- The Trade and Investment Promotion Agency of Costa Rica (PROCOMER) reported that the country ranks first in Latin America and the Caribbean in fDi Intelligence’s 2026 Greenfield FDI Performance Index.
SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica, Aug. 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Costa Rica ranks among the world’s top 10 countries for foreign direct investment (FDI) projects per capita, placing eighth in a new measure included in the 2026 Greenfield FDI Performance Index, published by fDi Intelligence, a specialist division of the Financial Times.
Based on projects announced in 2025, Costa Rica attracted 18.1 FDI projects per million people.
The new ranking is led by the United Arab Emirates, with 134.6 projects per million people, followed by Qatar with 55.4 and Singapore with 54.5. Luxembourg ranks fourth with 49.9, followed by Ireland (37.3), Denmark (22.7), Malta (19.5), Costa Rica (18.1), Cyprus (17.3) and Hong Kong (15.0).
“Costa Rica has once again demonstrated its ability to attract high-value investment. These results reflect investors’ confidence in our skilled talent, legal certainty, innovation capacity and commitment to sustainability. More importantly, they translate into tangible opportunities: more high-quality jobs, stronger local supply-chain linkages and broader development both within and beyond the Greater Metropolitan Area,” said Laura López, CEO of PROCOMER.
Costa Rica also ranked fourth globally in the headline Greenfield FDI Performance Index, with a score of 6.5. This means the country attracted 6.5 times the number of projects that would be expected based on the size of its economy. Costa Rica also improved on its score of 6.16 in the previous edition.
The overall ranking is led by the United Arab Emirates with a score of 19.21, followed by Namibia (7.74), Rwanda (6.99) and Costa Rica (6.50).
Costa Rica is the only country in Latin America and the Caribbean to rank among the top 20 in the overall index. El Salvador is the region’s second highest-ranked country, placing 38th with a score of 2.25.
Costa Rica also leads all OECD members included in the assessment and is the only OECD country to rank among the global top 15.
What does the index measure?
The Greenfield FDI Performance Index compares each country’s share of announced greenfield investment projects worldwide with its share of global GDP. The index draws on project data from fDi Markets and economic data from the International Monetary Fund.
A score above 1 indicates that an economy attracts a greater share of global greenfield projects than its relative weight in the world economy would suggest.
The 2026 edition assessed 98 countries that recorded at least 10 projects during 2025.
fDi Markets defines a greenfield project as a cross-border investment to establish a new physical operation or expand an existing one, generating employment and capital investment. The database does not include mergers and acquisitions or other equity investments.
fDi Markets data are compiled primarily from publicly available sources and may be revised as new information becomes available, due to differences in definitions and reporting timelines, or when project details remain confidential.
