BEIJING, Jan. 16 -- Foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Chinese mainland increased 5.25 percent year on year in 2013 to reach 117.59 billion U.S. dollars, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday.

The growth came as a change from the annual 3.7 percent decline registered in 2012, when the country's economic slowdown worried global investors.

In December alone, the country's FDI inflow rose 3.3 percent from a year earlier to 12.08 billion U.S. dollars, the ministry's spokesman Shen Danyang said at a press conference.

Shen said FDI in the country's service sector gained 14.15 percent in 2013 to reach 61.45 billion U.S. dollars, or 52.3 percent of the total. FDI in the manufacturing sector dropped 6.78 percent to 45.56 billion U.S. dollars.

The ministry data showed FDI from the United States expanded 7.13 percent from one year earlier to 3.35 billion U.S. dollars last year, while that from the European Union was up 18.07 percent to 7.21 billion U.S. dollars.

However, FDI from Japan fell 4.28 percent to 7.06 billion U.S. dollars, while the Chinese mainland's investment in Japan's non-financial sector plunged 23.5 percent last year.

The country's total investment in overseas non-financial sectors increased 16.8 percent year on year to 90.17 billion U.S. dollars last year, the ministry said.