Australia and New Zealand Economies 4-29-24

Australia and New Zealand are islands in the South Pacific located below the Asian continent and are part of the Asian trading sphere. Australia became a British Colony in 1788 and New Zealand became a British Colony in 1840. Their populations are essentially European.

Papua New Guinea (to the north) and New Zealand (to the east) are Australia's closest neighbors. There are also many other countries including East Timor, Indonesia, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Malaysia, the Philippines and the Solomon Islands who are close neighbors.

Australia Economy

Australia has a solid natural resource economy with a trade surplus and low unemployment, but has high inflation.

Nominal GDP 1.688T, Per capita GDP $63,487, Population 27,077,883, Debt to GDP 45.1%

Inflation 2021-2024 20.5%, Unemployment 3.9%, Trade Surplus $140.3 billion, Labor force 13.7M,

Exports $670.6B iron ore, coal, natural gas, gold, aluminum, crude petroleum, copper, beef, meat (non-beef)

Agriculture in 2024 includes producing Rice 400 tons, Corn 385 tons, Soybeans 40 tons, Millet 37 tons.

Beef 583,667 tons, Lamb 599,462 tons. Wool 323,000 metric tons

Livestock includes raising Sheep 79 million head, Cattle 25.7 million head

Imports $530.3B petroleum, cars, telecom equipment and parts, goods, vehicles, computers, medicine, gold, civil engineering equipment, furniture.

Trading partners include China, US, Japan, Germany, Thailand, UK, S Koran, India and New Zealand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Australia

Australia is the smallest continent with a land mass is 2.968 million square miles and is smaller than Canada.

Urban population is 86.5% and mostly coastal.  Rural population is 13.5% where mining occurs. Agriculture is coastal. Drought-Prone Desert and nonarable land is 40% in the Western Interior. Railroads have 20,461 miles of track to ship goods. Highways total 9,000 miles.

Top 10 selling car brands in Australia in 2023

Brand     Units bought

Toyota       215,240

Mazda       100,008

Ford            87,800

Kia              76,120

Hyundai      75,183

Mitsubishi   63,511

MG             58,346

Tesla          46,116

New Zealand Economy

New Zealand has a solid economy with low debt to GDP, low unemployment, but has high inflation.

Nominal GDP $249B, Per capita GDP $48,071, Population 5,223.100, Debt to GDP 32.2%

Inflation 2021-2024 17.9%, Unemployment 3.3%, Trade Deficit $1.6B, Labor force 2.820M.

Imports $88.8B Petroleum, vehicles, machinery and equipment, electronics, textiles, plastics.

Exports $72.8B Dairy products, meat, logs and wood products, fruit, wine, machinery and equipment, fish and seafood.

Trading partners China, Australia, Japan, EU, US, S Korea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_New_Zealand

Comments

The populations in Australia and New Zealand are essentially European, their economy functions in Asia. The population is 90% European, 5% Asian and 3% Aboriginal. It’s almost like these countries slid off the European plate and settled south of Asia.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader