Foreign investment statistics
Statistics on where Australia invests
Australian businesses invest huge amounts of money in other economies. At the end of 2020, the total amount of Australian money invested overseas was valued at $3.0 trillion.
Where does Australia invest?
The United States and the United Kingdom remain the two largest economies for Australian investment. At the end of 2020, Australian investments in the US totalled $864 billion and our investment in the UK was $615 billion.
Australian investment in Asia has increased dramatically over the past decade. Between 2010 and 2020, our investments to major Asian economies (China, Hong Kong (SAR of China), India, Japan, Republic of Korea, Taiwan and all ASEAN members) has increased from $135 billion to $396 billion.
The table below shows the top 20 economies where Australia invests (as at the end of 2020). Totals are in A$ billion and include both direct, portfolio investment and other investment.
| Rank in 2020 | Economy | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | % of total | % change 2019 to 2020 | 5-year trend % growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 730.2 | 836.8 | 863.6 | 28.4 | 3.2 | 6.0 |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 406.6 | 510.3 | 615.2 | 20.2 | 20.5 | 12.6 |
| 3 | New Zealand | 96.4 | 130.9 | 124.7 | 4.1 | -4.8 | 6.2 |
| 4 | Japan | 113.4 | 139.5 | 112.4 | 3.7 | -19.4 | 4.4 |
| 5 | Canada | 80.6 | 82.4 | 94.1 | 3.1 | 14.1 | 19.9 |
| 6 | Cayman Islands | 79.5 | 82.3 | 89.6 | 2.9 | 8.9 | 13.2 |
| 7 | Germany | 74.0 | 98.5 | 88.9 | 2.9 | -9.7 | 7.5 |
| 8 | Hong Kong (SAR of China) | 52.6 | 66.8 | 71.1 | 2.3 | 6.4 | 8.3 |
| 9 | China | 79.2 | 85.3 | 64.0 | 2.1 | -25.0 | 0.6 |
| 10 | Singapore | 73.5 | 83.7 | 63.2 | 2.1 | -24.5 | 4.2 |
| 11 | France | 54.2 | 52.4 | 62.9 | 2.1 | 20.1 | 3.3 |
| 12 | Netherlands | 45.8 | 44.2 | 44.0 | 1.4 | -0.4 | 1.7 |
| 13 | Bermuda | 37.9 | 38.6 | 37.9 | 1.2 | -1.9 | -1.7 |
| 14 | Switzerland | 26.8 | 34.3 | 32.4 | 1.1 | -5.5 | 10.6 |
| 15 | Ireland | 15.5 | 20.9 | 31.6 | 1.0 | 51.5 | 19.2 |
| 16 | Republic of Korea | 21.3 | 22.2 | 24.9 | 0.8 | 12.3 | 9.5 |
| 17 | Luxembourg | 21.2 | 19.0 | 17.7 | 0.6 | -6.8 | 0.6 |
| 18 | Papua New Guinea | 17.4 | 17.1 | 17.6 | 0.6 | 3.2 | -1.2 |
| 19 | Timor-Leste | 10.5 | np | 16.9 | 0.6 | .. | .. |
| 20 | Taiwan | 10.1 | 16.8 | 15.6 | 0.5 | -7.0 | 26.8 |
| All economies | 2,550.7 | 2,959.4 | 3,043.7 | 100.0 | 2.8 | 7.7 | |
| Based on ABS catalogue 5352.0. Last Updated: May 2021. | |||||||
How does this compare with other economies?
Australia is the 16th-largest international direct investor the world.
The table below shows how our level of direct outward investment compared with other economies in 2019. Yearly values are in US$ billion.
| Rank in 2019 | Economy | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | % of total | % change 2018 to 2019 | 5-year trend % growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 7,828.7 | 6,452.7 | 7,721.7 | 22.3 | 19.7 | 4.1 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 2,531.1 | 2,380.6 | 2,565.3 | 7.4 | 7.8 | 5.0 |
| 3 | China | 1,809.0 | 1,982.3 | 2,099.4 | 6.1 | 5.9 | 20.0 |
| 4 | United Kingdom | 1,773.6 | 1,788.2 | 1,949.4 | 5.6 | 9.0 | 3.4 |
| 5 | Japan | 1,497.5 | 1,567.2 | 1,818.1 | 5.3 | 16.0 | 9.4 |
| 6 | Hong Kong (SAR of China) | 1,813.3 | 1,829.4 | 1,794.0 | 5.2 | -1.9 | 5.1 |
| 7 | Germany | 1,650.3 | 1,651.5 | 1,719.4 | 5.0 | 4.1 | 5.2 |
| 8 | Canada | 1,532.2 | 1,366.2 | 1,652.5 | 4.8 | 21.0 | 7.1 |
| 9 | France | 1,440.4 | 1,499.2 | 1,532.8 | 4.4 | 2.2 | 4.3 |
| 10 | Switzerland | 1,438.5 | 1,494.7 | 1,526.2 | 4.4 | 2.1 | 7.9 |
| 11 | Singapore | 1,002.3 | 1,025.8 | 1,106.2 | 3.2 | 7.8 | 10.8 |
| 12 | Ireland | 986.8 | 942.9 | 1,085.2 | 3.1 | 15.1 | 9.1 |
| 13 | British Virgin Islands | 830.8 | 870.2 | 911.3 | 2.6 | 4.7 | 6.0 |
| 14 | Belgium | 721.9 | 593.3 | 656.4 | 1.9 | 10.6 | 2.2 |
| 15 | Spain | 604.7 | 583.0 | 606.5 | 1.8 | 4.0 | 3.6 |
| 16 | Australia | 503.2 | 497.0 | 579.3 | 1.7 | 16.5 | 5.1 |
| 17 | Italy | 547.6 | 552.7 | 558.4 | 1.6 | 1.0 | 4.5 |
| 18 | Cyprus | 452.3 | 436.9 | 442.8 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 2.7 |
| 19 | Republic of Korea | 360.6 | 405.2 | 440.1 | 1.3 | 8.6 | 11.5 |
| 20 | Sweden | 384.6 | 383.2 | 396.5 | 1.1 | 3.5 | 0.6 |
| All economies | 33,040.5 | 31,507.5 | 34,571.1 | 100.0 | 9.7 | 3.7 |
Source: UNCTADstat database. Last Updated: October 2020.