Hungarian Investment Promotion Agency

In 2002, IBM-Plant Location International (PLI) established its Global Location Trends database, which collects and processes data on the international flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) on the basis of the expansions and investments published by companies, and the reports of various countries' organizations dealing with investment promotion and economic development.

A significant aspect of that is job creation, as the most decisive indicator of the national economic effects of the investments; since the created positions are filled almost completely from the labour market of the destination country. The second indicator is job creation proportionate to population (new jobs/million inhabitant). The third pillar of the analysis, the added value of the new jobs is determined on the basis of the value, productivity, development level, typical employee profile, and the wages of the affected sector.

On the basis of the recently published Global Location Trends 2019 report, Hungary has performed well in all primary categories: according to 2018 data, about 19,100 new jobs are created in our country as a result of the foreign direct investments (FDI), giving us the 7th best result in Europe and the 16th among the globally analysed countries.

Hungary also ranked in the international top 10 regarding the newly created jobs proportionate to the population of the country (new positions/one million of the population), coming up to the 5th best result (4th in Europe), after the 7th according to last year's report.

In the third category, IBM-PLI analysed the national economic added value of the created jobs, where Hungary – stepping five places up from the previous survey – has got the 11th place globally, getting ahead of inter alia Germany, USA, South Korea. These results confirm our strategy of putting an increasing focus on the "Invented in Hungary" type of investments in addition to the "Made in Hungary" type of projects.

As a new element, the list of export-oriented investments has been published, where Hungary has got 4th place both in Europe and globally.

Another significant achievement is that Hungary has become one of the top FDI target countries in the world: Hungary is the third largest target market of German investors – traditionally the largest investor community in our country; Hungary is the most important target country in Europe for Japan – our largest Asian investor; and we are the Nr.1. European destination, and globally the fifth target location for the South Korean investors thanks to the booming battery industry.

According to IBM-PLI data, in the automotive industry, Hungary is the fourth most important investment location after the USA, Mexico, and China. Another important feat is that Hungary is the 5th most popular in the electronics sector and, based on Research & Development projects, the 9th globally.