Company registries and ownership records show 1,281,883 cross-border corporate-ownership ties — a company in one country owning a company in another — across 5,286 country-to-country corridors, from 226 owner countries into 59 covered host countries.
The densest corridor is United States → United Kingdom (48,708 ownership ties, 20,797 companies owned), followed by United Kingdom→United States, Canada→United States, Cayman Islands→United States.
Owner country → host country, by number of corporate-ownership ties.
| Owner country | Host country | Ownership ties | Companies owned |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | 48,708 | 20,797 |
| United Kingdom | United States | 33,070 | 12,358 |
| Canada | United States | 25,550 | 9,305 |
| Cayman Islands | United States | 23,376 | 5,096 |
| United States | Japan | 16,926 | 2,563 |
| Japan | United States | 16,680 | 1,876 |
| United States | France | 16,085 | 2,652 |
| United States | Germany | 15,849 | 2,581 |
| Germany | United Kingdom | 13,746 | 10,106 |
| United States | Switzerland | 12,696 | 1,617 |
| Germany | United States | 12,557 | 7,205 |
| Germany | Switzerland | 12,446 | 7,864 |
| Germany | Netherlands | 12,092 | 8,964 |
| Ukraine | Cyprus | 11,715 | 6,433 |
| Russia | Cyprus | 11,659 | 7,816 |
Top 10 owner countries (rows) by top 10 host countries (columns); cell = corporate-ownership ties.
What is corporate cross-border ownership?
It is a company in one country owning a company in another — a subsidiary, a holding structure, or a controlling stake. It is the corporate-capital counterpart to the people-based diaspora figures elsewhere on this site, and is read directly from company registries and ownership records rather than estimated.
Which country owns the most companies abroad?
United States is the largest source of cross-border corporate ownership in this data, with 143,922 ownership ties into companies in the covered host countries.
Which country hosts the most foreign-owned companies?
United States hosts the most, with 284,543 inbound corporate-ownership ties from foreign parent companies.
Does this page contain any personal data?
No. This index counts only company-owns-company relationships, so there are no individuals, names, or origin inferences on it. Person-level ownership and directorships are handled separately, with names redacted, on the rest of the site.
"Company registries and ownership records show 1,281,883 cross-border corporate-ownership ties — a company in one country owning a company in another — across 5,286 country-to-country corridors, from 226 owner countries into 59 covered host countries." — compatriots.net, https://compatriots.net/fdi
Source: cross-border company-ownership relationships from company registries and Bureau van Dijk ownership links, aggregated to country pairs. Company-to-company ownership only — no personal data. Host countries are limited to those currently covered by the dataset; owner countries are unrestricted. Country-level ties only; company-level ownership deep-links are not yet published.
Aggregate counts only. Company-to-company ownership carries no personal data; individual owners and directors are handled with name redaction elsewhere on the site.