Australia ranks second for economic, health performance through the pandemic

Australia ranks second in the developed world on a combined ranking of health and economic outcomes through the pandemic.

Morning commuters at Flinders Street in Melbourne after a five-day lockdown this year. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Australia ranks second in the developed world behind New Zealand on a combined ranking of health and economic outcomes through the pandemic, new research by EY has revealed.

EY chief economist Jo Masters said measuring economic performance by GDP alone was “too narrow”, and that including employment outcomes and the health of government and private sector indebtedness offered a more fulsome picture.

By EY’s economic index, New Zealand topped the list of 25 developed countries, followed by Ireland, Australia, Denmark and The Netherlands.

Spain scored the worst on this measure, followed by Italy, Britain, Portugal and Austria.

The US was ranked 20th.

Ms Masters and fellow report author senior economist Johnathan McMenamin, also ranked the countries by COVID deaths per 100,000 people.

New Zealand also topped this list, with fewer than one death per 100,000 people, then South Korea and Australia at under four deaths, Japan at seven and Norway at 12. Czech Republic suffered the most deaths per 100,000 population at 206, followed by Belgium, the UK, Italy and Hungary — the last having recorded 165 deaths per 100,000.

Ms Masters said the research “shows that while an above-average health outcome does not guarantee a strong economic outcome, it significantly improves the odds”.

“For the most part, those countries that have limited the health crisis have also performed well on the economic indicators.”

Giving economic and health performances an equal weighting, New Zealand’s top ranking by both measures put them at the top, followed by Australia and then Denmark.

Britain and Italy rank a combined last of the 25 advanced countries, with Spain the next worst performer.