Foreign investment statistics
Statistics on who invests in Australia
Foreign economies had a total of $4.0 trillion invested in Australia at the end of 2020.
Which economies invest in Australia?
The United States and United Kingdom are the biggest investors in Australia, followed by Belgium, Japan and Hong Kong (SAR of China).
China is our ninth largest foreign investor, with 2.0 per cent of the total. However, the levels of Hong Kong (SAR of China) and Chinese investment in Australia have grown significantly over the past decade.
The table below shows the top 20 foreign investors in Australia at the end of 2020. Yearly values are in A$ 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 | 957.2 | 1,013.5 | 929.4 | 23.3 | -8.3 | 2.3 |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 583.8 | 687.3 | 737.6 | 18.5 | 7.3 | 9.1 |
| 3 | Belgium (a) | 315.3 | 348.0 | 408.6 | 10.2 | 17.4 | 10.0 |
| 4 | Japan | 234.4 | 243.9 | 264.5 | 6.6 | 8.5 | 4.5 |
| 5 | Hong Kong (SAR of China) | 123.7 | 144.5 | 141.6 | 3.5 | -2.0 | 10.9 |
| 6 | Singapore | 90.2 | 100.1 | 116.5 | 2.9 | 16.4 | 3.2 |
| 7 | Luxembourg | 78.1 | 86.7 | 104.7 | 2.6 | 20.8 | 9.5 |
| 8 | Netherlands | 84.1 | 88.6 | 84.0 | 2.1 | -5.1 | 4.8 |
| 9 | China | 68.5 | 79.3 | 79.2 | 2.0 | -0.2 | 0.3 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 47.1 | 64.5 | 66.3 | 1.7 | 2.9 | 11.1 |
| 11 | Canada | 53.3 | 59.8 | 64.9 | 1.6 | 8.4 | 11.7 |
| 12 | Switzerland | 50.7 | 58.3 | 57.5 | 1.4 | -1.4 | 0.2 |
| 13 | Germany | 48.4 | 50.4 | 47.2 | 1.2 | -6.4 | 3.3 |
| 14 | France | 48.8 | 35.7 | 42.7 | 1.1 | 19.8 | 14.4 |
| 15 | Bermuda | 46.6 | 44.7 | 41.7 | 1.0 | -6.6 | 1.7 |
| 16 | Ireland | 22.1 | 28.6 | 35.8 | 0.9 | 25.2 | 8.8 |
| 17 | Republic of Korea | 30.7 | 31.7 | 32.7 | 0.8 | 3.2 | 7.5 |
| 18 | Norway | 19.7 | 25.4 | 25.9 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 13.8 |
| 19 | Virgin Islands, British | 24.0 | 24.4 | 25.6 | 0.6 | 4.9 | 1.6 |
| 20 | Malaysia | 22.4 | 22.4 | 19.2 | 0.5 | -14.2 | -0.4 |
| All economies | 3,577.8 | 3,893.8 | 3,990.9 | 100.0 | 2.5 | 5.6 | |
| (a) The majority of total investment from Belgium is portfolio investment liabilities in the form of debt securities (Belgium hosts a major clearing house and depository for euro-denominated bonds and other securities, Euroclear). Based on ABS catalogue 5352.0. Last Updated: May 2021. |
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How does this compare with other economies?
Australia has the 14th-highest amount of direct foreign inward investment in the world.
The table below shows how our level of direct inward investment compared with other economies in 2020. Yearly values are in US$ billion.
| Rank in 2020 | Economy | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | % of total | % change 2019 to 2020 | 5-year trend % growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 7,333.5 | 9,398.4 | 10,802.6 | 26.1 | 14.9 | 12.8 |
| 2 | Netherlands | 1,492.6 | 1,491.7 | 2,890.6 | 7.0 | 93.8 | 13.5 |
| 3 | United Kingdom | 1,930.5 | 2,045.1 | 2,206.2 | 5.3 | 7.9 | 8.5 |
| 4 | China | 1,628.3 | 1,769.5 | 1,918.8 | 4.6 | 8.4 | 9.4 |
| 5 | Hong Kong (SAR of China) | 1,963.3 | 1,867.7 | 1,884.9 | 4.6 | 0.9 | 3.7 |
| 6 | Singapore | 1,548.8 | 1,751.2 | 1,855.4 | 4.5 | 5.9 | 12.0 |
| 7 | Switzerland | 1,418.5 | 1,453.9 | 1,536.3 | 3.7 | 5.7 | 7.7 |
| 8 | Ireland | 1,048.6 | 1,152.4 | 1,350.1 | 3.3 | 17.2 | 9.0 |
| 9 | Canada | 844.8 | 1,062.7 | 1,099.9 | 2.7 | 3.5 | 5.7 |
| 10 | Germany | 940.6 | 934.7 | 1,059.3 | 2.6 | 13.3 | 5.8 |
| 11 | France | 820.6 | 868.7 | 968.1 | 2.3 | 11.4 | 7.0 |
| 12 | British Virgin Islands | 865.2 | 909.3 | 950.9 | 2.3 | 4.6 | 5.0 |
| 13 | Spain | 745.4 | 763.2 | 853.3 | 2.1 | 11.8 | 8.6 |
| 14 | Australia | 701.3 | 731.2 | 790.7 | 1.9 | 8.1 | 6.5 |
| 15 | Belgium | 563.5 | 577.1 | 635.9 | 1.5 | 10.2 | 2.6 |
| 16 | Luxembourg | 154.4 | 128.4 | 627.4 | 1.5 | 388.5 | 12.5 |
| 17 | Brazil | 568.7 | 705.0 | 608.1 | 1.5 | -13.8 | 6.8 |
| 18 | Mexico | 515.0 | 567.7 | 596.8 | 1.4 | 5.1 | 7.4 |
| 19 | Italy | 433.4 | 444.5 | 485.8 | 1.2 | 9.3 | 7.4 |
| 20 | Cyprus | 433.8 | 451.4 | 480.9 | 1.2 | 6.5 | 4.3 |
| Other economies | 6,833.3 | 7,303.5 | 7,752.3 | 18.7 | 6.1 | 6.1 | |
| All economies | 32,784.1 | 36,377.4 | 41,354.2 | 100.0 | 13.7 | 4.5 | |
| Source: UNCTAD World Investment Report - Annex tables. Last Updated: October 2021. | |||||||