Overseas construction orders in 2025 hit the highest level in 11 years.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said overseas construction orders in 2025 totaled $47.27 billion. That is the largest annual figure in 11 years since 2014 ($66 billion) and the first time since 2015 ($46.1 billion) that the $40 billion mark has been surpassed.
After declining year over year in 2021, overseas construction orders rose for four straight years to 2022 ($30.98 billion), 2023 ($33.31 billion), 2024 ($37.11 billion), and 2025 ($47.27 billion), an increase of $10.2 billion from a year earlier.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the result marks the peak of a four-year uptrend that began in 2022. It grew more than 27% from the previous year ($37.1 billion), driven in particular by rapid growth in the European market—up 298% year over year—led by the Czech nuclear power order, and by diversification into high value-added segments such as plants and nuclear power.
By region, Europe ($20.2 billion, 42.6%), the Middle East ($11.9 billion, 25.1%), and North America–Pacific ($6.8 billion, 14.3%) led in that order. By country, the Czech Republic ($18.7 billion, 39.6%), the United States ($5.8 billion, 12.3%), and Iraq ($3.5 billion, 7.3%) followed.
By type of work, industrial facilities ($35.3 billion, 74.6%), building construction ($7.2 billion, 15.3%), and electrical ($1.8 billion, 3.9%) led in that order. By business model, turnkey contracts came to $45.5 billion (96.3%), while investment and development projects fell to $1.77 billion (3.7%) from $5.2 billion (13.9%) a year earlier.
According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a key feature of 2025 orders is that Europe accounted for 42.6% ($20.16 billion) of total orders, about four times the previous year's $5.06 billion.
In addition, while orders for energy generation projects such as the Czech nuclear power project, Qatar's Dukhan solar project, and Saudi Arabia's combined-cycle power project continued, the award of the Czech Dukovany nuclear power plant construction project ($18.72 billion) largely drove the surpassing of $40 billion in total orders and the No. 1 ranking by region.
The electrical segment ($1.8 billion) had the third-highest share after industrial facilities ($35.3 billion) and building construction ($7.2 billion), thanks to $730 million in orders for energy storage systems (ESS) following initial entries into Australia and South Africa in 2022.
The order value for small and midsize enterprises, including domestic subcontract work, was $1.55 billion, down 18.5% from $1.9 billion a year earlier, while the number of companies rose slightly from 220 in 2024 to 228 in 2025. Two-thirds of overseas project orders for small and midsize enterprises are domestic subcontract work, which appears to reflect a decline in factory orders in countries including the United States.
Meanwhile, orders in the Middle East fell 35.8% from last year's $18.49 billion.
Detailed information on overseas construction orders can be checked starting today via the Overseas Construction Integrated Information Service operated by the International Contractors Association of Korea.