Australia vs Germany: GDP, Growth & Trajectory

Turning Point

In 2024, Germany's GDP stood at $4.68T versus Australia's $1.78T — a ratio of 2.64x. The nominal aggregate size gap between Europe's industrial core and the resource-rich Pacific economy remains stark, yet 2024 marked a symbolic inflection. Germany recorded a GDP contraction of 0.50 per cent, according to World Bank data, while Australia expanded by 1.20 per cent. For the first time since the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis the two economies moved in opposite directions with such clarity, and the divergence was underlined by a per-capita income ratio of 0.86 — meaning the average Australian earned 16 per cent more at market exchange rates than the average German. That inversion, which has persisted since 2010, flipped a century-old hierarchy and forced a reassessment of what economic "size" truly means.

The turning point is not meretricious. Germany's 2024 negative growth rate, driven by energy-price shocks, slack export demand from China, and an investment cycle weakened by political uncertainty, shrank the nominal output gap in absolute terms from roughly $2.9 trillion in 2023 to $2.9 trillion again in 2024, the ratio staying constant only because Australia's base was larger. Yet the psychological marker was powerful: while Germany's industrial machine stalled, Australia's economy, buoyed by resilient commodity prices, migration-fuelled consumption and a services rebound, logged its 32nd consecutive year without a technical recession, a record unmatched by any other advanced economy. The symmetry of the 2024 data — contraction versus expansion — supplied the crispest snapshot of the structural realignment that had been gathering for two decades.

Per-capita figures add a second layer to the turning point. In 1960, Australia's nominal GDP per person of $1,813 exceeded Germany's $1,162 by a factor of 1.56, a margin reflective of a small, mineral-exporting nation with an undeveloped industrial base. By 1980 Germany had inverted that to 1.10x; by 2010 Australia had snatched the lead again, peaking at 1.27x. The 2024 reading of 0.86x in Germany's favour (Australia higher) also coexists with a near-parity in purchasing-power parity terms — Germany's PPP per capita was $72,674 against Australia's $70,731, a difference of less than three per cent. The proximity suggests that the nominal overtaking is exchange-rate amplified and that, measured by actual consumption baskets, the two economies offer essentially identical material living standards, a remarkable convergence given their divergent structures.

Thus the turning point is simultaneously one of magnitude, momentum and measurement. The 2.64x GDP ratio still places Germany's economy among the top four globally, but the direction of travel favours a country that, on a per-worker basis, produces more income, yet with a workforce barely one-third the size. For policymakers, investors and analysts, the 2024 data crystallise a question that had been latent: has the commodity-demographic model of Australia permanently broken the historical rule that industrialisation alone drives prosperity, or is this a cyclical peak that will correct when lithium and iron-ore prices retreat? The subsequent sections investigate the structure, history and outlook behind these numbers, using only official statistics from the World Bank, IMF and national agencies.

Current State

As of the latest complete year (2024), the German economy stands at $4.68 trillion in nominal GDP, the largest in Europe and the third-largest globally, behind the United States and China. Purchasing-power parity estimates, at $6.07 trillion, underscore the real consumption power of 83.5 million people and a dense network of capital goods industries. Yet 2024 was a year of contraction: GDP slid by 0.50 per cent, the first annual decline since the pandemic-affected 2020, reflecting a toxic combination of elevated energy costs, weak industrial orders and subdued global trade. Consumer price inflation, which had peaked at 6.9 per cent in 2022, moderated to 2.37 per cent, bringing the European Central Bank's target within sight but not without scarring household confidence. Labour market tightness remains a paradox: the unemployment rate in early 2025 was 3.71 per cent, among the lowest in the EU, yet skills mismatches and an ageing working-age population constrain potential output. The sectoral spread confirms Germany's post-industrial character: services contribute 64.05 per cent of gross value added, industry 25.62 per cent, and agriculture a wafer-thin 0.91 per cent. Life expectancy, at 80.54 years in 2023, continues to inch upward but trails other high-income peers, partly because of lingering differentials between former East and West.

Australia, with a 2024 nominal GDP of $1.78 trillion and PPP output of $1.93 trillion, ranks as the world's 14th-largest economy, a position it has roughly held for two decades despite rapid population growth. The economy grew by 1.20 per cent in 2024, slower than trend but still comfortably in positive territory, supported by robust commodity export volumes — particularly iron ore, LNG and coal — and population growth of roughly 380,000 people per annum net overseas migration. Inflation at 3.18 per cent remained above the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2-3 per cent target band, sustaining the cash rate at restrictive levels and weighing on discretionary household spending. Unemployment, at 4.09 per cent in 2025, is slightly above Germany's but still close to estimates of the non-accelerating inflation rate of unemployment (NAIRU). Australia's services sector, at 66.14 per cent of GDP, is marginally larger than Germany's, while industry's share of 25.53 per cent is almost identical, masking a crucial distinction: German industry manufactures complex machinery, vehicles and chemicals, whereas Australian industry is dominated by mining, energy extraction and construction. Agriculture, at 2.04 per cent, remains nearly twice as large a share of output as in Germany, though it is overwhelmingly oriented toward export markets. Australia's life expectancy of 83.05 years, reported for 2023, is among the highest in the OECD, reflecting a mix of high public-health standards, a young migrant-weighted demographic profile and historically low smoking rates.

The current-state picture is one of a larger, struggling industrial power and a smaller, steadier commodity economy. Germany's fiscal space is constrained by a constitutional debt brake, while Australia's net debt remains low by European standards, giving Canberra more latitude to buffer external shocks. German household consumption remains subdued — the savings rate stayed elevated in 2024 — whereas Australian consumption has been supported by wealth effects from housing, despite higher mortgage rates. Labour productivity growth has been virtually zero in both countries over the past five years, albeit for different reasons: Germany's problem is chronic under-investment in digital infrastructure and slow adoption of service-sector innovation; Australia's is a capital-shallowing effect from a mining-heavy output mix where capital spending is lumpy and large, with long gestation lags. Both economies are deeply integrated into global value chains, yet that integration now exposes them to diverging risks: Germany to a downturn in Chinese demand for manufactured goods, Australia to a slowdown in Chinese property construction that drives demand for steel-making raw materials.

To crystallise the 2024 benchmarks, the following table draws exclusively on World Bank and IMF series cited above:

Indicator	Germany	Australia	Year
GDP (nominal, USD)	$4.68 trillion	$1.78 trillion	2024
GDP (PPP, USD)	$6.07 trillion	$1.93 trillion	2024
GDP per capita (nominal)	$56,095	$65,066	2024
GDP per capita (PPP)	$72,674	$70,731	2024
GDP growth (annual %)	-0.50%	1.20%	2024
Inflation (CPI, annual %)	2.37%	3.18%	2024
Population	83.5 million	27.2 million	2024
Unemployment rate	3.71%	4.09%	2025
Life expectancy at birth	80.54 years	83.05 years	2023
Agriculture (% of GDP)	0.91%	2.04%	2024
Industry (% of GDP)	25.62%	25.53%	2024
Services (% of GDP)	64.05%	66.14%	2024

This side-by-side view makes visible the essential asymmetry: Germany produces an economy 2.64 times larger from a population only 3.07 times bigger, which mathematically explains the per-capita shortfall. It also clarifies that the sectoral composition, while numerically similar, hides radically different specialisations that shape trade, macroeconomic resilience and long-run growth prospects.

Historical Trajectory (1960-2024)

The comparison across seven decades shows a story of early Australian advantage, a long German industrial surge, and a twenty-first-century reversal propelled by commodity super-cycles and demographic divergence. In 1960, Germany, still in the early phase of the Wirtschaftswunder, produced GDP of $84.6 billion, a per-capita income of $1,162. Australia, with a population barely one-seventh the size, generated $18.6 billion in output and a per-capita of $1,813 — a 56 per cent lead that owed much to the post-war wool boom and a protected manufacturing base concentrated in Melbourne and Sydney. The ratio of aggregate GDP was already 4.5:1 in Germany's favour, a number that would narrow only gradually over the next 64 years.

By 1980, Germany had not only recovered from two oil shocks but had also entrenched its position as the export powerhouse of the European Community. Nominal GDP swelled to $905.3 billion, per-capita income to $11,667, surpassing Australia's $10,615 for the first time. The unification decade of 1990 supercharged Germany's aggregate but strained its per-capita metrics: GDP hit $1.69 trillion and per-capita income $21,355, while Australia, with $318.0 billion and $18,576, remained a step behind. The reunification dividend in total output was offset by the absorption of a lower-productivity eastern labour force, a drag that would linger for three decades.

Australia's quiet breakout began in the 1990s, encouraged by financial deregulation, the floating of the dollar in 1983 and the productivity reforms of the Hawke-Keating years. By 2000, Germany's GDP had risen to $1.97 trillion ($24,042 per capita) against Australia's $408.6 billion ($21,411), a gap in per-capita terms of 12 per cent. The global financial crisis of 2008 and the subsequent commodity supercycle — driven by Chinese urbanisation — ruptured that order. In 2010, Germany's GDP stood at $3.47 trillion and per-capita income at $42,809; Australia's had leaped to $1.20 trillion and $54,449, vaulting the country into the top ten globally for per-capita income, a position it had not occupied since the 1950s. The terms-of-trade boom, lifting the Australian dollar above parity with the US dollar for extended periods, magnified the nominal gap. Mining investment surged, wages in resource-related states soared, and the construction sector boomed, while Germany wrestled with slow euro-area demand and the hangover of the Hartz labour-market reforms that suppressed wage growth.

The 2020 pandemic year compressed both economies but preserved the hierarchy. Germany's GDP of $3.94 trillion ($47,674 per capita) and Australia's $1.35 trillion ($52,574) reflected extraordinary fiscal transfers and, in Australia's case, a relatively brief lockdown-induced contraction followed by a strong rebound in commodity shipments. The 2024 numbers — $4.68 trillion and $1.78 trillion, per-capitas of $56,095 and $65,066 — show that Australia widened its per-capita lead by roughly five percentage points over four years, while the GDP ratio stabilised at 2.64x. Expressed as a percentage, Australia's economy has grown from 22 per cent of Germany's in 1960 to 38 per cent in 2024, a convergence that, if continued at the average rate of the past two decades, would halve the ratio by mid-century, though that extrapolation belongs to the realm of hypothesis, not verified data.

A historical table of the seven World Bank snapshots makes the trajectory concrete:

Year	Germany GDP (USD bn)	Australia GDP (USD bn)	Germany per capita (USD)	Australia per capita (USD)
1960	84.6	18.6	1,162	1,813
1980	905.3	156.6	11,667	10,615
1990	1,690.0	318.0	21,355	18,576
2000	1,970.0	408.6	24,042	21,411
2010	3,470.0	1,200.0	42,809	54,449
2020	3,940.0	1,350.0	47,674	52,574
2024	4,680.0	1,780.0	56,095	65,066

The series reveals two distinct phases. From 1960 to 2000, Germany's per-capita income advanced faster in absolute terms, building a 20-year stretch of leadership. Between 2000 and 2024, Australian per-capita GDP increased at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 4.6 per cent in nominal USD, against Germany's 3.6 per cent. Exchange-rate appreciation accounts for part of that differential; the Australian dollar averaged US$0.75 in 2000 and US$0.66 in 2024, having peaked above US$1.00 in 2011. However, even in constant-price, local-currency terms, Australia's growth from 2000 to 2024 was marginally faster, driven by mining investment, population expansion and the surging value of resource exports to Asia. Germany's trajectory was flatter, punctuated by two recessions (2003, 2009), the Euro-area debt crisis, and a profound energy-transition challenge from 2022 onward. By 2024, the 64-year story is one of partial convergence in aggregate output but full convergence in material living standards, a result neither side would have predicted when the Berlin Wall fell.

Per Capita Reality

Headline GDP numbers obscure more than they reveal about household welfare, and the per-capita dimension is where the Germany-Australia comparison becomes most charged. In 2024, Australia's nominal GDP per capita of $65,066 exceeded Germany's $56,095 by $8,971, or 16 per cent. At purchasing-power parity, however, the gap vanishes: Germany's $72,674 sits $1,943 above Australia's $70,731, a negligible lead of less than three per cent. This duality — a significant nominal advantage for Australia and essential equality in real consumption — informs how wages, rents, healthcare and education are experienced by residents of the two countries.

The premium in nominal terms reflects Australia's persistent terms-of-trade gains and a structurally higher price level for non-tradable services. A German auto worker might earn a lower euro-denominated wage than an Australian miner, but that wage buys a basket of goods that is cheaper in Berlin, especially for housing, food and public transport. The PPP numbers, calculated by the World Bank's International Comparison Program, adjust for these differences and suggest that the average Australian enjoys roughly the same command over goods and services as the average German. This parity has been remarkably stable since 2018, hovering within a tight band, which implies that exchange-rate swings, rather than fundamental divergences in productivity, drive the year-to-year per-capita narrative.

Distributional nuances matter. Germany's lower Gini coefficient and expansive welfare state — characterised by statutory health insurance, free tertiary education and strong rent-control laws — mean that the median household may retain a larger share of the national income than in Australia, where housing costs absorb a substantial portion of median wages. Meanwhile, Australia's mandatory superannuation system, which in 2024 compelled employers to contribute 11 per cent of salaries to individual retirement accounts, creates a stock of household wealth (over A$3.5 trillion) that supplements disposable income in ways not fully captured by GDP per capita. German households, by contrast, hold a larger fraction of gross disposable income as personal savings deposited in banks, reflecting a more risk-averse culture. Both models produce high levels of human development; the United Nations Human Development Index for 2023 places both countries in the "very high" category.

The per-capita ratio of 0.86 has been below 1.00 since 2010, when Australia's mining-led dollar surge created a 1.27x peak. Even as commodity prices cooled after 2013 and the Australian dollar fell to the mid-60 US-cent range, Australia retained a lead, thanks to a decade of above-average population growth that expanded the labour force and the consumer base. Germany's per-capita income grew from $42,809 in 2010 to $56,095 in 2024, a 31 per cent nominal increase; Australia's increased 19 per cent over the same period — yet the gap persists because Australia started from a higher base. The data confirm that once a per-capita lead is established through a large enough exchange-rate shock, it can take a generation to reverse, especially when the laggard's growth is constrained by demographic decline and structural rigidities.

Sector Composition

Despite near-identical industry shares (25.62 per cent for Germany, 25.53 per cent for Australia in 2024), the two economies occupy opposite ends of the industrial spectrum. Germany's industry is dominated by the manufacturing of capital goods, with automotive engineering, mechanical engineering, chemicals and electrical equipment forming the backbone. Value added per hour worked in German manufacturing remains among the highest in the world, supported by the Mittelstand — a dense network of small and medium-sized enterprises specialising in precision components. Australia's industry share of GDP, on the other hand, is heavily weighted toward mining and quarrying, which alone contributed roughly 13 per cent of gross value added in 2024 according to Australian Bureau of Statistics input-output tables, while manufacturing hovers near 5.5 per cent. The heavy-industry parity in national accounts aggregates is therefore a statistical coincidence rather than a structural similarity.

Services occupy 64.05 per cent of Germany's economy and 66.14 per cent of Australia's, a difference that narrows when public administration, education and healthcare are examined. Germany's service sector is distinctive for the role of publicly-funded healthcare and social work, alongside a large logistics and transport cluster that feeds its export machine. Australia's service sector leans more on finance, real estate, tourism and international education, the latter generating approximately A$40 billion in export revenue before the pandemic and recovering strongly by late 2023. Both countries exhibit a long-term drift toward services, but the German economy has lost manufacturing employment faster — from 8.4 million in 1991 to roughly 5.6 million in 2024 — while Australia's manufacturing workforce shrank from about 1.2 million in the early 1990s to 900,000, a smaller proportionate decline. The resilience of German industry in value-added terms owes to productivity improvements, but employment shifts have political consequences in the form of regional industrial decline and rising populism.

Agriculture's tiny share — 0.91 per cent in Germany, 2.04 per cent in Australia — tells a size story. Germany's 284,000 farms average 56 hectares and focus on dairy, pork and wheat. Australia's agricultural output, though a small slice of GDP, is among the ten largest globally in volume terms, with beef, wheat, wool and wine dominating. Because agriculture employs only a small fraction of workers in both countries, its contribution to the economic comparison is minimal. What matters more is the forward-backward linkage: Germany's farm sector feeds domestic food processing and a protected European market, while Australia's agricultural sector is exposed to global price volatility and Chinese import restrictions, introducing a source of bilateral tension that surfaces in trade negotiations.

Trade Relationship Between the Two

Bilateral merchandise trade between Germany and Australia is modest relative to their total external trade, yet it has deepened substantially over the past decade as both economies sought to diversify supply chains. According to UN Comtrade, total two-way goods trade stood at approximately AUD 22 billion in the 2023 calendar year, with Germany consistently recording a surplus. German exports to Australia are dominated by motor vehicles, vehicle parts, pharmaceutical products and industrial machinery; Australian exports to Germany are concentrated in metalliferous ores, coal, gold and, increasingly, lithium concentrates destined for battery-grade processing in German chemical plants. The pattern adheres to the classic Ricardian division: Germany sells advanced manufactures, Australia sells raw materials.

Data from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade shows that Germany is Australia's tenth-largest two-way trading partner and the fourth most significant within the European Union, behind the Netherlands, Belgium and the United Kingdom. For Germany, Australia ranks outside the top 30 trading partners, far behind China, the United States and France. Nevertheless, the strategic value of the relationship has escalated since 2022, as Europe's energy-transition accelerated and Berlin identified Australia as a reliable supplier of critical minerals — lithium, cobalt and rare earths — required for electric-vehicle batteries and a decarbonised power grid. A memorandum of understanding signed in 2023 between the German Mineral Resources Agency and Geoscience Australia formalised collaboration on traceability standards and investment promotion. According to the WTO's Trade Policy Review of the European Union, Germany is among the most active EU member states in securing raw-material partnerships with third countries, and Australia features prominently on its list of preferred partners.

On the services side, educational exchanges constitute the largest single cross-border flow. Almost 30,000 German students studied in Australian institutions in 2023, while a similar number of Australian students spent semesters in Germany under the EU-Australia education framework. Professional services, including engineering consulting linked to Germany's renewable-energy projects and Australia's hydrogen export ambitions, have also expanded. However, Australia's agricultural exports to Germany face high tariff and non-tariff barriers under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, limiting penetration of beef, dairy and wine beyond niche markets — a recurring point of frustration articulated in bilateral trade dialogues. In 2024, negotiations for an EU-Australia Free Trade Agreement remained stalled over geographic indications for food products and market access for Australian meat, with Germany as one of the key EU member states defending protected designation-of-origin rules.

The trade relationship exemplifies the broader comparative advantage of the two economies, but also illustrates the asymmetrical dependency: Australia views Germany as a high-end market for its resource and education exports, while Germany views Australia as a mid-tier partner whose significance is strategic rather than transactional. The completion of a comprehensive free-trade agreement would, according to the European Commission's Sustainability Impact Assessment completed in 2021, lift bilateral goods trade by an estimated 22 per cent over a decade, a projection that remains conditional on agricultural compromises still unresolved as of late 2024.

Demographics & Future Outlook

Demographic trajectories probably represent the single most decisive force that will shape the Germany-Australia comparison through 2050. In 2024, Germany's population stood at 83.5 million, Australia's at 27.2 million — a ratio of 3.07:1. Life expectancy in 2023 was 80.54 years for Germany and 83.05 years for Australia, placing both among the world's longest-lived populations but pointing to a widening health-span gap that has implications for pension systems and healthcare spending. The German median age reached 46.3 years in 2024, against Australia's 37.6 years, according to the UN Population Division. That nine-year gap is the direct product of sustained migration flows into Australia, where net overseas migration added about 1.4 per cent to the population in 2023, compared with a net inflow of approximately 0.9 per cent for Germany, heavily skewed toward humanitarian admissions and intra-EU mobility.

Labour force dynamics flow directly from these numbers. The working-age population (15-64) in Germany has been shrinking in absolute terms since 2016, falling from 53.2 million to an estimated 51.8 million in 2024, while Australia's grew from 17.1 million to 18.2 million over the same interval. The IMF, in its 2024 Article IV consultations, noted that Germany's potential growth rate had fallen to around 0.7 per cent per annum, constrained by labour supply and sluggish total factor productivity growth. Australia's potential growth was assessed at approximately 2.5 per cent, reflecting both a larger demographic contribution and a higher natural rate of population increase. Without a step-change in labour force participation or automation, the IMF projected that German trend growth would remain below 1.0 per cent through the end of the 2020s, while Australia's would decelerate toward 2.0 per cent as net migration rates eventually normalise.

The fiscal burden of ageing is asymmetric. Germany's public pension system, anchored on a pay-as-you-go principle, faces a rising dependency ratio that, by 2030, will require transfers equivalent to an additional 2.5 per cent of GDP from the federal budget, per the German Council of Economic Experts. Australia's superannuation-based retirement funding model, though not immune to longevity risk, transfers a larger share of the adjustment to individual savings rather than to the public purse. Public debt-to-GDP ratios — Germany at roughly 64 per cent, Australia at 32 per cent in 2024 according to the IMF — give Canberra more room to invest in infrastructure and skills, provided political consensus holds.

Future outlook projections by the IMF World Economic Outlook (October 2024) and the OECD Economic Surveys imply that the per-capita convergence story will largely continue. German per-capita income is expected to rise modestly in real terms as productivity gains eventually offset demographic drag, but the nominal differential with Australia is projected to remain steady or widen slightly because Australian dollar appreciation pressures could return if the green transition accelerates global demand for copper and lithium. At the aggregate level, the GDP ratio may remain anchored around 2.5-2.7:1 through 2030, before potentially declining if German potential output continues to flatline while Australia adds another 3-4 million people. The scenarios, however, carry large uncertainties: the speed of China's economic rebalancing, the effectiveness of Germany's green industrial policy, and the future of global migration governance all sit outside the dataset but will define the lived experience in both countries.

FAQ

Is Germany richer than Australia in sheer economic size?

Yes, by a wide margin. In 2024, Germany's nominal GDP was $4.68 trillion, outpacing Australia's $1.78 trillion by a factor of 2.64x (World Bank). Even after adjusting for purchasing power, Germany's PPP-adjusted GDP of $6.07 trillion exceeded Australia's $1.93 trillion, so Germany commands a much larger aggregate economic mass and a deeper capital market.

Which country has a higher GDP per capita?

Australia does in nominal terms. Australia's per-capita GDP reached $65,066 in 2024, compared to $56,095 for Germany. In purchasing-power terms the gap disappears: Germany's PPP per capita of $72,674 was only 2.7 per cent higher than Australia's $70,731. For practical living standards, the two are essentially equivalent.

Why did Australia's GDP per capita overtake Germany's?

The overtaking occurred during the commodity supercycle of the 2000s and was locked in by a sustained exchange-rate appreciation and strong population growth. By 2010, Australia's per-capita income stood at $54,449 versus Germany's $42,809. The subsequent decade of higher mining-related incomes and migration-fuelled consumption kept Australia ahead even as the Australian dollar declined from its post-GFC highs.

Is unemployment lower in Germany or Australia?

In 2025, Germany recorded a lower unemployment rate: 3.71 per cent, against Australia's 4.09 per cent (IMF). Both rates are close to their respective estimates of full employment. The small difference reflects Germany's tighter labour supply owing to an ageing workforce and more rigid hiring barriers.

Which country has a stronger industrial sector?

The industry share of GDP is almost identical — 25.62 per cent in Germany and 25.53 per cent in Australia in 2024. However, the nature of the industry differs fundamentally. Germany's industrial base revolves around advanced manufacturing (automobiles, machinery, chemicals), while Australia's industry is weighted toward mining, energy extraction and construction. Value-added per worker in German manufacturing is considerably higher than in Australian manufacturing, but the resource sector makes Australia's industry highly profitable in dollar terms.

What are the main traded goods between Germany and Australia?

According to UN Comtrade, German exports to Australia consist mainly of motor vehicles, pharmaceutical products, industrial machinery and precision instruments. Australia ships to Germany metallurgical ores, coal, gold, and increasingly lithium concentrates for battery production. The bilateral trade flow is complementary, with Germany running a surplus in manufactured goods and Australia in primary commodities.

How does life expectancy compare, and what drives the difference?

Australia's life expectancy at birth in 2023 stood at 83.05 years, 2.51 years above Germany's 80.54 years. The gap is attributed to lower youth mortality, a younger migrant demographic, and lower smoking prevalence in Australia. Germany also has a legacy health divide between the former East and West, though that has narrowed over the past two decades.

Which population is growing faster?

Australia's population of 27.2 million in 2024 was growing substantially faster, driven by net overseas migration of about 380,000 per year, representing an annual growth rate near 1.4 per cent. Germany's 83.5 million population grew approximately 0.3 per cent annually, with natural increase negative and immigration the sole source of expansion. The demographic momentum therefore heavily favours Australia's future labour supply.

What does the IMF forecast for the two economies?

The IMF's World Economic Outlook (October 2024) projects that Germany's potential growth will remain below 1.0 per cent through the late 2020s, constrained by labour shortages and weak productivity investment. Australia's trend growth is forecast near 2.0-2.5 per cent, supported by population gains, resource exports, and services recovery. The forecasts imply a further, albeit gradual, narrowing of the aggregate GDP ratio over time.

Which country has more government debt?

According to the IMF's 2024 Fiscal Monitor, Germany's gross public debt-to-GDP ratio was approximately 64 per cent, roughly double Australia's 32 per cent. Both ratios are considered sustainable by sovereign rating agencies, though Germany entered a period of tighter fiscal constraints after the re-imposition of the constitutional debt brake in 2023, while Australia retains more short-term fiscal headroom.