Austrade 2020 Benchmark Report PDF

BENCHMARK REPORT 2020
CONTENTS
Why Australia 3
1. Resilient Economy 4
2. Dynamic Industries 14
3. Innovation and Skills 27
4. Global Ties 37
5. Strong Foundations 48
Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 2

WHY AUSTRALIA
Strong foundations and an effective COVID-19 response position Australia

as a preferential location for productive foreign direct investment.
Australia finished 2019 strongly with a balanced In new industries like fintech and agtech, Australian
budget, relatively low global debt levels, a AAA global businesses are pioneering new ways of adapting
credit rating and historically low unemployment. technology. In the biotech sector, our research
teams attract global investment.
2020 of course has presented global challenges.
From a strong foundation, Australia’s effective and Meanwhile, our minerals reserves create fresh
proactive response to the global economic downturn prospects for investment and growth. New sectors
has protected the Australian economy. Australia’s include lithium mining and processing for electric
ability to adapt is our great strength, and it helps vehicle batteries, and rare-earth minerals.
us meet current challenges. We have a flexible and
Perhaps our greatest asset is our diverse, highly
resilient economy, strong institutions and open
skilled and entrepreneurial workforce. As one of the
markets, which help us respond effectively to all
most multicultural and multilingual countries in the
manner of disruptions.
world, we use our global ties to connect with the
Australia’s network of 14 free trade agreements best the world has to offer.
– covering approximately 70 per cent of trade and
Australia remains globally focused and open for
working towards 90 per cent – gives Australian
business.
business preferential access to fast-growing
markets, including in the proximate Asian region.
Before lockdowns interrupted global supply chains,
fast-increasing exports created record trade Senator the Hon Simon Birmingham
surpluses for Australia. Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment

01 RESILIENT ECONOMY
Australia’s A$2 trillion economy 6

High living standards 7
A rock-solid economy since 1961 8
Australia outpaces advanced economies 9
Proximity to Asia’s powerhouse economies 10
A diversified, services-based economy 11
Australia’s service industries power ahead 12
Low government debt 13

01 RESILIENT ECONOMY
A resilient economy, In turbulent times, the Australian economy While over 80 per cent of Australia’s
benefits from rock-solid foundations. Prior economy is services-based, global
based on strong exports, to 2020, the economy experienced just leadership in several key industries powers
two years of negative growth during the our exports. Asian markets are hungry
vibrant services and sound
previous six decades. And since the last for Australian minerals and energy.
institutions. recession in 1991, our growth rate has Our agricultural industry is highly
averaged 3.2 per cent, which is higher than efficient, and our clean, green produce
every other major developed economy in fetches premium prices in Asian markets.
the world. Australia’s trade links with near Underpinning everything is our sound
neighbours are a major factor. The Asia financial system, strong fiscal position
region is ultra-fast growing, and Australia’s and low government debt. This permits
network of 14 free trade agreements strategic investment in future industries
across Asia and the Pacific have helped agile and infrastructure.
Australian businesses to rapidly expand.

Australia’s A$2 trillion World’s 20 largest economies, 2019
Percentage share of total world nominal GDP in US$
economy
Australia held its place as the world’s 14th Germany 4.5% Russia 1.9%
US 24.8%
largest economy in 2019, despite being home Netherlands 1.0% Japan 6.0%
to just 0.3 per cent of the global population. UK 3.2%
Australia’s nominal gross domestic product
(GDP) is estimated at almost A$2 trillion Spain 1.6% Canada 2.0%
(US$1.4 trillion), which accounts for
approximately 1.6 per cent of the global China 16.3%
Korea 1.9%
economy. In Australian dollars, the value of France 3.1%
Saudi Arabia 0.9%
total national production has more than tripled Mexico 1.5%
Switzerland 0.8% Turkey 0.9% ASEAN 3.6%
in just two decades.
(incl Indonesia 1.3%)
Brazil 2.1%
Italy 2.3%
India 3.4%
Australia 1.6%
Notes: Rest of the world 19%

GDP of the world’s 194 economies: US$86,599 billion in 2019
GDP of 20 largest economies: US$70,118 billion (81% of world’s GDP)
GDP of ASEAN–10 economies: US$3,115 billion (3.6% of world’s GDP)
Sources: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database,
October 2019; Austrade

High living standards GDP per person for selected economies, 1991–2019
Australian living standards have grown rapidly 90,000
over the past two decades. In 1991, Australians

Increase to 2019
had a lower GDP per head than France, Germany
75,000
1991
and the UK. After growing 189 per cent in
almost three decades, Australia’s GDP has now
US$ nominal GDP per person

overtaken France, Germany and the UK, as well 60,000
as Canada and Sweden. In 2019, GDP per person
reached a high, developed-world level of around
US$54,000. 45,000
30,000
15,000
Netherlands
Switzerland
Norway
US
Singapore
Australia
Sweden
Hong Kong SAR
Germany
Canada
France
UK
Japan
New Zealand
Italy
Korea
Spain
Taiwan
Malaysia
Mexico
China
Thailand
Indonesia
Philippines
India
Brazil
Sources: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database,
October 2019; Austrade

A rock-solid economy Australia’s economic growth since 1961
GDP, annual percentage change
since 1961
8
Prior to 2020, Australia experienced just two
years of negative growth over the previous six 7
decades – in 1983 and 1991. This performance
is unmatched by any other major, advanced 6
economy in the world. Since 1992, Australia’s AAGR = 4.2%

5
annual GDP growth rate has held steady, with an AAGR1 = 3.9%
Percentage change
average increase of 3.2 per cent over 28 years. 4
AAGR = 3.2%
3
-1 -0.7
-1.0
-2
1961
1965
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2015
2019
Notes: 1. AAGR = Average annual growth rate.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Cat. No. 5206.0 Cat. No. Australian
National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, Table 1
(Released 3 June 2020); Austrade

Australia outpaces Economic growth by country/region
Growth of real GDP, 1992–2019
advanced economies
12
At 3.2 per cent per year, Australian GDP growth

since 1992 has outmatched most comparable
economic regions, including the Euro area 10
(1.6 per cent p.a.), UK (2.1 per cent p.a.) and the 9.5
US (2.6 per cent p.a.). The Australian economy
Average annual growth rate, percentage

also outpaced G7 countries as a group, and the 8
average growth rate of the world’s advanced 7.6
economies. 1
6.8
5.0
3.6
3.2
2.6 2.7
2 2.1 2.2 2.2

1.9
1.6
0.9
Notes: 1. The IMF considers the following markets as part of the ‘Advanced
economies’ group: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, the Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong
0
SAR, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Euro Major UK Emerging Advanced US Latin Australia India Emerging China ASEAN-5 World Japan
Macao SAR, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Puerto Rico, area advanced and economies America and
San Marino, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, economies developing and the developing
Taiwan SAR, United Kingdom, and United States. (G7) Europe Caribbean Asia
Sources: International Monetary, World Economic Outlook Database,
April 2020; Austrade

Proximity to Asia’s Asian economic growth
GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP)1
powerhouse economies
As a developed economy, Australia benefits Compound annual growth rate
Countries & regions in Asia (%) 1980–2019
from being part of an ultra-fast growing region
China and India 10.9
of the world. Most of Australia’s principal Japan, Australia and New Zealand 4.7
export partners are located in Northeast Asia ASEAN-92 8.0
and Southeast Asia, and a network of 14 free Newly Industrialised Economies 3 8.4
trade agreements gives Australian companies Other developing Asia 7.8
Average of Asia incl. Australia and New Zealand 8.4

preferential access to these fast-growing
World average 6.3
markets.
45
70,000
42.6%
40
60,000 Asia plus Australia and New Zealand as a
percentage of world’s GDP (right-hand axis) 35
$ billion (current prices, PPP)
Percentage of world’s GDP

50,000
30
40,000 25
20
30,000
19.7%
15
20,000
10
10,000 5
Notes: 1. The bar represents the value of the regional gross domestic
product at current prices based on purchasing power parity. 2. To avoid 0
double counting with NIEs and ASEAN, Singapore was excluded. 3. Newly 0
Industrialised Economies (NIEs): Singapore, Hong Kong SAR, Korea and Taiwan. 1980 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Sources: International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database
April 2020 (Released 15 April 2020); Austrade

A diversified, services- Australia’s real gross value added (GVA) by industry
Total ending December 2019, as a percentage of total industry
based economy
Arts and Recreation Services 0.9%
Other 1.9% Mining1 9.3%
Australia’s resilience is underpinned by a
diversified mix of successful industries. In 2019, Ownership of Dwellings2 8.9%
the country’s services and goods industries Accommodation and Manufacturing1 5.9%
Food Services 2.4%
accounted for 82 per cent and 18 per cent
of real gross value added (GVA) respectively. Information Media and
Telecommunications 2.6% Agriculture, Forestry
The largest contributor was the financial and Fishing1 2.2%
Electricity, Gas, Water and
services sector (generating 9.3 per cent of Waste Services 2.6%
GVA), followed by mining, healthcare and Rental, Hiring and Real
Financial and Insurance
construction. Technology-driven sectors – Estate Services 3.2%
Services 9.3%
including professional services, education and IT Administrative and
Support Services 3.7%
– are worth over 15 per cent of total economic
Total GVA = A$1,778bn
production.
Wholesale Trade 4.0%
Healthcare and
Social Assistance 8.0%
Retail Trade 4.4%
Transport, Postal and

Warehousing 4.8%
Construction 7.6%
Education and Training 5.1%
Notes: 1. Goods comprise agriculture, manufacturing and mining. Professional, Scientific and
2. Ownership of dwellings is not classified as a good or service. Public Administration and Safety 5.6% Technical Services 7.5%
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Cat. No. 5206.0 Australian National
Account, March 2020, Table 6 Gross Value Added by Industry, Chain volume
measures (Released 3 June 2020); Austrade

Australia’s service Growth by industry in Australia’s real gross value added
Compound annual growth rate, 1991–2019
industries power ahead
Services Goods1 Not Classified as a good or service2
The Australian services sector has grown
strongly over the past two and a half decades.
Information Media and Telecommunications 5.1%
The information, media and telecommunications
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 4.9%
sector (5.1 per cent) has recorded the highest
Healthcare and Social Assistance 4.5%
compound annual growth rate (CAGR) since
1991, followed by professional, scientific and Mining 4.5%
technical services (4.9 per cent), and healthcare Financial and Insurance Services 4.4%
and social assistance (4.5 per cent). Overall, Construction 3.8%
Australia’s services sector has expanded at a Administrative and Support Services 3.8%
CAGR of 3.4 per cent since 1991, outpacing the Retail Trade 3.6%
2.4 per cent CAGR of the goods sector, and the 3.6%
Wholesale Trade
3.2 per cent CAGR of the Australian economy as
Arts and Recreation Services 3.4%
a whole.
Transport, Postal and Warehousing 3.2%
Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services 3.2%
Accommodation and Food Services 2.7%
Public Administration and Safety 2.5%
Ownership of Dwellings 2 2.4%
All-industries average growth:

Other Services 2.4%
3.2% per annum
Services: 3.4%
Notes: 1. Goods comprise agriculture, manufacturing and mining. 2. Ownership Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 1.6%
of dwellings is not classified as a good or service. Goods: 2.4%
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Cat. No. 5206.0 Australian National Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 1.3%
Account, March 2020, Table 6 Gross Value Added by Industry, Chain volume
measures (Released 3 June 2020); Austrade Manufacturing 0.7%

Low government debt General government net debt, 2019
As a percentage of GDP
The combined effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and

economic support packages are swiftly changing 160
154.3
the public debt profile of almost all economies. Advanced economies average 76.6
Fortunately, Australia entered 2020 with very Euro Area 69.1
140
low public debt, by international standards. In G20 Advanced 83.1
its April 2020 ‘Global Fiscal Monitor’ report, the G7 88.1
123.1
International Monetary Fund reported that the 120 Emerging market & middle-income economies average7 38.3
112.2
Australian Government’s net debt was 23 per cent Asia (Gross debt only; net debt figures unavailable) 55.1
of GDP in 2019. This is well below the 77 per cent Europe 30.6
average for advanced economies. With low public 100 G20 Emerging 38.1
Percentage of GDP
sector debt, the Australian Government is well 89.8
86.1
Latin America 45.3
84.1
positioned to support economic recovery. 81.1
80
75.5 74.4
Notes: 1. For cross-economy comparability, net debt levels reported by national
statistical agencies for economies that have adopted the 2008 System of
National Accounts (Australia, Canada, United States) are adjusted to exclude
60 58.2
unfunded pension liabilities of government employees’ defined-benefit pension 55.9 55.7
plans. 2. Belgium’s net debt series has been revised to ensure consistency 50.9
48.2
between liabilities and assets. Net debt is defined as gross debt (Maastricht 45.1
definition) minus assets in the form of currency and deposits, loans, and debt 41.6 41.3
securities. 3. Based on nominal GDP series prior to the recent revision; therefore, 40
data in the tables are not comparable to the authorities’ numbers. 4. Net debt
for Ireland is defined as gross general debt less debt instrument assets, namely, 26.9 26.5 25.9
25.0
currency and deposits, debt securities, and loans. It was previously defined as 23.2
general government debt less currency and deposits. 5. Net debt for Iceland is 19.7
20
defined as gross debt less currency and deposits. 6. Net debt figures were revised
11.2 10.3
to only include categories of assets corresponding to the categories of liabilities 8.0
covered by the Maastricht definition of gross debt. 7. Emerging economies
include: Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Brazil, Chile, China,
0
Colombia, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Hungary, India, Indonesia,
Japan
Italy
Portugal
France
Belgium2
US1
Spain
UK
Egypt 3
Israel
South Africa
Brazil
Ireland4
Austria
Mexico
Netherlands
Germany
Indonesia
Iceland 5
Canada 1
Finland 6
Australia 1
Switzerland
Peru
Korea
New Zealand
Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Peru,
Philippines, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay and Venezuela.
Sources: International Monetary Fund (IMF), IMF Fiscal Monitor April 2020,
Statistical Tables A8, A15 and A16; Austrade

02 DYNAMIC INDUSTRIES
Australia’s globally significant industries 16

A leader in new technologies 17
Abundant reserves of minerals and energy 18
Fast-growing exports in the resources and energy sectors 19
A growing market for renewables 20
A top agri-exporter to Asian markets 21
A clean, green source of natural fibres and food 22
Strong, sophisticated financial markets 23
Australia’s A$9.5 trillion financial sector 24
The third most popular country for overseas students 25
A top market for global tourism 26

02 DYNAMIC INDUSTRIES
Global demand for Energy and resources made up around Australian agriculture is truly world-
75 per cent of Australia’s goods exports in leading – in efficiency, technology and
Australia’s energy, 2019. The export mix is changing, however. environmental credibility. This helps
minerals and food. During 2019, Australia rivalled Qatar as Australian farmers attract investment
the world’s largest exporter of liquefied from around the world, and secure new
natural gas. Fresh investment in the mining customers for clean, green produce in
and processing of lithium and rare-earth Asia’s premium food markets. Our services
minerals will grow Australia’s role in the industries are also strong. Australia’s
supply chain for electric vehicles and high- financial markets manage the world’s
tech devices. fourth largest pool of pension fund assets
– a sector that is growing faster in Australia
Meanwhile, renewables are taking off.
than in any other developed economy.
Australia’s coastal population and sunshine
climate have seen wind and solar power
soar. Today, they account for half of
Australia’s renewable energy generation.

Australia’s globally Australia’s globally significant industries
significant industries
Foreign students in tertiary education1
Australia is a leading provider of goods and (7.2% of the world’s total, 2017)
services that are in high demand across the Third largest in the world.
global economy. The country is one of the Source: UNESCO, Institute for Statistics
world’s top five exporters of minerals and fuels,

with significant reserves of iron ore, gold and
liquefied natural gas (LNG). Australia is also one
of the world’s top 14 agricultural producers and
a leader in the production of premium and clean,
green produce. Meanwhile, Australia has large
and sophisticated financial markets, with the
Australia’s investment fund assets Merchandise export
world’s fifth largest pool of investment fund (US$2.2 trillion, December 2019) – mining and fuels
assets. (US$127.7 billion, 2018)
Fifth largest in the world.
Source: Investment Company Institute, Top five in the world.
Quarterly Worldwide Mutual Fund Market Source: UN Comtrade Database
Merchandise export International tourism receipts

– agricultural products (US$46 billion, 2019)
(US$36.7 billion, 2018)
Eighth largest in the world.
Top 14 in the world. Source: UNWTO World Tourism Barometer,
Source: UN Comtrade Database Statistical Annex, May 2020
Notes: 1. Inbound students in tertiary education.

A leader in new Australia’s tech credentials
technologies
Australia’s transition to a services-based 800 fintech 500 medtech
economy is driving the development of new companies1 companies
technologies in agriculture, education, financial US$600 million invested across US$1.8 billion digital health market7
28 deals (2018)2
services, health and other sectors. Innovation World top 20 for medtech patents 8
Seven fintech companies in the
includes the use of blockchain in finance, A$20bn Medical Research Future Fund
world’s top 1003
immersive simulation technologies in education,
robotics in medical procedures and the Internet
of Things in agriculture. Australia is also
recognised as a world leader in silicon-based 350 edtech 400 agtech &
quantum computing research. companies foodtech companies9
1,100 online education providers 4 15 agtech incubators/accelerators10
A$1.7 billion edtech market by 2022 A$90.4 million invested in Australian
agtech sector (2019)11
Fastest-growing startup sector 5
A$600 million invested annually

Second largest startup vertical after
through 15 Rural R&D Corporations
fintech2
A$20 billion lift in industry value
Notes: 1. Fintech Australia, www.fintechaustralia.org.au/learn accessed June

2020. 2. As above. 3. KPMG and H2 Ventures, FinTech 100, November 2019.
4. Austrade, Australian Education Technology, 2016. 5. Edugrowth and
Deloitte, The Australian EdTech Market Census 2017, August 2017. 6. As
above. 7. Frost & Sullivan, Global Digital Health Outlook 2018. 8. WIPO Patent
Statistics, total count by applicant’s origin (equivalent count), database
accessed 18 October 2019. 9. KPMG, Talking 2030: Growing agriculture into
a $100 billion industry, 23 March 2018. 10. KPMG, Talking 2030: Growing
agriculture into a $100 billion industry, 23 March 2018. 11. AgFunder, Agri-
FoodTech Investing Report – 2019, February 2020.

Abundant reserves of Australia’s commodity exports, 2018–191
Minerals and energy, with global ranking for production and resources
minerals and energy
Refined petroleum A$3.0bn Minerals Energy Other
Australia has the world’s largest reserves of iron Crude petroleum A$8.5bn
ore, gold, lead and zinc, as well as the second
largest reserves of bauxite, nickel, lithium Natural gas A$49.7bn
and cobalt. With the world’s largest uranium Iron ore A$77.2bn
reserves and the second largest deposits of

brown coal, Australia is a major energy supplier
to Asian economies. New resources also beckon.
Australia’s lithium industry will benefit from the
Gold and gold coin A$19.7bn
rapid rise in demand for lithium-ion batteries that
Coal A$69.6bn
power electric vehicles. US demand will spur rare-
Bauxite A$11.4bn
earths mining and processing.
Copper A$5.9bn
Confidential minerals ores A$5.0bn
Aluminium A$4.3bn
Other ores & concentrates A$3.6bn
Crude minerals A$1.7bn
Zinc A$1.6bn
Other commodity exports (incl. agriculture, Precious metal ores A$1.5bn
forestry & fisheries and manufactures) A$105.7bn Other minerals A$4.2bn
Sources: 1. DFAT, Trade statistical pivot tables; Austrade, Last updated: Australia’s world ranking for minerals and energy2
November 2019 using ABS catalogue 5368.0 (September 2019 data).
Production Reserves Production Reserves Production Reserves
2. USGS (Mineral Commodity Summaries 2019), OECD Nuclear Energy Agency/
International Atomic Energy Agency (The Red Book 2018), World Nuclear Iron ore 1 1 Uranium 3 1 Nickel 6 2
Association (World Uranium Mining Production, August 2019 update), BP Bauxite 1 2 Zinc 3 1 Silver 6 3
Statistical Review of World Energy 2019, International Energy Agency Lithium 1 2 Cobalt 3 2 Natural gas 7 14
(Coal Information 2019 Overview), BGR Energy Study 2018 and Geoscience Gold3 2 1 Black coal 4 4 Tin 8 4
Australia. 3. Gold including (in the chart): $19.7bn; Gold: $18.9bn plus gold coin Lead 2 1 Brown coal 6 2
& legal tender coin; Coin (excl gold coin) not legal tender: $0.8bn
Rare earths 2 6 Copper 6 2

Fast-growing exports Australia’s resources and energy sector, 2001–02 to 2018–19
Nominal value of exports, 2001–02 to 2018–19
in the resources and
energy sectors 160
Energy: CAGR1 10.2% (2001–02 to 2018–19)
Australia’s proximity to resources-hungry Resources: CAGR 9.8% (2001–02 to 2018–19)

140
Asian markets underpins its position as a

major global exporter of minerals and energy. 120
From 2001–02 to 2018–19, Australia’s total

resources and energy exports are estimated 100
to have quintupled to around A$280 billion.
A$ billion
Export earnings are expected to remain strong, 80
as the volume of resources and energy exports

increases. 60
40
20
2001–02
2002–03
2003–04
2004–05
2005–06
2006–07
2007–08
2009–10
2010–11
2011–12
2012–13
2013–14
2014–15
2015–16
2016–17
2017–18
2018–19
2008–09
Notes: 1. CAGR = Compound annual growth rate.
Sources: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources, Office of
the Chief Economist, Resources and Energy Quarterly, March 2020; Austrade

A growing market Australia’s renewable energy generation volumes and world rankings
1992–93 to 2017–18E, TWh
for renewables
Renewable energy accounted for almost
16 per cent of Australia’s total electricity Australia’s gross energy production 2017
World ranking World share %
generation in 2017–18. Over the past decade,
Solar PV 10 1.9
the amount of energy generated by wind and
Wind energy 15 11
solar sources has grown significantly, leveraging
Bioenergy 25 0.7
Australia’s natural advantages. Electricity
Hydropower 33 0.4
generation from wind and solar power alone
accounted for half of Australia’s renewable 40 16
energy generation in 2017–18. They generated

35 Renewables: as a percentage of total electricity generation (right-hand axis) 14
just 16 per cent of Australian renewables
Percentage of total electricity generation

10 years ago.
30 12
Terawatt–hour
25 10
20 8
15 6
10 4
E = Estimate; TWh = Terawatt-hour.

Notes: Solar energy generation in 2002–03 was 0.0583 TWh and in 2007–08 5 2
was 0.123TWh. Wind energy generation in 2002–03 was 0.703TWh and in
2007–08 was 0.309TWh.
Sources: Department of the Environment and Energy, Australian Energy 0 0
Statistics, Table 01 Electricity generation by fuel type, Released March 2019; 1992–93 1997–98 2002–03 2007–08 2012–13 2017–18E
Sources: IRENA (2019), Renewable Energy Statistics 2019, The International
Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Abu Dhabi; Austrade

A top agri-exporter to Australia’s top 15 export destinations for food and fibre
A$ billion, 2019
Asian markets
Exports (A$ billion)
Australian food and fibre exports rose to 2019
almost A$50 billion in 2019. Of Australia’s 15 Unprocessed 19.31
top food markets, 12 are in the Asia region3, Processed 30.4
and they account for approximately three- Total 49.72
quarters of the nation’s agrifoods exports. With

a reputation for high agricultural standards
1. China $15.2bn 4. Korea $3.3bn
3. US $4.4bn
and a well-regulated food industry, Australian 7. Vietnam $1.7bn 2. Japan $5.5bn
produce commands premium prices in Asia.
15. UK $0.6bn
Meanwhile, Australia’s network of regional free
trade agreements gives Australian growers
preferential access to Asian markets.
13. Taiwan $0.8bn

9. Hong Kong SAR $1.2bn
10. Philippines $1.2bn
11. Malaysia $1.1bn
14. UAE $0.7bn 5. Indonesia $2.3bn
Notes: 1. Includes all unprocessed food and live animals; raw hides, skins and
furskins; and all unprocessed textile fibres. 2. Export value of Australian food
and fibre is defined as the total export value of primary products (unprocessed
– food & live animals total); primary products (unprocessed – Other – Hides 12. Thailand $0.9bn
skins & furskins raw); primary products (unprocessed – Other – Textile fibres
6. New Zealand $1.7bn
unprocessed & waste); and primary products (processed – food total).
3. The Asian region is defined as Asia, ASEAN and Oceania. 8. Singapore $1.3bn
Sources: Exports by country data based on the DFAT Trade Statistical pivot table,
country and TRIEC pivot table 1990 to 2019; Austrade

A clean, green source of Australia’s major agricultural commodity exports, 2018–19E
natural fibres and food

Demand for Australia’s agricultural commodities Total Production
A$ billion
drives the country’s export trade in high-value, Commodity 2018–19 E
branded, premium products. Australia is a Cattle and calves 6 11.1
major global producer of beef, wool, wheat, 10 Wheat 6.4
wine, raw cotton, lamb, barley, sugar, fruit, live $9.1

Fruit and nuts (excl. grapes) 4.8
9 Wool7 4.5
feeder/slaughter cattle, mutton and tree nuts.
Vegetables 4.1
Together, these top 12 products contributed 8
Milk 8 4.1
almost 70 per cent to the total value of Lamb9 3.7
7
Australia’s A$48 billion of agricultural exports in
Export value (A$ billion)

Barley 3.1
2018–19. 6
Poultry 2.8
Nursery, cut flowers and turf 1.7
5 Cattle exported live 10 1.5
$4.3 Cotton lint and cottonseed11 1.4

4
$3.6
3 $2.9
$2.7
$2.5
Notes: 1. Including greasy wool exports shown on a balance of payments basis 2 $1.8
before 2015-16. Australian Bureau of Statistics recorded trade data adjusted $1.6
$1.4 $1.3
for changes in stock levels held overseas. 2. Includes wheat flour. 3. Excludes $1.1 $1.1
cotton waste and linters. 4. Includes malt. 5. Includes all bovine for feeder/ 1
slaughter, breeding and dairy purposes. 6. Includes dairy cattle and excludes
skin and hide values. 7. Shorn, dead and fellmongered wool, and wool exported
0
on skins. 8. Milk intake by factories and valued at the farm gate. 9. Excludes
Beef Wool Wheat² Wine Raw Lamb Barley4 Sugar Fruit Live feeder/ Mutton Tree nuts
skin and hide values. 10. Includes all bovine for feeder/slaughter, breeding and
and veal total¹ cotton³ slaughter cattle5
dairy purposes. 11. Value delivered to gin.
E = ABARES estimate.
Sources: The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and
Sciences (ABARES), Agricultural commodities –June 2019, Tables 13 and 17;
Austrade

Strong, sophisticated Global significance of Australia’s financial markets
financial markets
Australia has well-developed financial markets,
including the world’s fifth largest pool of US$6,645 billion1 US$2,077 billion4
Assets of Australian Pension assets*
managed funds, ninth largest stock market financial institutions*
4th largest in the world
and tenth largest foreign exchange market. 4.8 times Australia’s nominal GDP
2nd largest in the Asian region
The US$2.2 trillion managed funds sector is *December 2019
*2019
underpinned by a mandated retirement savings
scheme – called superannuation – that has
created the fourth largest pension pool in the
US$2,201 billion2 US$119 billion5
world. Fund assets under OTC foreign exchange daily
management* average turnover*
5th largest in the world 10th largest in the world
*December quarter 2019 5th largest in the Asian region
*April 2019
Sources: 1. Data was estimated from Reserve Bank of Australia Statistics (RBA),
B1 Assets of Financial Institutions (updated 1 June 2020); RBA Statistics, B19
Securitisation Vehicles (updated 1 June 2020); RBA Statistics, Exchange rates US$1,231 billion3 US$1,959 billion6
(extracted on 10 June 2020); Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Cat. No.
Stock market* International and domestic debt
5655.0 Managed Funds (released 4 June 2020); ABS, Cat. No. 5206.0 Australian
securities outstanding*
National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product, March 2020 9th largest in the world
(released 3 June 2020); Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), 11th largest in the world
Quarterly General Insurance Performance Statistics, March 2020 (released 28 3rd largest in the Asian region
May 2020). 2. Investment Company Institute, Research & Statistics, Worldwide 3rd largest in the Asian region
*Market capitalisation of freely
Market Data (released 25 March 2020) survey does not include Hong Kong SAR floating stocks, December 2019 *Total outstanding value, December quarter 2019
and Singapore. 3. Standard & Poor’s, S&P Dow Jones Indices World-By-Numbers:
December 2019. 4. Willis Towers Watson, Global Pension Assets Study 2020
(released 10 February 2020). 5. Bank for International Settlements, Triennial
Central Bank Survey of Foreign Exchange and OTC Derivatives Markets in 2019
(updated 16 September 2019. 6. Bank for International Settlements, Debt
securities statistics, C1 summary of debt securities outstanding by residence
and sector of issuer (updated 28 May 2020); Austrade

Australia’s A$9.5 Assets of Australian financial institutions, 1999–2019
A$ trillion, year ending December quarter
trillion financial sector
Australian financial markets are large relative Assets of financial institutions % CAGR 1 1999 to 2019
to the overall size of our economy. The total Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) and 9.3
Registered Financial Corporations ( RFCs)1
estimated value of all financial assets rose to
Managed funds 9.4
A$9.5 trillion in 2019. This equates to almost Reserve Bank of Australia 6.3
five times Australia’s GDP. On average, the Total all financial institutions (AFIs) including other2 9.2
sector has grown at just over nine per cent

per year over the past 20 years. The size 10
476% 500
and strength of Australia’s financial services ADIs and RFCs1
Managed funds
industry makes it the largest contributor to the 9
All financial institution assets as a percentage of GDP

450
Reserve Bank of Australia
country’s gross value added and a significant
8 Other financial institutions2 400
source of capital. AFI assets % of GDP (right-hand axis)
7 350
A$ trillion assets
6 300
5 250
255%
Notes: CAGR = Compound annual growth rate from December quarter 1999 to
4 200
December quarter 2019. 1. ADIs: Banks, Building Societies and Credit Unions.
RFCs: Money Market Corporations, Finance Companies and General Financiers.
2. Other: General Insurance Offices and Securitisation Vehicles. 3 150
Sources: Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Statistics, B1 Assets of Financial
Institutions (updated 1 June 2020); RBA Statistics, B19 Securitisation Vehicles
2 100
(updated 1 June 2020); RBA Statistics, Exchange rates (extracted on 10 June
2020); Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) , Cat. No. 5655.0 Managed Funds
(released 4 June 2020); ABS, Cat. No. 5206.0 Australian National Accounts: 1 50
National Income, Expenditure and Product, March 2020 (released 3 June
2020); Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), Quarterly General
0 0
Insurance Performance Statistics, March 2020 (released 28 May 2020);
Austrade 1999 2004 2009 2015 2019

The third most popular International higher education enrolments by regional grouping1
Onshore students on student visas only, full-year 20192
country for overseas
students
By the end of 2019, Australia had become the 200,000
2018 2019
185,530
third most popular destination for foreign Total international higher education enrolments 398,156 441,066
180,000
students enrolled in higher education. Australia Total higher education enrolments, year on year % change 14.0% 10.8%
% share of all Asian students (excluding Middle East) 89.7% 90.5%
attracted over 750,000 international students 160,000 156,236
Top five broad fields of study 328,220 361,916
in 2019, who enrolled in universities, technical
140,000 Management and commerce 170,500 175,661
colleges, vocational education and training
Information technology 54,795 70,721
colleges, English language courses, and schools. 120,000
Engineering and related technologies 44,387 46,610
About 80 per cent of students arrived from Health 31,377 37,072
100,000
countries in Asia. Society and culture 27,161 31,852
80,000
60,000 57,505
40,000
20,000
12,188 10,488
8,601 6,088
3,340 1,061 29
0
Notes: 1. Enrolment numbers reflect international student enrolments (by Northeast Southern and Southeast Americas North Africa Sub-Saharan North-West Southern Oceania and Other4
country of citizenship). 2. 2019 data contains statistics relating to enrolments
Asia Central Asia Asia and the Africa Europe and Eastern Antarctica3
Middle East Europe
in higher education courses in each Australian Higher Education Provider
and is correct as of the April 2020 release of student data (revised monthly).
3. Excludes enrolments from New Zealand as students do not require an
international student visa to study in Australia. 4. ‘Other’ includes enrolments
from countries not known or where no further information was provided.
Sources: Austrade, Market Information Package, Detailed Pivot Table, April
2020 release

A top market for Top 15 global tourism receipts – markets
2019, receipts (US$)1
global tourism
With a 3.1 per cent share of global tourism
9. Germany $41.6bn 11. China $35.8bn
receipts, Australia was the world’s eighth 1. US $214.1bn 15. Canada $26.8bn
largest international tourism market in 2019. 13. Turkey $29.8bn
7. Japan $46.1bn
As the world recovers from the impacts of 5. UK $49.9bn
COVID-19, domestic tourism will help Australia
gain a competitive edge. In 2019, the amount 2. Spain $79.7bn
spent by international visitors to Australia
(US$46 billion) was less than half the amount
spent by domestic overnight travellers in 14. Hong Kong SAR $29bn
Australia. With few overseas options and
10. Macau SAR $39.5bn
stringent border controls, Australia’s high-
spending domestic tourists will help sustain
Australian tourism until global visitors return. 3. France $65.4bn
6. Italy $49.8bn
12. India $30bn
4. Thailand $60.5bn
8. Australia $46bn
Notes: 1. There are methodological differences between UNWTO and Tourism

Research Australia (TRA) related to education travel expenses.
Sources: United Nations World Travel Organisation (UNWTO), World Tourism
Barometer, Statistical Annex, Volume 18, Issue 2 (released May 2020);
Austrade

03 INNOVATION & SKILLS
Australia’s roll call of innovation 29

An innovative, highly educated nation 30
A leading economy for research and development 31
Australian industry drives innovation 32
Australian scientific research has a major impact 33
Australia’s top-ranking academic institutions 34
A services-based workforce 35
Australia’s overseas-born population 36

03 INNOVATION & SKILLS
Research, academia Australia is one of the most creative Then there’s the Australian workforce.
countries in the world. Overall spending on Diverse, multilingual and multicultural, more
and diversity spark an research and development (R&D) has grown than 28 per cent of our population was born
by 7 per cent per year since 2001. Business overseas. Combined with the high skill levels
innovation nation.
is the driving force, with commercial R&D of migrants, this multitalented workforce
rising almost 2 percentage points faster helps Australia thrive in today’s globalised
than Australia’s GDP. economy.
Our universities are partly responsible.
Seven Australian universities make it into
the top 100 global rankings. In terms of
academic impact, Australian publications
outperform other countries’ in 20 out of 22
fields of academic research.

Australia’s roll call of Australia’s innovation credentials
innovation
Australia is a nation of inventors and CSIRO ranks in the
entrepreneurs. The electronic pacemaker
Ranked 1st Top 1%
(1926), the ‘black box’ flight recorder (1958),
For technological readiness1 of the world’s scientific institutions
ultrasound (1961), multi-channel cochlear
in 14 of 22 research fields4
implants (1970s), wi-fi (1990s), the polymer
banknote (1988), Google Maps (2003) and a
cervical cancer vaccine (2006) are all Australian
innovations. With dynamic links between
academia, industry and public services, 3rd highest About 50%
Australia welcomes investment in its intellectual Number of universities in the of Australian firms are
world’s top 1002 innovation-active5
capital to help lay the groundwork for future
discoveries.
Ranked 5th Around 44%

Global entrepreneurship3 of Australia’s workforce has a
tertiary qualification6
Sources: 1. Economist Intelligence Unit, 2018 Technological Readiness Ranking,

forecast for 2018–2022. 2. Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, Academic Ranking
of World Universities 2019. 3. Global Entrepreneurship and Development
Institute, Global Entrepreneurship Index 2018, 29 November 2017.
4. CSIRO Annual Report 2018–19. 5. Department of Innovation, Industry and
Science, Australian Innovation System Monitor latest update, Data Releases,
November 2019 update, section 1.1. 6. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cat.
No. 62270DO001_201805 Education and Work, Australia, May 2019, Table 13
(released 13 November 2019).

An innovative, highly Skilled workforce and innovation indicators – Global rankings, 2019
educated nation
International studies recognise the high levels
Australia US UK France Germany Japan Korea China India Singapore
of skill and education in Australia’s workforce.
WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2019
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF) Ranking (141 economies)(a) in:
Global Competitiveness Report 2019, Australia’s School Life Expectancy Years 1 30 6 39 17 49 25 76 88 27
scientific publication scores are among the Diversity of Workforce 3 7 14 65 16 106 86 78 80 1
world’s highest, and so are its metrics for critical Reliance on Professional Management 6 10 26 32 25 12 54 51 41 3
thinking in teaching. Australia also ranked in the Willingness to Delegate Authority 8 7 22 42 16 27 85 57 71 17
top 10 for availability of skilled labour, according Ratio of Wage and Salaried Female Workers/ 10 39 12 23 27 62 59 56 128 31
Male Workers
to a study by the International Institute for
Mobile-Broadband Subscriptions 1 10 7 34 42 58 2 21 36 116 6
Management Development (IMD).
Scientific Publications Scores 10 1 2 5 3 6 18 13 21 23
Critical Thinking in Teaching 11 9 14 36 10 87 82 25 55 21
IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2019

Ranking (63 economies)(b) in:
Student Mobility Inbound2 1 25 7 22 26 47 45 57 60 3
Availability of Skilled Labour 10 25 35 37 49 44 34 27 17 16

Notes: 1. Per 100 people. 2. Foreign tertiary-level students per 1,000
inhabitants, 2017. 3. Per 1,000 people, aged 15–69. 4. Human Capital
Availability of Foreign Highly-skilled 10 7 22 30 18 51 49 27 40 2
and Research includes Education, Tertiary Education and Research and Personnel
Development. 5. The H-Index is a numerical indicator of how productive and The Global Innovation Index 2019 Ranking
influential a researcher is. 6. Generic top-level domains (gTLDs) are one of the (129 economies)(c) in:
categories of top-level domains (TLDs) maintained by the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Domain Name System of the Internet. Entertainment & Media market 3 7 1 9 15 12 6 19 42 60 20
7. Per 1,000 people, aged 15–69. Human Capital and Research 4
10 12 9 11 3 21 1 25 53 5
Sources: (a) World Economic Forum (WEF), Switzerland and Harvard
University, Global Competitiveness Report 2019 (released 9 October 2019, Citable Documents H-index 5 10 1 1 5 3 6 18 13 21 23
141 economies); (b) International Institute for Management Development Generic Top-level Domains (TLDs)6, 7 10 1 12 18 14 31 43 75 98 23
(IMD), Switzerland, IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2019 (released May
2019, 63 economies); (c) Co-publishers Cornell University, INSEAD, and the
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), The Global Innovation Index
2019 (129 economies), 12th edition; Austrade

A leading economy World of research and development
Size of circle reflects the relative amount of annual Gross Domestic Expenditure on R&D (GERD)
for research and in US$ current prices and purchasing power parity terms
development
With strong expenditure on research and
development (R&D) as a percentage of GDP
16.0
and a high proportion of available researchers,
Sweden
Australia is among the most innovative countries
in the world – alongside the US, Japan and Taiwan Korea
Researchers per thousand employess

France.
12.0
France
Singapore
UK Japan
Netherlands
Canada Australia Germany
8.0
New Zealand
Spain GERD US$ current
US Regions prices (PPP terms)
Italy BRICS < 20 billion

Russia
China North America 20 billion
4.0 Turkey to 100 billion
Notes: GERD % of GDP ratios refer to 2017 except for Australia and India EU
(2015), Brazil, South Africa and Mexico (2016) and Sweden (2018). Researcher Other OECD
South Brazil
figures refer to 2017 except for Australia (2010), Brazil (2014), India (2015), Africa members >100 billion
Mexico, Canada, USA and South Africa (2016). GERD values (US$ PPP) refers Mexico Other countries
to 2017, except for Australia and India (2015), Brazil, Mexico and South Africa Indonesia
(2016), and Sweden (2018). All figures for Brazil and Indonesia were from India
0.0
UNESCO UIS.Stat (http://data.uis.unesco.org/)
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Sources: GERD statistics were from OECD Dataset: Main Science
and Technology Indicators, (https://stats.oecd.org/Index. Gross expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP
aspx?DataSetCode=MSTI_PUB) and UNESCO Institute for Statistics,
Dataset: Main Science and Technology Indicators, (http://data.uis.unesco.
org/); Researcher figures were from OECD Data (https://data.oecd.org/rd/
researchers.htm); All were extracted on 18 September 2019; Austrade.

Australian industry Australia’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD)
Compound annual growth rate of Australia’s GERD total from 2000–01 to 2017–18 = 6.9%
drives innovation
Australia’s annual gross expenditure on R&D 2000–01, 2017–18,
R&D A$ (billion) and % share of total expenditure R&D A$ (billion) and % share of total expenditure
rose by 7 per cent per year between 2000–01
and 2017–18 to reach A$33 billion. Business
BERD: Business expenditure on R&D
expenditure on R&D makes up 53 per cent GOVERD: Government expenditure on R&D
of Australia’s total R&D expenditure. It has HERD: Higher education expenditure on R&D
Private non-profit ERD: Private non-profit expenditure on R&D
expanded rapidly from A$5 billion in 2000–01
to A$17.4 billion in 2017–18. This represents
a CAGR of 7.6 per cent since 2001, almost
Private non-profit ERD,
2 percentage points faster than Australia’s A$1.0bn, 3.2%
economic growth over the same period. Private non-profit ERD,

$A0.3bn, 2.8%
HERD, HERD,
$A2.8bn, 26.8% A$10.9bn, 33.3%
BERD,
GERD Total = $A5.0bn, 47.8% BERD,
A$10.4bn GERD Total = A$17.4bn, 53.4%
A$32.6bn1
GOVERD,
Notes: 1. 2017–18 GERD in the chart total were estimated, based on FY2017– $A2.4bn, 22.6%
18 data for BERD, 2016 data for HERD, and FY2016-17 figures for GOVERD and
for Private non-profit ERD.
GOVERD,
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Cat. No. 8104.0 Research A$3.3bn, 10.0%
and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia, 2017–18 (Released
20 September 2019); ABS Cat. No. 8109.0 Research and Experimental
Development, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia,
2016–17 (Released 5 July 2018); ABS Cat. No. 8111.0 Research and
Experimental Development, Higher Education Organisations, Australia, 2016
(Released 22 May 2018); Austrade

Australian scientific Relative impacts of Australian scientific publications by research field, 2014–18
research has a major

impact
Global Average: 1.0
Space Science 1.81

In 20 out of 22 fields of academic research,
Physics 1.76
Australia’s research publications achieve an
Computer Science 1.65
impact that is at least 20 per cent above
Clinical Medicine 1.64
the global average. Australia’s 10 strongest Multidisciplinary 1.58
categories of published research are: space Engineering 1.50
sciences, physics, computer science, clinical Molecular Biology and Genetics 1.49
medicine, multidisciplinary, engineering, Materials Science 1.48
molecular biology/genetics, materials science, Environment/Ecology 1.46
environment/ecology, and plant & animal Plant & Animal Science 1.45
science. These categories neatly reflect Immunology 1.39
Australia’s diverse research interests and Mathematics 1.37
economic strengths. Biology & Biochemistry 1.37
Geosciences 1.36
Microbiology 1.35
Agricultural Sciences 1.33
Chemistry 1.29
Pharmacology & Toxicology 1.26
Neuroscience & Behavior 1.26
Psychiatry/Psychology 1.21
Social Sciences, general 1.18
Economics & Business 1.06
Sources: InCitesTM (Web of Science Group, Clarivate Analytics). Data as at 27 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 1.8 2.0
August 2019, accessed 6 September 2019; Austrade

Australia’s top-ranking Academic ranking of world universities, 2020
academic institutions
Australia has seven universities in the top 100, Economies Top 100 Top 200 Top 300 Top 400 Top 500 501 to Top 1 to
1000 Top 1000
according to the 2020 Academic Ranking of
1 USA 41 65 94 114 133 73 206
World Universities (ARWU). These are: the 2 UK 8 20 28 34 36 29 65
University of Melbourne; the University of 3 Australia 7 8 15 22 23 11 34
4 China–Mainland 6 22 32 49 71 73 144
Queensland (Brisbane); the Australian National
5 France 5 8 12 16 17 13 30
University (Canberra); the University of New 6 Switzerland 5 7 7 7 8 1 9
South Wales (Sydney); the University of Sydney; 7 Germany 4 10 19 24 30 19 49
Monash University (Melbourne); and the 8 Canada 4 9 12 18 19 9 28

9 Netherlands 4 9 10 10 12 1 13
University of Western Australia (Perth). In 2020,
10 Japan 3 7 8 10 14 26 40
23 Australian universities were listed in the 11 Sweden 3 5 6 9 11 3 14
ARWU top 500 ranking, compared with just 14 12 Belgium 2 4 5 7 7 1 8
in 2004. 13 Denmark 2 3 3 5 5 1 6
14 Singapore 2 2 2 2 2 2 4
15 Israel 1 4 4 4 6 1 7
16 Norway 1 2 2 3 3 2 5
17 Russia 1 1 1 2 3 8 11
18 Finland 1 1 1 2 3 5 8
19 Italy — 3 7 10 17 29 46
20 China–Hong Kong — 2 4 5 5 2 7
21 Saudi Arabia — 2 3 3 4 — 4
22 South Korea — 1 6 9 11 21 32
23 Spain — 1 5 9 13 27 40
24 Austria — 1 3 5 7 7 14
25 Brazil — 1 1 3 6 16 22
Top 1 to 25 economies 100 198 290 382 466 380 846
Top 26 to 63 economies 0 2 10 18 34 120 154
Sources: The Academic Ranking of World Universities, Shanghai Ranking Total 100 200 300 400 500 500 1,000
Consultancy (http://www.shanghairanking.com/index.html); Austrade

A services-based Australia’s employed persons by industry, 2019
Percentage of total employed persons1
workforce
Approximately 90 per cent of Australia’s
Other Services2 7.6% Manufacturing 6.7%
workforce is employed in the services sector.
Within these services industries, over Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services 1.2% Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing 2.5%
44 per cent (5.7 million out of 13 million Information Media and Telecommunications 1.6% Mining 1.8%
people) work in sectors where having a tertiary Wholesale Trade 3.1%
education is more common than not. Administrative and Support Services 3.4%
In some services sectors, over 60 per cent of Healthcare and Social Assistance 13.3%
Financial and Insurance Services 3.6%
the workforce holds a tertiary qualification.
These high-skilled sectors include: education
Transport, Postal and Warehousing 5.1% Total employed persons:
and training; professional, scientific and
13 million
technical services; financial and insurance
Services: 88.9%
services; and health care and social assistance. Public Administration and Safety 6.4%
Goods: 11.1% Retail Trade 9.9%
Accommodation and Food Services 7.1%
Construction 9.1%
Notes: Data may not sum to totals due to rounding. 1. The percentage of total
Professional, Scientific and Technical Services 9.0%
employed persons by industry was calculated using ABS August 2019 data.
2. Including Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services (1.7%), Arts and Recreation
Services (2.0%) and Other Services (4.0%).
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Cat. No. 6291.0.55.003 Labour
Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly, Table 04. Employed persons by Industry
division of main job (ANZSIC) - Trend, Seasonally adjusted, and Original, Time
Series Workbook (released 26 September 2019); Austrade

Australia’s overseas- Foreign-born population
As a percentage of total population, 2000 and 2018
born population
With 28 per cent of its population born
48
overseas, Australia is well ahead of the OECD
average, and above major developed economies 2018
42 2000
including Canada, Germany, the UK, the US
and France. Around 60 per cent of Australia’s
Percentage of total population

36
overseas-born population (2.4 million) has a
29.0
tertiary education, and many of them are from
27.7
30
Asia (around 2 million) or Europe (1.1 million).
23.3
With a high proportion of skilled migrants,
21.4
20.8
24
19.4
18.8
Australia’s workforce is culturally diverse, with
17.6
16.8
16.4
16.2
16.0
language and business skills that give Australia
15.4
13.8
13.6
18
13.4
13.0
13.1
12.6
12.7
a built-in advantage in many aspects of cross-
10.5
10.2
10.3
border business.
8.7
12
7.2
6.7
5.8
5.3
3.5
2.6
2.3
6
2.2
1.8
1.9
0.8
0
Italy
Spain
Austria
Slovak Republic
Czech Republic
Netherlands
Mexico
Poland
Japan
Turkey
Korea
Chile
Hungary
Greece
Finland
Portugal
Denmark
Estonia
France
Latvia
OECD average
US
UK
Norway
Germany
Iceland
Ireland
Slovenia
Sweden
Canada
Israel
New Zealand
Australia
Switzerland
Belgium
Notes: Data refer to 2000 or the closest available year, and to 2018 or the
most recent available year. The OECD average is simple average based on rates
presented. For Japan and Korea, the data refer to the foreign population rather
than the foreign-born population.
Sources: OECD (2019), International Migration Outlook 2019, Page 40, Figure
1.10, https://stats.oecd.org/viewhtml.aspx?datasetcode=MIG&lang=en;
Austrade

04 GLOBAL TIES
Australia’s export links to booming Asian markets 39

A trading nation 40
Australian exports in high demand 41
A high-growth destination for foreign investment 42
Australia’s foreign direct investment tops A$1 trillion 43
Foreign direct investment targets mining and manufacturing 44
A highly globalised society and economy 45
An open trading ecnonomy for services 46
Australia’s liberalised trade with Asia 47

04 GLOBAL TIES
Location and low tariffs fire Australia is a trading nation, with exports Growing 8.5 per cent per year since 2011,
and imports of goods and services making foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows help
up a trading powerhouse. up 42 per cent of our gross domestic power our capital-intensive industries.
product in 2018–19. With 14 free trade In 2019, the mining sector accounted for
agreements in place, approximately 35.3 per cent of the total stock of
70 per cent of Australian trade enjoys overseas investment in Australia, worth
liberalised access to overseas markets. A$360 billion. This FDI directly contributes
Twelve of our 15 largest markets are in to Australia’s minerals and energy exports,
Asia and Oceania, generating a trade value which reached around A$280 billion in
of around A$577 billion in 2018–19. Trade 2018–19. Australia’s thriving manufacturing
in services has grown at 6.3 per cent per sector attracted A$131 billion of overseas
year for the past two decades, helping to investment in 2018–19.
steadily broaden our export mix beyond
resources and agriculture.

Australia’s export Australia’s top 15 export markets, 2018–19
Value in Australian dollars
links to booming Asian
markets
1. China $153.2bn 4. US $24.7bn
8. Taiwan $13.9bn
Australia’s integration with Asia’s dynamic 3. Korea $27.8bn
economies is driving wealth creation. Goods and
9. UK $13.5bn
services exports totalled A$470 billion in 2018–
19. China – Australia’s most-valuable export
destination – received approximately one-third
of total exports. A further 30 per cent of total
exports collectively went to Japan, Korea, the 2. Japan $61.7bn
US and India. Twelve of Australia’s top 15 export
markets are located in Asia, with exports worth A$5.6bn 11. Hong Kong SAR $10.9bn
13. Vietnam $7.6bn
A$357 billion in 2018–19. This represents more 7. Singapore $16.0bn
than three-quarters of Australia’s current
15. UAE $4.8bn 12. Indonesia $8.4bn
export earnings.
Total:
5. India $22.8bn $470.2bn
6. New Zealand $16.0bn
10. Malaysia $11.5bn
14. Thailand $7.4bn
Credit rating (Moody’s): Aaa Aa (Aa2, Aa3) A (A1, A3) Baa (Baa1, Baa2) Ba3
Notes: The Asian region is defined as Asia, ASEAN and Oceania.

Sources: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade: Notes on economy and
commodity rankings for Australia’s trade in goods and services, Annexes 1,2,3
(released 12 November 2019)

A trading nation Australia’s exports and imports of goods and services1
Current prices (A$ billion)
In 2018–19, Australia’s two-way trade in goods

and services totalled A$892 billion, making up Financial year total ending June (A$ billion) % Growth
approximately 46 per cent of nominal GDP. 2018–19 % 2017–18 to CAGR 2013–14
Rank Selected economies 2 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 Share of total 2018–19 to 2018–19
Twelve of Australia’s 15 largest markets are in
1 China 152.1 174.3 195.0 235.0 26.4 20.5 9.0
Asia and Oceania, with a total trade value of
2 Japan 60.6 68.5 77.4 88.5 9.9 14.3 4.1
around A$577 billion. This accounts for almost
3 US 70.7 66.5 70.0 76.4 8.6 9.2 5.0
two-thirds of Australia’s total two-way trade. 4 Korea 34.1 38.6 52.4 41.4 4.6 -20.9 3.2
It also shows how integrated Australia’s 5 Singapore 23.3 24.7 27.9 32.7 3.7 17.4 2.2
economy is with our Asian neighbours. 6 New Zealand 25.4 26.4 28.3 30.6 3.4 8.2 5.4
7 UK 28.4 27.5 27.8 30.4 3.4 9.4 6.7
8 India 20.0 25.7 29.1 30.3 3.4 4.2 14.9
9 Malaysia 18.5 19.8 21.4 25.1 2.8 17.2 4.3
10 Thailand 21.6 21.8 24.6 24.7 2.8 0.5 5.0
11 Germany 20.0 20.9 22.4 23.4 2.6 4.6 5.4
12 Taiwan 12.5 14.7 15.9 19.7 2.2 23.9 9.2
13 Indonesia 16.1 16.5 16.7 17.8 2.0 6.9 1.3
14 Vietnam 10.5 11.8 13.3 15.5 1.7 16.3 10.0
15 Hong Kong SAR 15.7 19.7 18.7 15.2 1.7 -18.7 -1.9
Other economies 147.8 159.1 158.2 184.8 20.7 16.8 3.4
Total all economies 677.2 736.7 799.0 891.6 100.0 11.6 5.6
Notes: 1. All data is on a balance of payments basis, except for goods by of which: APEC 3 484.9 528.2 587.1 652.4 73.2 11.1 5.7
country which are on a recorded trade basis. Totals may not always add up ASEAN 95.6 101.0 110.1 123.7 13.9 12.3 4.1
exactly due to rounding. 2. Refer to the DFAT website (https://www.dfat.gov.
au/trade/Pages/trade-and-investment) for more information and a list of the European Union4 98.7 100.4 106.2 114.3 12.8 7.6 5.3
commodities excluded. 3. Includes DFAT estimate for the United States for OECD3 310.1 321.7 357.3 375.9 42.2 5.2 4.7
2015-16 & 2017-18. 4. Includes DFAT estimates for 2016-17 & 2017-18.
SAR = Special administrative region of China.
Sources: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) data, based on DFAT
STARS database, ABS catalogues 5368.0 (Sep-2019) & 536830.55.003/4 and
unpublished ABS data; Austrade

Australian exports in Australia’s trade in goods and services, 2018–19
Total two-way trade in 2018–19: A$892 billion
high demand
Australia’s Trade by Level of Processing 1 Top 10 Commodities (Goods and Services)1
% Change % Change
A$ billion 2017–18 to A$ billion 2017–18 to
Commodities play a vital role in Australia’s 2018–19 2018–19
export market, with iron ore, coal and liquefied Exports of goods & services 2017–18 2018–19 Exports of goods & services 2017–18 2018–19
Primary products2 243.1 289.2 19.0 Rank Commodity
natural gas the key products. The combined
Unprocessed food 15.9 13.8 -13.3 1 Iron ores & concentrates 61.4 77.2 25.7
export value of these top three commodities Processed food 26.2 28.9 10.1 2 Coal7 60.4 69.6 15.3
(A$197 billion) accounted for 42 per cent of the Minerals 89.7 109.2 21.7 3 Natural gas 30.9 49.7 60.9
nation’s goods exports in 2018–19. Australian Fuels2 101.3 127.0 25.4 4 Education-related travel services 8 32.6 37.6 15.2
Other primary 9.9 10.3 4.2 5 Personal travel (excl education) services 21.3 22.5 5.2
services are a fast-growing export earner too,
Manufactured products 46.1 53.9 16.7 6 Gold 19.3 18.9 -2.2
with a total value of A$97 billion in 2018–19. Simply transformed manufactures (excl nickel)3 14.9 18.0 20.4 7 Aluminium ores & conc (incl alumina) 9.4 11.4 20.2
Their success demonstrates the global pull Elaborately transformed manufactures4 31.2 35.9 15.0 8 Beef (fresh, chilled or frozen) 8.0 9.5 19.0
Other goods (incl gold) 25.3 24.3 -3.9 9 Crude petroleum 6.5 8.5 30.5
of Australia’s world-class education and
Services exports 88.1 97.1 10.2 10 Copper ores & concentrates 5.7 5.9 4.1
tourism sectors. Balance of payments adjustment 5 5.7
Total exports 6 403.4 470.2 16.6 Imports of Goods & Services Total 2017–18 2018–19
Imports of goods & services Rank Commodity
Primary products 57.2 64.3 12.4 1 Personal travel (excl education) services 42.7 46.3 8.6
Unprocessed food 2.2 2.3 5.7 2 Refined petroleum 21.7 25.1 15.7
Processed food 16.5 18.4 11.5 3 Passenger motor vehicles 23.3 21.6 -7.4
Minerals 1.6 1.2 -26.8 4 Telecom equipment & parts 13.4 14.6 8.8
Fuels 34.8 40.2 15.5 5 Crude petroleum 11.7 13.4 14.3
Notes: 1. Goods on a recorded trade basis, Services on balance of payments Other primary 2.0 2.1 4.0 6 Goods vehicles 10.2 10.6 3.8
(BOP) basis, original data; 2. Includes the DFAT adjustment for coal (based 7 Freight transport services 9.4 10.1 7.3
Manufactured products 231.0 231.0 0.0
from the ABS catalogue 5368.0, Value adjustments, Sep 2019). 3. STM
Simply transformed manufactures 3
14.9 15.4 3.6 8 Computers 8.8 9.8 10.5
– Simply transformed manufactures; 4. ETM – Elaborately transformed
manufactures. 5. BOP adjustment includes low-value goods for imports and Elaborately transformed manufactures4 216.1 215.6 -0.2 9 Professional services 6.7 7.8 16.8
timing and valuation adjustments. 6. BOP basis. 7. Includes BOP adjustment. Other goods (incl gold) 13.0 11.4 -12.2 10 Passenger transport services9 7.1 7.5 5.5
8. Includes student expenditure on tuition fees and living expenses. 9. Includes
Services exports 93.2 101.6 9.0
Related agency fees & commissions.
Sources: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Data were based Balance of payments adjustment 5 1.2 13.1
on based on DFAT STARS database, ABS catalogue 5368.0 & DFAT estimates; Total imports 6 395.6 421.4 6.5
Austrade
Two-way trade 799.0 891.6 11.6

A high-growth Total foreign investment stock in Australia, 2000–2019
Total value in 2019: A$3.9 trillion
destination for foreign
investment
196% 200
Australia hosts approximately A$3.9 trillion 4,000 Direct Investment (left-hand axis, 8.4%)
of foreign investment – which includes both Other Investment1 (left-hand axis, 8.6%)
175
Foreign investment stock as a percentage of GDP

foreign direct investment and portfolio 3,500 Total Investment as a % of GDP (right-hand axis)
investment. Since 2000, foreign direct

150
Foreign investment stock (A$ billion)

investment has risen by 8.4 per cent per 3,000
year, while other investment has risen slightly

125
2,500
faster at 8.6 per cent. As a percentage of GDP,
Australia’s total value of foreign investment 120%
100
2,000
stock reached 196 per cent in December 2019,
up from just 120 per cent in 2000. 75
1,500
50
1,000
25
500
0
Notes: 1. Other investment is the balance of total investment less direct 0
2000
2006
2001
2002
2003
2007
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2004
2008
2009
2005
investment. As such, it represents portfolio investment, financial derivatives
and other investment categories from the source ABS data. 2. Foreign
investment stock as at December.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Cat. No. 5302.0 Balance
of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, Table 15.
International Investment: Foreign Liabilities – Quarter (released 2 June
2020); ABS Cat. No. 5206.0 Australian National Accounts: National Income,
Expenditure and Product, March 2020, Table 1. Key National Accounts
Aggregates (released 3 June 2020); Austrade

Australia’s foreign Main sources of foreign direct investment stock in Australia, 2009–2019
direct investment tops Total value in 2019: A$1.02 trillion
A$1 trillion
Rank 2009 2017 2018 2019 % Share % CAGR Growth ($b) % of Australian
Australia’s ability to attract investment helps 2019 Country A$ billion A$ billion A$ billion A$ billion 2019 2009–2019 2009–2019 GDP, 2019
keep the economy on strong foundations. 1 US 98.2 199.2 219.5 205.2 20.1 7.6 107.0 10.3
Australia’s stock of inward investment reached 2 UK 61.0 89.4 98.8 127.1 12.5 7.6 66.2 6.4
A$1.02 trillion in 2019, up 2.5 per cent on 2018. 3 Japan 45.6 97.9 109.1 116.1 11.4 9.8 70.5 5.8
4 Netherlands 31.4 55.9 52.0 54.8 5.4 5.7 23.4 2.7
This was a modest rise by recent standards:
5 Canada 12.2 32.6 40.4 47.1 4.6 14.4 34.9 2.4
from 2009–2019, Australia’s stock of foreign
6 China (excludes SARs and Taiwan) 9.1 38.4 41.8 46.0 4.5 17.6 36.9 2.3
direct investment grew at a compound annual
7 Bermuda 9.5 42.2 44.5 41.6 4.1 15.9 32.1 2.1
growth rate of 7.6 per cent. Investment from 8 Singapore 16.7 27.7 32.7 36.1 3.5 8.0 19.3 1.8
China, Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong SAR and 9 Germany 18.1 24.0 24.3 22.0 2.2 2.0 3.9 1.1
Korea grew particularly quickly. Nevertheless, 10 Virgin Islands, British np 20.8 22.0 21.9 2.1 np np 1.1
Australia’s two largest overseas investors 11 Hong Kong (SAR) 5.4 15.9 17.9 16.1 1.6 11.5 10.7 0.8
remain the US and the UK, with holdings 12 Malaysia 4.5 13.5 14.1 14.7 1.4 12.7 10.3 0.7
13 France 13.0 6.3 27.5 12.6 1.2 -0.3 -0.4 0.6
equivalent to 10.3 per cent and 6.4 per cent of
14 Switzerland 17.8 9.7 11.3 10.5 1.0 -5.1 -7.2 0.5
GDP, respectively.
15 Luxembourg 3.2 9.4 8.4 8.1 0.8 9.6 4.8 0.4
16 Korea 1.3 5.4 6.8 7.5 0.7 19.3 6.2 0.4
Other economies 143.1 208.5 223.2 239.5 23.5 5.3 96.3 12.0
FDI stock – all economies 490.2 896.9 994.3 1,019.5 100.0 7.6 529.3 51.1
Notes: ASEAN = The Association of Southeast Asian Nations. CAGR = compound
OECD 327.4 547.4 618.6 630.8 61.9 6.8 303.4 31.6
annual growth rate. np = not available for publication but included in totals
where applicable, unless otherwise indicated. na = not applicable. APEC 200.6 442.0 494.6 500.7 49.1 9.6 300.1 25.1
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Cat. No. 5352.0 – International
EU 144.8 196.0 224.5 238.1 23.4 5.1 93.3 11.9
Investment Position, Australia: Supplementary Statistics, 2019 (released 7 May
2020), Table 2; ABS Cat. No. 5206.0 – Australian National Accounts: National ASEAN 22.1 46.6 52.6 56.6 5.6 9.9 34.5 2.8
Income, Expenditure and Product, December 2019, Table 3 (released 4 March FDI stock as a percentage of GDP 38.9 49.6 52.3 51.1
2020); Austrade

Foreign direct Foreign direct investment stock in Australia by industry – value and percentage share
Total value: A$1,019 billion in 2019
investment targets
mining and
manufacturing
Other1 $129.2bn, 12.7%
Investment powers productivity and growth Professional, Scientific and Technical $8.0bn, 0.8%
in some of Australia’s most valuable export Accommodation and Food Service $9.3bn, 0.9%
industries. In 2019, the mining sector accounted Construction $18.1bn, 1.8%
for 35.3 per cent of the total stock of overseas Utilities and Related Industries $21.7bn, 2.1%
Mining $360.1bn, 35.3%
investment in Australia, worth over A$360 billion. Transportation and Storage $23.3bn, 2.3%
Next came Australia’s manufacturing sector, which Information and Communications
$30.5bn, 3.0%
attracted A$131 billion of overseas investment
and then financial services, with A$113 billion in
Wholesale and Retail Trade
investment. This distribution of foreign direct and Related Industries $60.3bn, 5.9%
investment (FDI) is being steadily rebalanced, with
FDI in services growing approximately twice as fast
as FDI in goods industries.
Real Estate $110.9bn, 10.9%
Notes: 1. Other includes administrative and support service activities

($7.9b); public administration, activities of households and of extraterritorial Manufacturing $131.4bn, 12.9%
organisations (np); education (np); human health and social work activities Financial and Insurance $113.2bn, 11.1%
($3.4b); arts, entertainment and recreation (np); other service activities (np);
and unallocated ($114.5b). Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing $3.4bn, 0.3%
np = not available for publication.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics Cat. No. 5352.0 – International
Investment Position, Australia: Supplementary Statistics, 2019 (released 7
May 2020), Table 15a. Foreign Investment in Australia: Level of Investment
at 31 December by Industry Division (ANZSIC), Direct Investment in Australia
($million); Austrade

A highly globalised KOF Globalisation Index
Rankings for the year 2017
society and economy
Ranking National score
When considering a wide range of economic,
Asia Pacific World Economy Index
social and political factors, Australia is one 1 19 Singapore 84
of the most globalised countries in the world. 2 25 Australia 82

3 27 Malaysia 81
According to the KOF Globalisation Index, 4 34 Korea 79
90
Australia ranked number two in the Asia- 5 36 Japan 79
Pacific region in 2017, after Singapore. The 6 38 New Zealand 78

9 50 Thailand 73
top most globalised countries are Switzerland, 80
15 69 Hong Kong SAR 68
Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and the UK. 19 81 China 65
26 95 India 62
Globally, Australia was ranked 25th, after the 70
US (23rd) and well above many major trading
economies, such as Korea (34th), Japan (36th),
60
China (81st) and India (95th).
Australia
50
40
World Average
30
India
Notes: The KOF Globalisation Index measures the economic, social and political
20
dimensions of globalisation. The current KOF Globalisation Index is available China
for 195 countries and covers the period from 1970 to 2017. The index measures
globalisation on a scale from 1 to 100.
Sources: Gygli, Savina, Florian Haelg, Niklas Potrafke and Jan-Egbert Sturm 10
1977
2007
1987
2017
2005
1975
1985
2009
1979
1997
1989
2003
1971
1973
2015
2001
1983
1981
2013
2011
1999
1995
1993
1991
(2019): The KOF Globalisation Index – Revisited, Review of International
Organizations, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11558-019-09344-2.; Austrade

An open trading Restrictiveness in trade in services: Australia, OECD and non-OECD countries
Service Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI)1 (the lower the score, the more open trade is assessed to be)
economy for services
According to the OECD’s Services Trade
0.50 Australia’s STRI OECD STRI average Non-OECD STRI average
Restrictiveness Index, trade in services in
0.45
Australia is significantly less restricted than the
average for OECD and non-OECD countries. 0.40
In 2018–19, two-way trade reached almost 0.35

A$200 billion – more than triple the value 20
0.30
years ago. This represents an annual growth
rate of 6.3 per cent over the past two decades. 0.25
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.05
0.00
Legal
Engineering
Road freight transport
Distribution
Sound recording
Rail freight transport
Architecture
Motion pictures
Computer
Logistics customs brokerage
Logistics storage and warehouse
Logistics freight forwarding
Commercial banking
Telecom
Accounting
Maritime transport
Broadcasting
Construction
Insurance
Logistics cargo-handling
Air transport
Courier
Notes: 1. The OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI) is a unique,
evidence-based diagnostic tool that provides an up-to-date snapshot of
services trade barriers in 22 sectors across all OECD member countries and
non-OECD (Brazil, China, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Russian
Federation, and South Africa). These countries and sectors represent over
80% of global trade in services.
Sources: OECD.Stat, Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (https://stats.
oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=STRI), Data extracted on 16 Sept 2019;
Austrade

Australia’s liberalised Australia’s free trade agreements
trade with Asia China 2015 Korea 2014
Australia has entered into 14 free trade agreements

(FTAs), including with the US, China, Japan and Japan 2015
Singapore, and with countries participating in United States 2005
the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement
Hong Kong SAR 2020
for Trans-Pacific Partnership. These FTAs cover
70 per cent of Australia’s existing trade and this
Singapore 2003
proportion is expected to exceed 80 per cent if Indonesia 2020 Peru 2020
FTAs currently under negotiation are finalised.
Thailand 2005
Today’s network covers multiple export sectors,
Chile 2009
from agriculture and seafood to minerals and Malaysia 2013 New Zealand 1983
energy. They make Australia a natural gateway
for trade between Asia-Pacific economies, and
Has a bilateral free trade agreement with Australia Participates in an existing or prospective multilateral free trade
countries in North America and Europe. This FTA (with date of entry into force)1 agreement with Australia 1
network is steadily expanding. In June 2020,
d
Australia commenced negotiations with the UK to
lan
s
ore
ia
ine
sia
ar
bia
AUSTRALIA’S MULTILATERAL
sia
m
Ze a
bod
ada
ilan
conclude a post-Brexit FTA.
anm
o
lipp
gap
one
tna
nei
om
FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS
an
l ay
ea
x ic
na
le
s
u
Cam
N ew
Can
Th a
Lao
Bru
Ko r
Jap
Pe r
V ie
Chi
Chi
Co l
Ind
Ph i
Sin
Me
Ma
My
AANZFTA (2010-11)
Notes: 1. The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free
have been concluded but was not in force at time of publication. As at June Trade Area
2020, Australia’s FTA negotiating agenda included: an Australia-European CPTPP (2018-19)
Union Free Trade Agreement, an Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Comprehensive and Progressive
Cooperation Agreement, an Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement, a Pacific Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership
Alliance Free Trade Agreement, the Regional Comprehensive Economic
Partnership and Trade in Services Agreement. Information on the status of RCEP (under negotiation)
FTA negotiations can be found at: https://dfat.gov.au/trade/agreements/ Regional Comprehensive Economic
Pages/trade-agreements.aspx. Partnership
Sources: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; and Austrade PACIFIC ALLIANCE
(under negotiation)

05 STRONG FOUNDATIONS
One of the world’s most business-friendly countries 50

The fourth most valuable pension assets in the world 51
A stable, friendly and efficient business environment 52
Good governance and strong institutions 53
Australia tops rankings for digital quality of life 54
Australia’s lifestyle cities outshine Asia’s commercial hubs 55

05 STRONG FOUNDATIONS
A pro-business culture, According to global measures, Australia Our regulation is transparent and efficient.
outperforms in three key world-of-business Resilience is based on the fundamentals
sound banks and good metrics: we are one of the most business- – good governance, strong institutions
governance. friendly countries in the world; we have the and the rule of law. The World Bank gives
highest digital standard of living; and our Australia some of the highest scores in the
cities have a low cost of living compared Asia-Pacific for the integrity of its legal
to major cities in the Asia-Pacific region. system. In an uncertain world, this makes
Australian commerce thrives because our Australia a secure destination for foreign
economy is resilient. According to World investment.
Economic Forum’s 2019 survey, Australia
outranks most developed countries for the
soundness of our banks. Before the onset
of the COVID-19 pandemic, we had one of
the lowest public debt-to-GDP ratio across
major developed economies.

One of the world’s Key indicators of ease of doing business1
most business-friendly
countries Ease of
doing
Dealing with
Getting credit Enforcing contracts Starting a business construction permits
business
Overall Strength of Depth Quality

Australia is one of the easiest places in the world ranking legal rights of credit of judicial
out of 190 index information Time processes Procedures Time Procedures Time
to do business. According to the World Bank, Economy economies Rank (0–12) index (0–8) Rank (days) index (0–18) Rank (number) (days) Rank (number) (days)
Australia improved four places to reach 14th New Zealand 1 1 12 8 23 216 9.5 1 1 0.5 7 11 93
position in the world for ease of doing business Singapore 2 37 8 7 1 164 15.5 4 2 1.5 5 9 35.5
in 2020. When comparing economies with a Hong Kong SAR 3 37 8 7 31 385 10.0 5 2 1.5 1 8 69
Denmark 4 48 8 6 14 485 14.0 45 5 3.5 4 7 64
population of more than 20 million, Australia now
Korea 5 67 5 8 2 290 14.5 33 3 8 12 10 27.5
ranks fifth in the world, behind Korea (1st), the US
US 6 4 11 8 17 444 14.6 55 6 4 24 16 81
(2nd), the UK (3rd) and Malaysia (4th). Globally, UK 8 37 7 8 34 437 15.0 18 4 4.5 23 9 86
Australia ranks fourth out of 190 economies in Malaysia 12 37 7 8 35 425 13.0 126 8 17 2 9 41
terms of gaining credit, and seventh for ease of Australia 14 4 11 8 6 402 15.5 7 3 2 11 11 120.5
Taiwan 15 104 2 8 11 510 14.0 21 3 10 6 10 82
starting a business.
UAE 16 48 6 8 9 445 14.0 17 2 3.5 3 11 47.5
Thailand 21 48 7 7 37 420 8.5 47 5 6 34 14 113
Germany 22 48 6 8 13 499 12.5 125 9 8 30 9 126
Notes: 1. Doing Business 2020 is the 17th in a series of annual studies
measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that Canada 23 15 9 8 100 910 11.0 3 2 1.5 64 12 249
constrain it. The survey covers 12 areas of business regulation. Ten of these Japan 29 94 5 6 50 360 7.5 106 8 11 18 12 108
areas – starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting
electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, China 31 80 4 8 5 496 16.5 27 4 9 33 18 111
paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving France 32 104 4 6 16 447 12.0 37 5 4 52 9 213
insolvency – are included in the ease of doing business score and ease of doing
Italy 58 119 2 7 122 1120 13.0 98 7 11 97 14 189.5
business ranking. Doing Business also measures regulation on employing
workers and contracting with the government, which are not included in India 63 25 9 7 163 1445 10.5 136 10 17.5 27 15 106
the ease of doing business score and ranking. Data in Doing Business 2020
Vietnam 70 25 8 8 68 400 7.5 115 8 16 25 10 166
is current as of 1 May 2019. The indicators are used to analyse economic
outcomes and identify what reforms of business regulation have worked, Indonesia 73 48 6 8 139 403 8.9 140 11 13 110 18 200
where and why. The Australian city covered in the 2019 report is Sydney. South Africa 84 80 5 7 102 600 8.5 139 7 40 98 20 155
Sources: World Bank Group, Doing Business 2020: Sustaining the pace of
Philippines 95 132 1 7 152 962 7.5 171 13 33 85 22 120
reforms (released 24 October 2019); Austrade

The fourth most Global pension assets, 2019
Percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) ratio1
valuable pension assets
in the world
Top 5 pension fund US$ billion US$ billion Percentage share of % 10-year CAGR:
assets 2009 2019 E world total 2019 2009 to 2019 8
Australia’s compulsory superannuation system has 1. US 13,732 29,196 62.5 7.8%
helped create the world’s fourth largest pension- 2. UK 2,102 3,451 7.4 5.1%
200 3. Japan 3,355 3,386 7.2 0.1%
assets market, valued at A$3 trillion (US$2 trillion)
4. Australia 1,096 2,077 4.4 6.6%
in 2019. As a proportion of GDP, Australia’s pension 180
5. Canada 1,112 1,924 4.1 5.6%
savings are now the second most valuable in the Other economies 3,541 6,700 14.3 6.6%
Pension assets as a percentage of GDP

160
world. Assets rose to more than 150 per cent Total 24,938 46,734 100.0 6.5%
of GDP in 2019 – up from 110 per cent a decade 140

ago. With an annual growth rate of 6.6 per cent in
US dollar terms, this gives Australia the fastest- 120
growing pension assets market in the world. Rapid 100

growth reflects the vitality of Australia’s pension
system, a major driver of the country’s fast- 80
Average of 22 Markets = 68.8% of world GDP1
expanding managed funds industry.
60
Notes: E = estimated by Willis Towers Watson. 1. The Assets/GDP ratio for
individual markets are calculated in local currency terms, and the total Assets/
40
GDP ratio is calculated in US$; Note that the ratio of total pension assets to GDP
declined from 2016 with the addition of China. China’s pension assets represent
about 1.5% of total GDP. 2. Only includes autonomous pension funds. Does not 20
consider insurance companies’ assets. 3. Only Includes IRAs (individual retirement
accounts). 4. Does not include the unfunded benefit obligation of corporate
pension plans (account receivables). 5. Only Includes pension assets from closed 0
Italy
Netherlands
Australia
Switzerland²
US3
UK
Canada
Finland
Chile
Malaysia
Japan4
South Africa
Hong Kong SAR
Korea
Ireland
Mexico
Brazil5
Germany6
India
France
Spain
China7
entities. 6. Only includes pension assets for company pension schemes. 7. Only
includes Enterprise Annuity assets. 8. The 10-year growth rate of all markets does
not include assets in the calculation for the following markets: China; India; Italy;
and Malaysia.
Sources: Willis Towers Watson, Thinking Ahead Institute and secondary sources,
Global Pension Funds Assets Study 2020 (released: 20 February 2020); Austrade

A stable, friendly and Business efficiency and environment, 2019
efficient business
environment
Australia has one of the world’s strongest Hong
Australia US UK China India Japan Korea Kong Singapore
and most efficient regulatory environments. SAR
According to the World Bank, the country ranks WEF Global Competitiveness Report 2019 Ranking(a) in:
highly in terms of economic resilience and the Debt dynamics 1 =1 38 =1 41 43 42 =1 =1 39
soundness of its banks. Australia ranks lowest in Social capital2 2 6 8 119 93 90 72 47 15

Trade openness 3 3 14 25 71 131 9 67 2 1
the world for debt dynamics (the change in the
Soundness of banks 5 25 52 95 89 33 62 3 2
public debt-to-GDP ratio); second highest for
E-participation =5 =5 =5 29 15 =5 1 n/a 13
social capital (social cohesion and engagement,
Time to start a business (days) 6 31 21 56 90 70 14 =2 =2
community and family networks and political Energy efficiency regulation 7 12 8 21 33 31 3 n/a 19
participation and institutional trust); and third Property rights 9 22 25 58 65 5 39 4 3
highest for trade openness. Non-performing loans % of gross total loans 10 14 8 26 106 15 3 6 17
Judicial independence 10 25 26 47 51 5 69 8 14
IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2019 Ranking (b) in:
State ownership of enterprises is not a threat to business activities 4 8 17 47 29 14 49 15 27
Notes: 1. Debt dynamics measures the change in public debt-to-GDP ratio,

Strong resilience of the economy to economic cycles 5 12 29 3 16 50 40 13 18
weighted by a country’s credit rating and debt level in relation to its GDP. Public sector contracts are sufficiently open to foreign bidders 5 40 13 47 34 58 41 6 8
2. Social capital measures national performance in three areas: social cohesion
Unemployment legislation provides an incentive to look for work 7 5 14 23 30 27 40 4 1
and engagement (bridging social capital); community and family networks
(bonding social capital); and political participation and institutional trust Justice is fairly administered 7 23 18 30 31 20 49 8 10
(linking social capital). 3. Trade openness comprises indicators of prevalence
Stock markets provide adequate financing to companies 7 1 6 40 26 18 34 3 14
of non-tariff barriers, trade tariffs, complexity of tariffs and border clearance
efficiency. Government protectionism does not impair business conduct 8 43 22 37 34 40 54 7 10
Sources: (a) World Economic Forum (WEF), Switzerland and Harvard
Competition legislation is efficient and prevents unfair competition 8 20 16 37 35 12 48 15 10
University, Global Competitiveness Report 2019 (released 9 October 2019,
141 economies); (b) Institute for Management Development (IMD), Switzerland, Central bank policy has a positive impact on the economy 9 23 24 36 32 50 35 19 2
World Competitiveness Yearbook 2019 (released: May 2019, 63 economies);
Austrade

Good governance and Worldwide governance indicators, 20191
strong institutions
Voice and Political stability and absence Government Control of
The quality of governance in Australia ranks Economy accountability of violence/terrorism effectiveness Regulatory quality Rule of law corruption
among the best in the world. Australia’s New Zealand 99.5 99.0 93.8 98.6 98.1 99.5
Switzerland 99.0 95.2 99.5 96.6 99.0 96.6
regulatory environment, rule of law and lack of
Norway 100.0 90.5 97.6 95.7 99.5 97.6
corruption are all graded highly by the World
Sweden 97.5 80.5 96.2 97.6 98.6 98.1
Bank. Strong governance is key to economic Netherlands 97.0 78.1 96.6 99.0 96.2 96.2
growth and security, providing a drawcard for Canada 96.1 84.8 94.7 93.8 94.7 94.7
multinationals expanding their businesses or Australia 95.6 82.9 92.8 98.1 92.8 92.8
considering Australia as a base for expansion in Ireland 92.1 86.2 89.9 92.8 89.9 90.9
Germany 95.1 66.7 93.3 94.7 91.3 95.2
the Asia-Pacific region.
Singapore 41.9 98.6 100.0 99.5 97.1 99.0
Japan 80.3 88.1 94.2 88.0 90.4 89.4
Hong Kong SAR 62.1 74.8 98.1 100.0 95.2 92.3
UK 93.6 48.1 88.0 96.2 91.8 93.3
US 81.3 61.9 92.3 92.3 89.4 88.5
Taiwan 78.8 75.7 88.5 89.4 83.2 82.2
France 88.2 51.9 91.8 83.7 88.9 88.0
Korea 73.9 65.2 84.1 82.2 86.1 72.1
Spain 82.8 55.2 79.3 80.3 80.3 72.6
Italy 81.8 57.6 68.3 73.6 61.5 62.0
Notes: 1. The Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI) project reports
aggregate and individual governance indicators for over 200 countries and Malaysia 41.4 54.3 81.3 74.0 74.5 63.9
territories over the period 1996–2018, for six dimensions of governance in India 60.1 14.8 63.9 46.6 55.3 49.5
the above table. They are based on over 30 individual data sources. Economy
Indonesia 52.2 27.6 59.1 51.0 42.8 46.2
scores are reported as percentile ranks, with higher values indicating better
governance ratings. The WGI are produced by Daniel Kaufmann, Natural Thailand 20.2 19.5 66.8 59.6 54.8 40.9
Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) and Brookings Institution. China 8.9 36.7 69.7 48.1 48.1 45.7
Sources: The World Bank, The Worldwide Governance Indicators, 2019 Update
Brazil 60.6 31.9 36.1 39.9 44.2 40.4
(released 20 September 2019). Full interactive access to the aggregate
indicators, and the underlying source data, is available at http://info. Vietnam 9.4 53.8 53.4 36.5 54.3 38.0
worldbank.org/governance/wgi/; Austrade
Philippines 47.8 12.9 55.3 56.7 34.1 34.1

Australia tops rankings Digital quality of life
Global rankings, 2019
for digital quality of life
Australia was ranked first out of 65 countries in
Australia (1)
Surfshark’s 2019 Digital Quality of Life rankings, France (2)
followed by France and Singapore. The other Singapore (3)
top 10 countries include Norway, Japan, Canada, Norway (4)
Japan (5)
Denmark, Korea, Italy and Sweden. Factors
Canada (6)
contributing to the nation’s prime spot include: Denmark (7)
strong data protection laws; high content Korea (8)
availability; an affordable mobile internet; a Italy (9)
Sweden (10)
fast mobile internet speed; a well-developed
US (11)
e-government system; and a solid level of cyber Netherlands (12)
security. Spain (15)
UK (17)
Germany (18)
New Zealand (20)
Russia (27)
UAE (31)
India (32)
Mexico (37)
Notes: The Digital Quality of Life (DQL) index is based on data provided by
South Africa (38)
Freedom House, the United Nations, the World Economic Forum, Consumers
International, and the International Telecommunication Union. The results Malaysia (41)
for internet speed, internet prices, personal data protection legislation, China (47)
e-government availability, entertainment content availability, and the global
Philippines (51)
cyber security index were weighted to make up the final DQL index. This study
on digital quality of life combines six key indicators into one figure to compare Brazil (52)
and analyse people’s online experiences in 65 countries, covering a population Indonesia (57)
of approximately 5.5 billion in every major region of the world. The number in
Thailand (58)
brackets indicates the country’s ranking across 65 countries.
Sources: Surfshark (2019) Digital Quality of Life 2019 (last updated: 20 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
August 2019, https://surfshark.com/dql); Austrade

Australia’s lifestyle Cost of living: City rankings in Asia and rest of world
Mercer: Cost of Living Index rankings, March 2020
cities outshine Asia’s
commercial hubs
Other city rankings
Seoul 11
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 2
Tokyo 3
Each year, hundreds of companies – from tech Zurich, Switzerland 4
Osaka 22
startups to multinationals – set up offices in New York, US 6
Beijing 10
Australian cities, including as springboards Shanghai 7 N’Djamena, Chad 15
New Delhi 101
into Asia. Fortunately, Australia’s successful Taipei 28 San Francisco, US 16
Guangzhou 20
pandemic-containment measures have helped Hong Kong SAR 1
Los Angeles, US 17
Yangon 83 London, UK 19
maintain the practical, lifestyle appeal of our
Bangkok 35 Manila 80 Milan, Italy 47
state capitals. According to Mercer’s 2020 Cost Mumbai 60
Ho Chi Minh City 111 Paris, France 50
of Living Index, Australia’s lifestyle cities have
Hanoi 116 Frankfurt, Germany 76
become more internationally competitive, with Kuala Lumpur 144 Vancouver, Canada 94
a lower cost-of-living rating than most major Singapore 5
Toronto, Canada 98
cities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Jakarta 86
Brisbane 126
Perth 104
Sydney 66
Canberra 118
Auckland 103
Sources: Mercer Cost of Living Index 2020 (https://www.mercer.com/content/ Wellington 123

Adelaide 126
dam/mercer/attachments/private/gl-2020-2020-col-ranking-mercer.pdf);
accessed June 2020 Melbourne 99

ABOUT AUSTRADE
The Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade) is Australia’s leading trade and investment
agency.
We are experts in connecting Australian businesses to the world and the world to Australian businesses.
Austrade is the national point-of-contact for investors. We partner with state and territory governments
to provide the information and contacts you need to establish or expand a business in Australia.
We help companies around the world to identify and take up investment opportunities in Australia as well
as to source Australian goods and services for their global supply chains.
To discover how we can help you and your business, visit:

austrade.gov.au
ABN: 11 764 698 227

18-19-235. Publication date: August 2020
ISSN 2205-9415 (Print)
ISSN 2205-9423 (Online)
Disclaimer
This report has been prepared by the Commonwealth of Australia represented by the Australian Trade and Investment Commission (Austrade). The report is a general
overview and is not intended to provide exhaustive coverage of the topic. The information is made available on the understanding that the Commonwealth of Australia is
not providing professional advice.
While care has been taken to ensure the information in this report is accurate, the Commonwealth does not accept any liability for any loss arising from reliance on the
information, or from any error or omission, in the report.
Any person relying on this information does so at their own risk. The Commonwealth recommends the person exercise their own skill and care, including obtaining
professional advice, in relation to their use of the information for their purposes.
The Commonwealth does not endorse any company or activity referred to in the report, and does not accept responsibility for any losses suffered in connection with any
company or its activities.

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BENCHMARK REPORT 2020

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 2

Strong foundations and an effective COVID-19 response position Australia

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 3

Australia’s A$2 trillion economy  6

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 4

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 5

Notes: Rest of the world 19%

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 6

Australian living standards have grown rapidly 90,000

over the past two decades. In 1991, Australians

US$ nominal GDP per person

Hong Kong SAR

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 7

economy in the world. Since 1992, Australia’s AAGR = 4.2%

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 8

At 3.2 per cent per year, Australian GDP growth

US (2.6 per cent p.a.). The Australian economy

Average annual growth rate, percentage

2 2.1 2.2 2.2

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 9

trade agreements gives Australian companies Other developing Asia 7.8

Average of Asia incl. Australia and New Zealand 8.4

$ billion (current prices, PPP)

Percentage of world’s GDP

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 10

Transport, Postal and

Education and Training 5.1%

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 11

and social assistance (4.5 per cent). Overall, Construction 3.8%

Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services 3.2%

Accommodation and Food Services 2.7%

Public Administration and Safety 2.5%

Ownership of Dwellings 2 2.4%

All-industries average growth:

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 12

The combined effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 13

Australia’s globally significant industries  16

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 14

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 15

world’s top five exporters of minerals and fuels,

Merchandise export International tourism receipts

Notes: 1. Inbound students in tertiary education.

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 16

A$600 million invested annually

Notes: 1. Fintech Australia, www.fintechaustralia.org.au/learn accessed June

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 17

reserves and the second largest deposits of

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 18

Australia’s proximity to resources-hungry Resources: CAGR 9.8% (2001–02 to 2018–19)

Asian markets underpins its position as a

From 2001–02 to 2018–19, Australia’s total

to have quintupled to around A$280 billion.

as the volume of resources and energy exports

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 19

energy generation in 2017–18. They generated

Percentage of total electricity generation

E = Estimate; TWh = Terawatt-hour.

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 2

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 3

Australia’s A$2 trillion economy 6

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 4

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 5

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 6

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 7

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 8

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 9

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 10

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 11

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 12

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 13

Australia’s globally significant industries 16

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 14

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 15

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 16

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 17

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 18

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 19

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 20

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 21

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 22

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 23

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 24

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 25

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 26

Australia’s roll call of innovation 29

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 27

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 28

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 29

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 30

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 31

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 32

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 33

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 34

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 35

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 36

Australia’s export links to booming Asian markets 39

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 37

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 38

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 39

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 40

Why Australia Benchmark Report 2020 41