Australia shines on many fronts. See how we rank on the world stage.
Australia ranks 1st in the world for installed solar capacity per capita
Australia ranks 1st in the world for commercialisation of IP Assets
Australia is the overall most attractive region globally for mining investment
Australia ranks 1st in the OECD for the average number of years of education per person – 20.4 years between ages 5 and 39
Source: OECD Better Life Index
Australia ranks 1st in the OECD for civic engagement
Source: OECD Better Life Index
The Australian continent has the world’s highest solar radiation per square metre, underpinning our thriving renewables sector
Source: Geoscience Australia
Australia has a transparent and fair legal system
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2022
Australia is most popular work destination in the Asia-Pacific, and the 3rd most popular globally
Globally, Australia has the lowest risk of social unrest
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2022
Australian public servants have the highest level of specialisation and technical qualification
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2022
Australia ranks top globally for its credit rating and is 1 of only 9 countries with a triple-A credit rating
Australia ranks 1st in our region and 2nd globally for its policy towards private enterprise and competition
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2023
Australia ranks 1st in the OECD for equity in healthcare outcomes
Australia ranks 1st in the world for financial freedom
Australia ranks equal 1st in the world for gender parity among professional and technical workers
Source: World Economic Forum. Global Gender Gap Report 2022
Australia ranks 1st in our region for environmental quality
Source: OECD Better Life Index
Australia ranks 1st in our region for government readiness to take advantage of AI
Australia has the world's 2nd highest median wealth per adult
Australia ranks the 2nd highest level of cyber security in the Indo-Pacific region
Source: Comparitech
Australia has the 2nd largest pool of managed funds in the Asia-Oceania region
Australia ranks 2nd in the Asia Oceania region for happiness and 11th in the world
Source: World Happiness Report 2023
Australia ranks 2nd in the world for our ability to respond to health care threats
Australia has the 2nd highest proportion of foreign born citizens in the OECD (29.2%)
Australia ranks 2nd in our region (Eastern Asia, South-eastern Asia and Oceania) for our ability to grow, retain and attract talent
Australia ranks 2nd in the Oceania region for digital government services and 7th in the world
Australian ranks 2nd in our region and 7th in the world for developing a sustainable and resilient tourism sector
Australia ranks 2nd in the world for trade freedom
Australia's fintech sector ranks 2nd in the Asia Pacific region, and 6th in the world
Australia ranks 3rd in the world for 5G connected devices per capita
Australia ranks 3rd in the world for the performance of our health care system
Australia ranks 3rd globally for attracting foreign investment in renewable energy
Source: fDi Intelligence 2023
Australia ranks 3rd in the world for meeting international mulilateral environment agreements
Australia ranks 3rd in our region and 8th globally for our sophisticated financial system
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2023
Australia ranks 3rd in our region for gender equality
Two Australian cities - Melbourne and Sydney - are in the world's top 5 most liveable
Australia ranks 4th in the world for the number of universities in the top 100
Source: Shanghai Ranking Consultancy, 2022 Academic Ranking of World Universities
Australia is the world's 4th most generous country based on our readiness to help a stranger, donate money and volunteer time
Australia ranks 4th in our region for property rights and 11th globally
Australia ranks 4th in the OECD for our capacity to attract and retain highly educated workers
Australia ranks 4th in our region for monetary freedom
Source: Why Australia Benchmark Report
Australia is ranked 4th in our region for our business environment 2023–2027
Source: The Economist Intelligence Unit
Sydney and Melbourne are the 4th and 5th best cities for entrepreneurs
Source: Oberlo
Australia ranks 5th in the world for our attractiveness to university students
Australia ranks 5th in our region for seizing opportunity from technology
Australia ranks 5th in the world on the Human Development Index
Australia ranks 5th in the world on the Global Innovation Index for human capital & research
Source: Global Innovation Index 2022
Australia ranks 5th in the world for Its ability to implement policies that promote private-sector development
Source: Global Innovation Index 2022
Australia ranks 5th in our region for its policy towards foreign investment
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2023
Australia has the 5th highest percentage of tertiary educated women in the OECD
Source: OECD Data 2023
Australia ranks the 5th most powerful cyber nation
Australia ranks 6th in the world for the best pension plan
Australia ranks 6th in the world for judicial effectiveness
The Australian dollar is the 6th most traded currency in the world
Australia ranks 6th in the OECD for household net wealth
Australia ranks 7th for wellbeing on the OECD Better Life Index, based on living conditions and quality of life
Source: OECD Better Life Index
Australia ranks 7th in the world as the favourite destination for ex-pats
Source: Bloomberg
Australia ranks 7th in the world for peer-reviewed scientific and technical articles, relative to the size of our economy
Australia is ranked 7th in the world on the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index for renewable energy investment and deployment opportunities
Australia ranks 7th in our region for innovation
Australia ranks 8th in Stanford University’s AI Vibrancy Ranking
Australia ranks 8th in the world for our attractiveness to start-up founders
Australia ranks 8th globally and third in our region for liberal foreign trade and exchange controls
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2023
Australia ranks 8th in our region for our tax system
Source: Economic Intelligence Unit 2023
Australia has the 9th highest number of science & technology clusters in the global top 100
Source: Global Innovation Index 2022
Australia ranked #9 in the world on market sophistication (credit and investment, trade, competition and market scale)
Australia ranks 10th globally for publishing high-quality scientific research
Source: Nature Index 2023
Australia ranks 10th in the world for its overall regulatory environment including policy development & the rule of law
Source: Global Innovation Index 2022
Australia ranks 11th in the OECD for the best tax regime in terms of competitiveness and neutrality
Australia ranks 11th for intellectual property rights on the International Property Rights Index 2021
Australia is the world’s 12th largest economy
Two-way trade in goods and services was worth A$1 trillion in 2021-22
Source: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade 2023, Trade time series data
In 2022, there was A$118.4 billion foreign direct investment in Australia’s manufacturing sector – up 2.9 per cent from 2021
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, May 2023
table 15
The digitech sector contributes around A$167 billion to the Australian economy every year
Source: Tech Council of Australia
Rewiring the Nation provides A$20 billion in low-cost finance to expand and modernise Australia’s electricity grids
Source: Australian Government
Around A$3 billion investment into Australia’s space sector 2018-2023
Source: Australian Space Agency 2023 analysis using BLADE
The Australian Government will invest A$3.4 billion over 10 years on defence innovation via the Advanced Strategic Capabilities Accelerator.
Source: Australian Government 2023
Foreign investment in Australia is at A$4.4 trillion
Source: Why Australia Benchmark Report
Australia has a 1.7% share of the global economy in nominal GDP terms despite only 0.3% of the global population
At least 14,000 kilometres of additional transmission is required in Australian electricity networks
Source: Australian Energy Market Operator and Energy Policy WA
Australian manufacturing industry earnings grew $A7.6 billion (17.8%) in 2021-22
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, May 2023
Department of Defence spend contributed $10.6 billion in Gross Value Added (GVA) to the Australian economy in 2021-22, up 20.3 per cent from 2020-21.
21 Australian technology start-up companies have achieved “unicorn’ status (valued at over US$1 billion)
Source: Tech Council of Australia 2022
Australia reduced its emissions by 24.7% between 2005 and 2022
In 2021, renewable energy accounted for 29% of Australia's total electricity generation
Australia has 3 universities among the world's top 20. It has 9 in the top 100
Australia has 3 universities in the top 100 academic institutions in artificial intelligence
Source: Nature Index 2022 AI and robotics
Our higher education colleges graduate 100,000 tech and creative students per year. Around 3,000 have specific games-related qualifications.
33 of the top 200 fastest growing companies in the Asia-Pacific are Australian, including 21 in the top 100
4 Australian cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – are in the top 100 most innovative cities
Source: AusBiotech Snapshot 2022
Almost half of Australia’s workforce has a tertiary qualification, meaning an advanced diploma/diploma or higher
618 organisations participated in the Australian space sector in the 2021 financial year
Source: Australian Space Agency 2023 analysis using BLADE
More than half of Australian businesses are innovation active
CSIRO ranks in the top 1% of the world's scientific institutions in 15 of 22 research fields
Source: CSIRO Annual Report 2021-22
Australia’s reserves are in the top five for 21 key world economic resources including cobalt, lithium, manganese, tungsten and vanadium
Source: GeoScience Australia 2022
In 2022, Australia became the first country in the world to export hydrogen
Source: Reuters 2022