EU businesses invested at a rate of 21.8% in the fourth quarter of 2025, the lowest level recorded since the third quarter of 2015.
The figure refers to the investment rate of non-financial corporations — businesses outside the financial sector such as banks and insurers, Eurostat reported on Thursday.
The EU’s business investment rate rose steadily from 22% in 2014 to nearly 24% in 2018, before falling almost continuously from 2021 onwards to reach 21.8% in late 2025.
Eurostat said some sharp increases in the series — including in the second quarter of 2015, 2017 and 2019, and again around the turn of 2019–2020 — were largely linked to surges in imports of intellectual property by certain countries.
National figures: Hungary highest, Luxembourg lowest
The latest country-level data is for 2024, when the highest business investment rates were recorded in Hungary (28.4%), Croatia (28.3%) and Czechia (27.6%), according to Eurostat.
Belgium (27.0%) and Sweden (26.9%) were also among the highest that year.
The lowest business investment rates in 2024 were in Luxembourg (15.9%), with Ireland and Cyprus both at 16.0%.
The Netherlands (16.7%) and Malta (16.8%) were also among the countries with the lowest rates.
