions less disposals of produced assets for purposes of fixed capital formation, inventories or valuables. This indicator is expressed in constant prices, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time. The reference year for this adjustment varies by country. This series is expressed in local currency units.' Because each country's value is denominated in its own local currency unit and anchored to a different reference year, rankings reflect currency denomination and base-year choice as much as underlying investment volume. The dataset covers 166 countries, with 163 of 166 (98.2%) reporting data from the last seven years and 100% of datapoints classified as official-quality. Ten extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold, and the latest data year (2024) has coverage for 147 of 166 countries (88.6%).
The top of the ranking is heavily shaped by currency scale. Iran (rank 1) reports 33,729,781,415,444,500 constant rials, a figure reflecting the rial's very low denomination relative to global currencies. Indonesia (rank 2) records 4,248,345,370,000,000 constant rupiah, and Viet Nam (rank 3) follows at 2,253,277,000,000,000 constant dong — both currencies similarly low in face value. Korea, Rep. (rank 4) posts 661,465,300,000,000 constant won. Colombia (rank 5) records 175,282,000,000,000 constant pesos, and Japan (rank 6) logs 139,401,215,779,000 constant yen. These placements reflect currency denomination rather than investment superiority over large economies like China (rank 12, 50,261,375,960,800) or the United States (rank 29, 5,358,217,623,000), both of which use currencies with higher face values relative to their investment totals.
Several counterintuitive placements appear mid-ranking. Somalia, Fed. Rep. ranks 7th with a value of 89,727,946,880,000, placing it above India (rank 8, 69,230,694,829,900) — a result of Somalia's local currency scale, not relative economic capacity. Similarly, Paraguay (rank 11, 51,828,018,764,685) and Cambodia (rank 10, 52,610,730,790,200) rank above China (rank 12) due to currency denomination effects. At the lower end of the ranking, Marshall Islands (rank 165) reports 56,428,382 and Djibouti (rank 166) records -22,755,219,000 — the only negative value in the dataset, indicating disposals exceeded acquisitions of produced assets in the reference period. Sudan (rank 163) reports a very small positive value of 90,768,500 constant pounds.
This metric carries significant limitations for cross-country comparison. Because values are expressed in each country's own local currency unit and the constant price reference year varies by country, rankings cannot be used to compare actual investment volumes across economies. A country with a low-denomination currency will systematically appear higher than countries using currencies with higher face values, regardless of underlying investment activity. The negative value for Djibouti (rank 166) may reflect data quality issues, base-year adjustments, or genuine net disposal of assets but cannot be attributed to a specific cause from the data alone. Incomplete 2024 coverage (88.6%) means some country values may reflect prior years. Users should treat this ranking as a reference for within-country trend analysis, not cross-country investment comparison.
Methodology
Data source: World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NE.GDI.TOTL.KN. Data year: 2024. The metric is defined as follows: 'Gross capital formation includes acquisitions less disposals of produced assets for purposes of fixed capital formation, inventories or valuables. This indicator is expressed in constant prices, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time. The reference year for this adjustment varies by country. This series is expressed in local currency units.' Coverage: 166 countries. Recency: 163 of 166 countries (98.2%) have data from the last seven years. Data quality: 100% of datapoints are classified as official. Latest year (2024) coverage: 147 of 166 countries (88.6%). Outliers: 10 extreme outliers were identified using a 3-standard-deviation threshold. The value range spans from -22,755,219,000 (Djibouti) to 33,729,781,415,444,500 (Iran), a spread of approximately 148,228,870.8%. Average year-over-year change across the dataset is 14.4%. Because each country's series is expressed in its own local currency unit with a country-specific constant-price reference year, values are not comparable across countries and rankings should not be interpreted as measures of relative investment volume.