Economy of Australia Currency Australian dollar (AUD)1 July – 30 June Trade organisations
APEC , CPTPP , G20 , OECD , WTO , RCEP Country group
Population 27,077,833 (2024 Estimate)GDP GDP rank GDP growth
3.8% (2022)
2.1% (2023)
1.5% (2024)[ 5]
GDP per capita
$65,434 (nominal; 2023)[ 5]
$64,762 (PPP; 2023)[ 5]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
Services : 62.7%
Construction: 7.4%
Mining: 5.8%
Manufacturing: 5.8%
Agriculture: 2.8% (2017)[ 6]
13.4% (2020)[ 8] 33.0 medium (2021)[ 9] 75 out of 100 points (2023, 14th rank )Labour force
14.4 million (May 2024)[ 11]
77.6% employment rate (Q3-2023)[ 12]
Labour force by occupation
Services: 78.8%
Construction: 9.2%
Manufacturing: 7.5%
Agriculture: 2.5%
Mining: 1.9% (2017)[ 6]
Unemployment
4.2% (July 2024)[ 11]
637.1 thousand unemployed (July 2024)[ 11]
9.7% youth unemployment (July 2024; 15 to 24 year-olds)[ 11]
Average gross salary
A$7,890 / $5,031.37 monthly[ 13] (2022) A$6,076 / $3,874.21 monthly[ 14] [ 15] (2022) Main industries
Exports A$671.1 billion (2023)[ 18] Export goods
iron ore, coal, natural gas, gold, aluminium, beef, crude petroleum, copper, meat (non-beef)[ 18] Main export partners
Imports A$526.8 billion (2023)[ 18] Import goods
petroleum, cars, telecom equipment and parts, goods vehicles, computers, medicaments, gold, civil engineering equipment, furniture[ 18] Main import partners
Inward: $682.9 billion Outward: $491.0 billion (UNCTAD 2018)[ 19] A$14.1 billion (2022)[ 20] US$2.095 trillion (Q1, 2019)[ 21] 66.4% of GDP (October 2021)[ 22] −0.2% (of GDP) (2019)[ 23] [ 24] Revenues A$668.1 billion (2023)[ 23] Expenses A$682.1 billion (2023)[ 23] Economic aid donor : ODA , $4.09 billion (2022)[ 25] $66.58 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[ 29] All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars .
Australia is a highly developed country with a mixed economy .[ 30] [ 31] As of 2023, Australia was the 13th-largest national economy by nominal GDP (gross domestic product ),[ 32] the 19th-largest by PPP-adjusted GDP,[ 33] and was the 21st-largest goods exporter and 24th-largest goods importer .[ 34] Australia took the record for the longest run of uninterrupted GDP growth in the developed world with the March 2017 financial quarter . It was the 103rd quarter and the 26th year since the country had a technical recession (two consecutive quarters of negative growth).[ 35] As of June 2021, the country's GDP was estimated at $1.98 trillion.[ 36]
The Australian economy is dominated by its service sector , which in 2017 comprised 62.7% of the GDP and employed 78.8% of the labour force.[ 6] At the height of the mining boom in 2009–10, the total value-added of the mining industry was 8.4% of GDP.[ 37] Despite the recent decline in the mining sector, the Australian economy has remained resilient and stable[ 38] [ 39] and did not experience a recession from 1991 until 2020.[ 40] [ 41] Among OECD members, Australia has a highly efficient and strong social security system , which comprises roughly 25% of GDP .[ 4] [ 42] [ 3]
The Australian Securities Exchange in Sydney is the 16th-largest stock exchange in the world in terms of domestic market capitalisation [ 43] and has one of the largest interest rate derivatives markets in the Asia-Pacific region .[ 44] Some of Australia's largest companies include Commonwealth Bank , BHP , CSL , Westpac , NAB , ANZ , Fortescue , Wesfarmers , Macquarie Group , Woolworths Group , Rio Tinto , Telstra , Woodside Energy and Transurban .[ 45] The currency of Australia and its territories is the Australian dollar , which it shares with several Pacific nation states.
Australia's economy is strongly intertwined with the countries of East and Southeast Asia , also known as ASEAN Plus Three (APT), accounting for about 64% of exports in 2016.[ 46] China in particular is Australia's main export and import partner by a wide margin.[ 47] Australia is a member of the APEC , G20 , OECD and WTO . The country has also entered into free trade agreements with ASEAN , Canada, Chile, China, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and the United States.[ 48] [ 49] [ 50] The ANZCERTA agreement with New Zealand has greatly increased integration with the economy of New Zealand .[ 51]
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^ a b "Social Expenditure – Aggregated data" . OECD .
^ a b Kenworthy, Lane (1999). "Do Social-Welfare Policies Reduce Poverty? A Cross-National Assessment" (PDF) . Social Forces . 77 (3): 1119–1139. doi :10.2307/3005973 . JSTOR 3005973 . Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 August 2013.
^ a b c d e "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2024" . IMF.org . International Monetary Fund .
^ a b c "Industry Insights" . Office of the Chief Economist . Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. 22 May 2018. Archived from the original on 28 February 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2020 .
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^ Dorsch, Penny. "One in eight people in Australia are living in poverty" . ACOSS.
^ "International comparisons of welfare data" . Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 19 January 2023 .
^ a b "Human Development Report 2023/2024" (PDF) . United Nations Development Programme . 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 21 April 2024 .
^ a b c d "6202.0 – Labour Force, Australia, July 2024" . Australian Bureau of Statistics . 15 August 2024. Retrieved 16 August 2024 .
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^ "Professional, scientific & technical services industry fact sheet" . business.gov.au . Australian Government . 7 June 2017. Archived from the original on 6 September 2017. Retrieved 6 September 2017 .
^ Australian Bureau of Statistics (6 September 2017). "Industry Gross Value Added" (PDF) . 5206.0 – Australian National Accounts: National Income, Expenditure and Product (June Quarter 2017) (Report). pp. 33, 36. Retrieved 26 October 2017 .
^ a b c d e f "International Trade: Supplementary Information, Calendar Year" . Australian Bureau of Statistics . Retrieved 11 May 2024 .
^ "Country Fact Sheet: Australia" (PDF) . United Nations Conference on Trade and Development . World Investment Report 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 August 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019 .
^ "Balance of Payments and International Investment Position, Australia, Dec 2022" . Australian Bureau of Statistics . 28 February 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023 .
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^ "General government gross debt" . IMF . 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022 .
^ a b c "Budget 2019-20" . Department of the Treasury . Archived from the original on 3 April 2019. Retrieved 3 August 2019 .
^ After Future Fund adjustments
^ "Australian Official Development Assistance budget summary 2022-23" . OECD . 10 March 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023 .
^ Pupazzoni, Rachel (21 September 2018). "S&P raises Australia's budget outlook to stable, reaffirms AAA credit rating" . ABC News .
^ Uren, David (24 August 2017). "Australia on track to keep AAA rating, says Moody's" . The Australian . Retrieved 25 September 2017 . [dead link ] ; "Australia's credit rating safe for now: Moody's" . In Daily . Australian Associated Press. 9 March 2017. Retrieved 25 September 2017 .
^ Fitch Ratings (12 May 2017). "Fitch Affirms Australia at 'AAA'/Stable" . Reuters . Retrieved 25 September 2017 .
^ "The World Factbook" . CIA.gov . Central Intelligence Agency . Retrieved 2 July 2019 .
^ Griggs, Lynden (2018). Commercial and economic law in Australia . John McLaren, James Scheibner, George Cho, E. Eugene Clark (3rd ed.). Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. p. 337. ISBN 978-94-035-0701-9 . OCLC 1101177329 . Australia is a mixed market economy {{cite book }}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link )
^ Nieuwenhuysen, John; Lloyd, Peter; Mead, Margaret (2001). Reshaping Australia's Economy: Growth with Equity and Sustainability . Cambridge University Press . p. 179. ISBN 978-0521011204 .
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^ Bagshaw, Eryk; Massola, James (7 June 2017). "GDP: Australia grabs record for longest time without a recession" . The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 6 September 2017 .
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^ Moller, Stephanie; Huber, Evelyne; Stephens, John D.; Bradley, David; Nielsen, François (2003). "Determinants of Relative Poverty in Advanced Capitalist Democracies". American Sociological Review . 68 (1): 22–51. doi :10.2307/3088901 . JSTOR 3088901 .
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^ Tan, Weizhen (29 December 2020). "Australia's growth may 'never return' to its pre-virus path after trade trouble with China, says economist" . cnbc.com . CNBC . Retrieved 10 February 2021 . China is by far Australia's largest trading partner, accounting for 39.4% of goods exports and 17.6% of services exports between 2019 and 2020, research firm Capital Economics said.
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