Australia's current account balance (% of GDP) was -2.77% in 2025, the latest year in the World Bank's World Development Indicators. That is up 1.53 percentage points from -4.3% in 2015.
Key figures
| Value | Year | |
|---|---|---|
| Latest | -2.77% | 2025 |
| Five years earlier | 1.64% | 2020 |
| Ten years earlier | -4.3% | 2015 |
| Highest | 2.45% | 2021 |
| Lowest | -7.55% | 2007 |
| Average since 2016 | -1.04% | 2016–2025 |
| First recorded | -6.11% | 1989 |
What the numbers say
In 2025, Australia's current account balance (% of GDP) fell 0.45 percentage points on 2024 (from -2.31% to -2.77%).
Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.41 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
On record, the biggest yearly rise was 2.68 percentage points in 2008 and the biggest yearly fall was 2.22 percentage points in 2003. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.
From 2016 to 2025 there is no clear straight-line trend: a straight line explains 5% of the movement over 10 observed years, so the value is moving around more than it is heading anywhere.
Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.
How it compares
In 2025, Australia had the 83rd highest value of the 135 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.
Closest to Australia in the 2025 ranking
- Paraguay — 80th of 135: -2.53%
- Saudi Arabia — 81st of 135: -2.56%
- Georgia — 82nd of 135: -2.61%
- Belize — 84th of 135: -2.77%
- Brazil — 85th of 135: -2.93%
- Gambia, The — 86th of 135: -2.93%
What this measures
Balance of current transactions (transactions in goods and services, earned income and transfer income) between residents and non-residents. The term current account balance is used in the external accounts and is expressed from the perspective of resident units. The term current external balance is used in the national accounts and is expressed from the perspective of the non-resident units, and therefore with the opposite sign. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is the total income earned through the production of goods and services in an economic territory during an accounting period.
All 37 values
| Year | Current account balance (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
| 2025 | -2.77 |
| 2024 | -2.31 |
| 2023 | -0.4331 |
| 2022 | 0.2542 |
| 2021 | 2.45 |
| 2020 | 1.64 |
| 2019 | -0.0757 |
| 2018 | -2.59 |
| 2017 | -3.01 |
| 2016 | -3.6 |
| 2015 |
Current account balance (% of GDP) in nearby economies
- Brunei Darussalam — 18.01% (2025)
- Cambodia — -3.72% (2025)
- China — 3.77% (2025)
- Fiji — -7.78% (2024)
- French Polynesia — 7.49% (2016)
- Hong Kong SAR, China — 12.25% (2025)
- Indonesia — -0.09% (2025)
- Japan — 4.86% (2025)
- Kiribati — -15.23% (2025)
- Korea, Rep. — 6.57% (2025)
- Lao PDR
More economic policy & debt data for Australia
- Portfolio equity, net inflows (BoP, current US$) — US$18.94 billion (2025)
- Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$72.63 billion (2025)
- Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$62.12 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (current US$) — US$416.34 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (current LCU) — 643.28 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (constant 2015 US$) — US$418.83 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (constant LCU) — 622.17 billion (2025)
- General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP) — 23.15% (2025)
Reading data like this
Questions people ask
- What is Australia's current account balance (% of GDP)?
- -2.77% in 2025, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).
- How has it changed since 1989?
- It is up 3.34 percentage points from -6.11% in 1989. The highest value was 2.45% in 2021 and the lowest -7.55% in 2007.
- How does Australia rank?
- 83rd highest of 135 economies with data for 2025.
- Is the latest change in current account balance (% of GDP) unusual for Australia?
- In 2025, Australia's current account balance (% of GDP) fell 0.45 percentage points on 2024 (from -2.31% to -2.77%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1995 to 2024), the average change was +0.09 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 1.41 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.4 standard deviations below that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.
Source
World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator BN.CAB.XOKA.GD.ZS, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: Balance of Payments Statistics Yearbook and data files, International Monetary Fund (IMF); World Development Indicators Database, World Bank (WB); National Accounts data files, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.
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