Countries by Gross fixed capital formation (constant 2015 US$)

Ranking 2024

Analysis

Gross fixed capital formation measures the value of fixed assets acquired minus those disposed of during an accounting period, including certain specified expenditures on services that add to the value of non-produced assets. All values are expressed in constant 2015 US dollars, meaning the series has been adjusted to account for price changes over time, with 2015 as the reference year. This ranking covers 172 countries, with 91.3 percent of entries drawing on data from the last seven years and 100 percent of datapoints classified as official quality. The dataset flags 11 extreme outliers at the three-standard-deviation threshold, all concentrated at the upper end of the distribution.

The top of the ranking is dominated by the largest economies by output and population. The United States ranks first at $4.99 trillion and China ranks second at $4.69 trillion, making them the only two countries above $4 trillion. Japan ranks third at $1.13 trillion and India ranks fourth at $1.10 trillion. Germany ranks fifth at $704.6 billion and the United Kingdom ranks sixth at $636.8 billion. The top 10 also includes France (rank 7, $589.5 billion), Korea (rank 8, $536.4 billion), Italy (rank 9, $475.3 billion), and Australia (rank 10, $411.6 billion). These placements reflect the scale of their underlying economies rather than investment efficiency or growth rates.

The middle of the ranking shows considerable variation in country size and income level. Viet Nam ranks 22nd at $129.8 billion, placing it ahead of Belgium (rank 23, $129.3 billion) and Poland (rank 24, $125.3 billion). Kazakhstan ranks 38th at $72.2 billion, ahead of Chile (rank 39, $69.1 billion) and Uzbekistan (rank 40, $64.7 billion). At the lower end, countries such as Tonga (rank 167, $137.2 million), Comoros (rank 168, $135.1 million), Lebanon (rank 169, $129.4 million), Palau (rank 170, $77.9 million), and Kiribati (rank 171, $71.6 million) record values below $150 million. Lebanon's placement at rank 169 with just $129.4 million is notably low given its historical economic scale.

Because values are expressed in absolute terms rather than as a share of GDP or per capita, larger countries rank higher by construction regardless of investment intensity. Countries with incomplete national accounts or limited statistical capacity may have estimated or interpolated values, which can affect reliability at the lower end of the ranking. The consistency check shows that only 84.9 percent of entries use 2024 data as the latest year, meaning some country figures reflect earlier periods. Territories such as Puerto Rico (rank 78), Hong Kong SAR (rank 43), Macao SAR (rank 107), New Caledonia (rank 131), French Polynesia (rank 146), Greenland (rank 148), Bermuda (rank 151), and Curacao (rank 152) are included alongside sovereign states, which limits direct comparability.

Methodology

Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code NE.GDI.FTOT.KD, for the reference year 2024. Gross fixed capital formation, as defined in the source note, includes acquisitions less disposals of fixed assets during the accounting period, including certain specified expenditures on services that add to the value of non-produced assets. The series is expressed in constant 2015 US dollars, meaning it has been adjusted to account for price changes over time, with 2015 as the reference year. The ranking covers 172 countries, all with official-quality data. Of these, 157 out of 172 (91.3 percent) have data from the last seven years, and 146 out of 172 (84.9 percent) report 2024 as their latest year. The dataset identifies 11 extreme outliers at the three-standard-deviation threshold. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 10.3 percent, well within the 50 percent volatility threshold. Values range from $60.7 million (Marshall Islands) to $4.99 trillion (United States), a spread of over 8.2 million percent, which reflects the inclusion of both very small territories and the world's largest economies in absolute terms.

Sources

• World Bank