Australia
Name
| Official name | Commonwealth of Australia |
|---|---|
| Short name | Australia |
| Demonym | Australian — "Aussie" colloquially |
| Meaning of the name | From the Latin terra australis, "southern land"; Matthew Flinders urged the name and it was in official use by 1824 |
| Also called | Down Under; the Lucky Country, after Donald Horne's 1964 book |
Quick facts
| Capital | Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory — a planned city, the seat of Parliament since 1927 |
|---|---|
| Largest city | Sydney, about 5.5 million in its metropolitan area; Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide follow |
| Official language | None declared — English by usage; more than 300 languages are spoken at home, and more than 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages survive |
| Currency | Australian dollar — ISO code AUD, symbol $ (A$); decimal since 14 February 1966; issued by the Reserve Bank of Australia |
| Time zones | Three — Western (UTC+8), Central (UTC+9:30) and Eastern (UTC+10) — with daylight saving in the southeast from October to April |
| Calling code | +61 |
| Internet domain | .au |
| ISO 3166 codes | AU · AUS · 036 |
| Vehicle registration code | AUS |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug type I |
| Federation | 1 January 1901 — six colonies became the Commonwealth under the Constitution enacted at Westminster in 1900; full legal independence came with the Australia Act of 1986 |
| National days | 26 January, Australia Day, the anniversary of the First Fleet's landing in 1788; 25 April, Anzac Day |
| Head of state | King Charles III, represented by a Governor-General — a Commonwealth realm |
| Population | About 27.5 million (2025) — the Factbook and the Australian Bureau of Statistics agree within a few hundred thousand; about 30% were born overseas |
| Area | 7,741,220 km² (2,988,900 sq mi) including the islands — the sixth largest country in the world and the only one occupying a whole continent |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | The Blue Ensign with the Union Jack in the canton, the seven-pointed Commonwealth Star below it and the Southern Cross in the fly — chosen from 32,823 entries in 1901, the national flag by the Flags Act 1953.Flag of Australia |
|---|---|
| Coat of arms | A shield of the six state badges, supported by a red kangaroo and an emu, under the seven-pointed Commonwealth Star, on a wreath of golden wattle — granted 1912 |
| National anthem | "Advance Australia Fair" — by Peter Dodds McCormick, first sung in 1878; proclaimed the anthem on 19 April 1984 |
| National colors | Green and gold — proclaimed 19 April 1984 |
| Floral emblem | The golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha) — proclaimed 1988; Wattle Day is 1 September |
| National gemstone | The opal — proclaimed 1993; Australia produces most of the world's opals |
| National animals | The red kangaroo and the emu, the supporters of the arms — informal; no animal is designated by law |
| Other flags | The Australian Aboriginal Flag and the Torres Strait Islander Flag, proclaimed flags of Australia in 1995 |
| National sport | None official; cricket, the football codes, swimming and surfing are the national passions |
| National dish | None official — the meat pie, the lamington, Vegemite and the barbecue are the folk claimants |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by law and proclamation, as are the wattle, the colors and the opal; the animals, sport and dish are informal |
Geography
| Location | The Australian continent, Tasmania and thousands of islands, between the Indian and Pacific oceans, south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea |
|---|---|
| Coastline | 25,760 km (16,000 mi) on the mainland and Tasmania by the Factbook count; about 34,000 km (21,000 mi) counting the islands |
| Land borders | None — an island continent; Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and New Zealand are the nearest neighbors across the sea |
| Highest point | Mount Kosciuszko, 2,228 m (7,310 ft), in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales; Mawson Peak on Heard Island, 2,745 m (9,006 ft), is the highest in Australian territory |
| Lowest point | Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, about 15 m (49 ft) below sea level |
| Mean elevation | 330 m (1,080 ft) — the flattest continent |
| Longest river | The Murray, 2,508 km (1,558 mi); the Murray–Darling system about 3,670 km (2,280 mi) |
| Other rivers | Darling, Murrumbidgee, Lachlan, Cooper Creek, Flinders; the Ord and the Fitzroy in the north |
| Largest lake | Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, about 9,690 km² (3,740 sq mi) when full — a salt lake that fills only a few times a century; Lake Alexandrina, 570 km², the largest freshwater lake |
| Deserts | The Great Victoria, the largest; the Great Sandy, Tanami, Simpson and Gibson; about 18% of the continent is desert, 35% receives almost no rain |
| Mountain range | The Great Dividing Range, about 3,500 km (2,200 mi) down the east coast — the third longest land range in the world |
| The Great Barrier Reef | About 2,300 km (1,430 mi) along the Queensland coast — the largest coral reef system in the world |
| Uluru | The great sandstone monolith of the Red Centre, 348 m (1,142 ft) high, sacred to the Anangu; a World Heritage site with Kata Tjuta |
| Climate | Arid to semi-arid across most of the interior; temperate in the south and east, tropical in the north |
| Natural hazards | Bushfires, cyclones in the north, floods, droughts — the El Niño cycle drives them |
| Natural resources | Iron ore, coal, natural gas, gold, lithium, bauxite, uranium, nickel, copper, zinc, rare earths, opals; among the world's leading producers of most of them |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 46%, most of it pasture; arable about 4%; forest about 16% |
| National parks | More than 500 — Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta, Daintree, the Blue Mountains, Cradle Mountain among them |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 21 — the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu, Uluru-Kata Tjuta, the Tasmanian Wilderness, the Sydney Opera House, the Australian Convict Sites and the Gondwana Rainforests among them; the Murujuga Cultural Landscape of rock art inscribed in 2025 |
| Administrative divisions | 6 states — New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania — and 2 mainland territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory |
| External territories | Christmas Island, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island, Heard and McDonald Islands, the Coral Sea Islands, Ashmore and Cartier, and the Australian Antarctic Territory |
People
| Population | About 27.5 million (2025) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 3.5 per km² (9 per sq mi) — among the lowest in the world; nine in ten Australians live in the cities of the coast |
| Population growth | About 1.5–2% a year, most of it immigration |
| Median age | About 38 years |
| Life expectancy | About 83.5 years — among the highest in the world |
| Fertility rate | About 1.6 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 87% |
| Indigenous Australians | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people about 3.8% — some 984,000 (2021 census) |
| Ancestry | English 33%, Australian 30%, Irish 9.5%, Scottish 8.6%, Chinese 5.5%, Italian 4.4%, German 4%, Indian 3.1% (2021 census, multiple responses) |
| Languages | English at home for 72%; Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Punjabi the largest others |
| Religion | Christian about 44% (Catholic 20%), no religion 38%, Muslim 3.2%, Hindu 2.7%, Buddhist 2.4% (2021 census) |
| Largest cities | Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Gold Coast, Canberra, Newcastle |
| Human Development Index | 0.958 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; among the top ten in the world |
| Born overseas | About 30% of the population — one of the highest shares among large countries |
Government
| Form of government | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy — a Commonwealth realm under the Constitution of 1901 |
|---|---|
| Monarch | King Charles III, since 8 September 2022 |
| Governor-General | Sam Mostyn, since 1 July 2024 — the second woman in the office |
| Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese, since 23 May 2022 — re-elected in a landslide on 3 May 2025, the first prime minister re-elected since 2004 |
| Parliament | Bicameral — the House of Representatives (150 members) and the Senate (76 senators, 12 per state and 2 per territory) |
| Voting | Compulsory for citizens over 18, with preferential ballots — enforced federally since 1924 |
| Legal system | Common law; the High Court of Australia at its head |
| Administrative divisions | 6 states and 2 mainland territories, each with its own parliament |
| United Nations | Founding member, 1945 |
| Alliances | ANZUS (1951); AUKUS with the United Kingdom and the United States (2021); the Quad with India, Japan and the United States; the Five Eyes |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth, the G20, the OECD, APEC, the Pacific Islands Forum, the CPTPP, RCEP, the WTO |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$1.8 trillion (2025, IMF); projected near US$2 trillion for 2026 — among the dozen largest economies |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$66,000 (2025) — among the highest in the world |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$73,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 1.6% (2025) |
| Economy by sector | Services about 63%; mining about 6% of GDP but more than half of exports; agriculture under 3% |
| Currency | Australian dollar (AUD) — among the most traded currencies in the world |
| Exports | About A$570 billion a year — iron ore, coal, natural gas, gold, education, beef, wheat, wool, lithium |
| Export partners | China about 30%, Japan 12%, South Korea 6.5%, the United States 6%, India 5.5% |
| Import partners | China about 19%, the United States 15%, Japan, South Korea, Thailand |
| Mining | The world's largest exporter of iron ore and of coal, the largest producer of lithium and bauxite, and a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas and gold |
| Credit rating | AAA from all three major agencies |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank); an advanced economy (IMF) |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Sydney Kingsford Smith; Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth follow |
|---|---|
| Airline | Qantas, founded 1920 in Queensland — the third oldest airline still flying |
| Main ports | Port Hedland, the largest bulk export port in the world, for iron ore; Melbourne and Sydney (Port Botany) for containers; Newcastle for coal; Gladstone; Fremantle |
| Highway 1 | About 14,500 km (9,000 mi) around the continent — the longest national highway in the world |
| Railways | About 33,000 km (20,500 mi); the Indian Pacific, Sydney to Perth, 4,352 km (2,704 mi), crosses the Nullarbor on a 478 km (297 mi) straight — the longest in the world |
| The Ghan | Adelaide to Darwin, 2,979 km (1,851 mi), across the continent from south to north |
| Trans-Australian | The Stuart Highway from Port Augusta to Darwin, about 2,720 km (1,690 mi) |
History in dates
| c. 65,000 years ago | The first Australians arrive — the oldest continuous cultures on Earth |
|---|---|
| 1606 | Willem Janszoon of the Dutch East India Company makes the first recorded European landfall |
| 1770 | James Cook charts the east coast and claims it for Britain, 22 August |
| 1788 | The First Fleet lands at Sydney Cove, 26 January |
| 1851 | Gold discovered in New South Wales and Victoria |
| 1856 | The secret ballot introduced in Victoria and South Australia — the "Australian ballot" |
| 1901 | Federation, 1 January; the flag competition |
| 1902 | Women win the right to vote and stand for federal Parliament |
| 1915 | Gallipoli, 25 April |
| 1927 | Parliament moves to Canberra |
| 1967 | The referendum to count Aboriginal Australians in the census passes with 90.8% |
| 1973 | The Sydney Opera House opens |
| 1986 | The Australia Act ends the last legal ties to Britain |
| 2000 | The Sydney Olympics |
| 2008 | The Apology to the Stolen Generations |
| 2023 | The Voice referendum fails, 14 October |
| 2025 | Albanese re-elected, 3 May; Murujuga listed by UNESCO |
Records & firsts
| The largest coral reef | The Great Barrier Reef, about 2,300 km — visible from space |
|---|---|
| The oldest living cultures | Aboriginal Australians, some 65,000 years |
| The flattest, driest inhabited continent | A mean elevation of 330 m; a third of the land receives almost no rain |
| The longest fence | The Dingo Fence, about 5,600 km (3,500 mi) |
| The longest straight railway | 478 km across the Nullarbor |
| The longest national highway | Highway 1, about 14,500 km |
| The largest cattle station | Anna Creek in South Australia — larger than Israel |
| The largest sand island | K'gari (Fraser Island), 1,840 km² |
| The secret ballot | Invented in Victoria in 1856 — still called the Australian ballot |
| The largest opal producer | About 95% of the world's opals, from Coober Pedy, Lightning Ridge and Andamooka |
| The largest exporter of iron ore | From the Pilbara, through Port Hedland |
| Marsupials | The home of the kangaroo, koala, wombat and platypus — the last one of only five egg-laying mammals |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Australia?
The Commonwealth of Australia — the federation of six former British colonies that came into being on 1 January 1901. The name comes from the Latin terra australis, "southern land"; the navigator Matthew Flinders pressed for "Australia" and it was in official use by 1824.
What is the capital of Australia?
Canberra, a planned city in the Australian Capital Territory chosen as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, laid out by Walter Burley Griffin and the seat of Parliament since 1927. Sydney, with more than 5 million people, is the largest city; Melbourne is close behind.
How big is Australia?
About 7.74 million km² (2.99 million sq mi) including its islands — the sixth largest country in the world and the only one that covers a whole continent, with about 25,760 km (16,000 mi) of coastline on the mainland and Tasmania and no land borders at all. It also administers external territories from Christmas Island to a claimed sector of Antarctica.
What are the highest and lowest points of Australia?
Mount Kosciuszko, 2,228 m (7,310 ft), in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales, is the highest point on the mainland; Mawson Peak on Heard Island, an external territory, is higher at 2,745 m. The lowest point is Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre in South Australia, about 15 m (49 ft) below sea level. Australia is the flattest of the continents, with a mean elevation of only 330 m.
What is the longest river in Australia?
The Murray, about 2,508 km (1,558 mi), rising in the Snowy Mountains and reaching the sea at Lake Alexandrina in South Australia. With the Darling, its main tributary, the Murray–Darling system runs some 3,670 km (2,280 mi) and drains a seventh of the continent.
What are the national symbols of Australia?
The flag, the coat of arms with its kangaroo and emu, and the anthem "Advance Australia Fair" (1984) are the state’s symbols; the golden wattle was proclaimed the floral emblem in 1988, green and gold the national colors in 1984, and the opal the national gemstone in 1993. The kangaroo and emu are the informal national animals — neither is designated by law.
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