These increases, compared with the five years to April 2021, are revealed in new analysis of fDi Markets’ data by Glasgow City Council, in response to questions from The Herald.
And they make for heartening reading for anyone who wants to see Scotland’s largest city and surrounding areas thrive.
In the five years to April 2026, Glasgow City Region recorded 149 FDI projects. This is up from 139 projects in the five years to April 2021.
Recorded FDI capital expenditure for the region in the latest five-year period was £3.66bn. This is up by 99% from £1.84bn in the five years to April 2021.
And the total number of FDI jobs for the five years to April 2026 totalled 9301. This is up 50% on the figure of 6188 for the previous five years.
It was interesting to hear what Sam Barnett, head of Glasgow City Council’s Invest Glasgow arm, had to say about the city’s attractions to overseas investors.
She told The Herald: “Investors are drawn to places with ambition, authenticity and the ability to deliver. They want confidence that growth will happen – and that people will want to live and work there too.
"Glasgow understands its economy and as a result is strategically attracting and aligning investment to support our growth ambitions. We combine the scale, talent and innovation of a major city region with a track record of turning ambition into action. There is genuine momentum here. With strong partnerships, growing investment and a clear vision for the future, we're creating the conditions for the next wave of growth. Glasgow isn't trying to be the next version of somewhere else – it's building on the strengths that make it uniquely Glasgow. Glasgow has always done things its own way."
Excluding London, Glasgow City Region is second only to Manchester among regional UK cities for FDI by number of projects in the latest five-year period, and is followed by Birmingham in third place and Edinburgh in fourth. The Glasgow City Council area sits just below Edinburgh in this table, in fifth spot, if taken in isolation.
Glasgow City Region’s top-five sectors for FDI in the latest five-year period are business services, textiles (retail), renewable energy, software and information technology, and food and beverages.
Asked by The Herald what was driving the attractiveness of Glasgow from an FDI perspective, the University of Glasgow’s David Waite replied: “Numerous rankings give a perspective on what it takes to attract FDI successfully. Policymakers in Glasgow can point to a number of relatively strong rankings recently, even if the city is not always at the top of the pile.
“Glasgow boasts a number of positive attributes – a qualified and large workforce, a well-established higher and further education sector – yet these provide no guarantee of future success. Other factors such as quality of the business environment and strategy effectiveness are reported, whilst relative costs of production such as wages and rents also factor in for firms.”
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He highlighted the need to look at the quality and persistence of FDI for a “fuller picture of economic development impacts”.
Mr Waite added: “What value connections does the investment create in the city region? Is a deep supply chain created; is high-quality employment generated; are knowledge linkages embedded? This suggests other metrics to look to as well. We have a good understanding in Scotland – following previous policy experiments – that such economic impacts of FDI need to be considered over the long run.”
He makes a very good point about the importance of long-run impacts.
In terms of the broader Scottish FDI picture, EY’s annual attractiveness survey once again made for compelling reading.
This revealed that Scotland has retained its position as the UK's leading destination for FDI outside London, in spite of a fall in the number of projects won last year, with the nation’s attractiveness rating hitting a record high.
EY struck a positive tone as it analysed the findings, declaring that Scotland is “demonstrating resilience and continued investor confidence in a challenging global environment”.
Scotland secured 108 FDI projects in 2025, down 20% on the prior year, the survey shows.
EY noted that, excluding London, UK inward investment project numbers fell 23% last year. London was the only part of England to see FDI project numbers increase, achieving a 5% rise, the accountancy firm observed.
The finding that investor sentiment towards Scotland is at a record high was most encouraging – particularly given the fall in the number of projects won in 2025 – with 33% of investors looking to the UK considering Scotland, up from 27% in last year's survey.
My column in The Herald on Friday on the EY figures observed: “The perceptions of Scotland from overseas companies – which have their scorecards covering various key features of potential investment destinations – constitute an important objective assessment of the nation as a place in which to do business.
“This is in stark contrast to that element of chatter domestically about Scotland’s business environment that is fuelled by people’s personal political beliefs and is often no more than tittle-tattle with absolutely nothing to back up these amateur opinions.”
EY said that investors continued to cite Scotland's highly skilled workforce, strong infrastructure and overall business environment as core strengths.
It is great to hear these strengths flagged and hopefully this bodes well for the future.