General information about Australia

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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of 7,688,287 km2 (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world’s flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.

Map of Australia by States and Territories

Indigenous Australians are believed to have lived on the continent for at least 40,000 years before the first British settlement in the 18th century. Indigenous people spoke hundreds of languages, grouped into roughly 250 language families. Dutch explorers first sighted the continent in 1606, and Britain later claimed sovereignty over the eastern half of Australia in 1770, initially establishing the colony of New South Wales as a penal settlement before 26 January 1788.

Population grew steadily over the following decades; the continent was gradually explored, and five additional British colonies were established. These later became Australia’s six states (New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Queensland) and two territories (Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory).

On 1 January 1901, the states and territories federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia. Since then, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system. The Federation consists of six states and several territories.
Australia’s population is 23.1 million, with a high level of urbanization concentrated mainly in the eastern states.

Australia is a highly developed country and one of the world’s most prosperous nations, with the 12th largest economy globally. In 2012, Australia ranked 5th worldwide in GDP per capita. Its military expenditure ranks 13th globally. Australia also has the second-highest Human Development Index (HDI) and performs strongly across international measures such as quality of life, healthcare, education, economic freedom, and protection of civil and political liberties.

Australia is a member of the United Nations, G20, the Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, OECD, WTO, APEC, and the Pacific Islands Forum.

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