🇦🇺 Australia's National Capability. GINC's Emerging Assessment.
Australia sits 19th on the Global Capability Frontier, with strong performance all around, but lacking a T1 role in any of the nine capability domains.
QUICK TAKE · AI Summary
- 🇦🇺 Australia sits 19th on the Global Capability Frontier, with strong performance all around, but lacking a T1 role in any of the nine capability domains.
- GINC's National Capability Assessments focus on capability quality, not quantity and favour broad dominance over specialisation. As a medium sized, developing economy, 🇦🇺 Australia excels in soft and economic capabilities.
Figure 1. Australia's National Capability Relative to Global Frontier Nations
| Capability | ABBREV | 🇦🇺 Tier | Frontier Nations – T1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard Capability | |||
| Critical Technology | CT | 🇦🇺 T6 | 🇺🇸 |
| Strategic Infrastructure | SI | 🇦🇺 T4 | 🇨🇭🇫🇮🇯🇵🇰🇷🇳🇱🇳🇴🇸🇬🇸🇪🇦🇪🇺🇸 |
| National Security | NS | 🇦🇺 T4 | 🇮🇱🇺🇸 |
| Soft Capability | |||
| Human Capital | HC | 🇦🇺 T4 | 🇨🇭🇪🇪🇮🇱🇸🇬🇺🇸 |
| Information Influence | II | 🇦🇺 T3 | 🇩🇰🇫🇮🇯🇵🇰🇷🇳🇱🇳🇴🇸🇬🇸🇪🇨🇭🇦🇪🇺🇸 |
| Governance Integrity | GI | 🇦🇺 T4 | 🇨🇭🇩🇰🇪🇪🇫🇮🇮🇱🇳🇴🇸🇬🇸🇪 |
| Economic Capability | |||
| Financial Strength | FS | 🇦🇺 T3 | 🇫🇷🇩🇪🇸🇬🇸🇪🇬🇧🇺🇸 |
| Production & Innovation | PI | 🇦🇺 T2 | 🇨🇭🇮🇱🇰🇷🇸🇬🇸🇪🇺🇸 |
| Investment & Trade | IT | 🇦🇺 T3 | 🇨🇭🇪🇪🇮🇱🇰🇷🇸🇬🇺🇸 |
Source. GINC Data Laboratory, January 2026
Figure 2. Australia's Top 10 Capability Groups
| Rank | Capability Domain | Capability Group | Score | PERC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Financial Strength | 🇦🇺 Financial Governance & Regulation | 15.0 | 98.1% |
| 6 | Investment & Trade | 🇦🇺 Trade Policy & Institutions | 15.3 | 97.7% |
| 7 | Information & Influence | 🇦🇺 Language & People-to-People Exchange | 15.0 | 97.2% |
| 8 | National Security | 🇦🇺 Intelligence Capability | 15.6 | 96.7% |
| 8 | Financial Strength | 🇦🇺 Financial Markets Depth & Liquidity | 14.3 | 96.7% |
| 8 | Financial Strength | 🇦🇺 Sovereign Wealth & Reserve Capacity | 14.0 | 96.7% |
| 9 | Information & Influence | 🇦🇺 Cultural Reach & Influence | 15.3 | 96.3% |
| 10 | National Security | 🇦🇺 Cyber Capability | 15.0 | 95.8% |
| 10 | Financial Strength | 🇦🇺 Resilience & Shock Absorption | 14.3 | 95.8% |
| 11 | Human Capital | 🇦🇺 Higher Education | 15.3 | 95.3% |
Source. GINC Data Laboratory, January 2026
Figure 3. Australia's Bottom 10 Capability Groups
| Rank | Capability Domain | Capability Group | Score | PERC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 | Investment & Trade | 🇦🇺 Global Value Chain Role | 12.7 | 89.3% |
| 24 | Investment & Trade | 🇦🇺 Export Sophistication | 12.3 | 89.3% |
| 25 | Human Capital | 🇦🇺 Digital & AI Literacy | 14.3 | 88.8% |
| 25 | Production & Innovation | 🇦🇺 Research & Development | 13.3 | 88.8% |
| 26 | Production & Innovation | 🇦🇺 Industrial & Manufacturing Capacity | 11.3 | 88.3% |
| 27 | Production & Innovation | 🇦🇺 Output Complexity | 12.7 | 87.9% |
| 27 | Critical Technology | 🇦🇺 Energy Technology | 10.3 | 87.9% |
| 32 | Strategic Infrastructure | 🇦🇺 Advanced Manufacturing | 13.3 | 85.5% |
| 33 | Strategic Infrastructure | 🇦🇺 Energy Infrastructure | 13.3 | 85.0% |
| 116 | National Security | 🇦🇺 Nuclear Capability | 1.7 | 46.3% |
Source. GINC Data Laboratory, January 2026
