ICSID counts record 363 cases as states outside the West face 80% of new claims

The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) published its 2026 Annual Report on 16 October, recording 363 cases administered in the fiscal year to 30 June 2026, the most in a single year, alongside 60 new registrations and 83 concluded proceedings, according to the centre's release. The 83 conclusions are the second-highest annual total.

The headline figures match those ICSID first gave in its fiscal year 2026 caseload statistics on 14 August, and those statistics show where the claims land. States in South America were respondents in 22 per cent of new cases, Eastern Europe and Central Asia in 20 per cent and Sub-Saharan Africa in 20 per cent. Western Europe accounted for 13 per cent and North America for 7 per cent.

Put together, states outside Western Europe and North America faced 80 per cent of the year's new ICSID claims, a Data Desk sum of the six other regional shares in the statistics release. On the investor side the pattern reverses: claimants from Western Europe brought 45 per cent of new cases, and those from Sub-Saharan Africa and South America 2 per cent each.

What the figures show

Bilateral investment treaties were the basis of consent in 62 per cent of new cases, other international treaties in 24 per cent, host state contracts in 8 per cent and domestic investment laws in 6 per cent, according to the statistics. The release does not break out the Energy Charter Treaty.

Extractive industries dominate. Oil and gas made up 25 per cent of new cases and mining 18 per cent, with electric power and other energy at 10 per cent, finance at 10 per cent, transport at 8 per cent and construction at 7 per cent, the release says. Energy and natural resources together therefore accounted for 53 per cent of new registrations, a Data Desk sum of the three categories.

The outcomes data cut both ways for states. Of the arbitrations concluded in the year, 37 per cent were settled or discontinued and 63 per cent were decided by a tribunal. Of the decided cases, tribunals rejected the claims on the merits in 40 per cent, upheld them in part or in full in 37 per cent, declined jurisdiction in 18 per cent and dismissed 5 per cent for manifest lack of legal merit, according to the statistics. The full breakdown, with historical series, is in the caseload statistics document.

The centre also counted 15 cases under non-ICSID rules, 12 of them under the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules, and a cumulative 1,118 cases registered under the ICSID Convention and Additional Facility Rules. Appointees came from 52 nationalities. First-time appointees were 8 per cent of all appointments; of those, 35 per cent were women and 25 per cent were nationals of low or middle-income economies, the release says. It gives no gender or nationality breakdown for all appointments.

Institutional changes

The release also highlights the centre's announcement of its first staffed offices outside Washington, in Singapore and Paris, according to the annual report release. It also covered Honduras signing the ICSID Convention on 6 March 2026 as the 166th signatory state. ICSID's news page lists a further release dated 17 July 2026 announcing that Honduras had ratified the convention, after the fiscal year closed, and a 26 August release on the launch of the Singapore office.

"The past year at ICSID has been one of momentum and transformation," Secretary-General Martina Polasek said in the release.

What the report does not say

The release gives no total of member states, no regional split of the 83 concluded cases and no figure for the amounts claimed or awarded. It does not identify individual cases or respondent states. The caseload data also mix several emerging regions with advanced economies: Eastern Europe and Central Asia includes EU member states, so the 80 per cent figure overstates the share of claims faced by emerging markets alone.

ICSID's next caseload update, covering the first half of fiscal year 2027, is the next document in the series to read for any shift in the regional mix.