Australia Travel Podcast with Jack Thornton

Location

Oceania, continent between the Indian Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean

Terrain

Mostly low plateau with deserts; fertile plain in southeast

Climate

Generally arid to semiarid; temperate in south and east; tropical in north

Elevation

Highest point

Mount Kosciuszko 2,228 m

Lowest point

Lake Eyre -15 m

Mean elevation

330 m

Area

Total

7,741,220 sq km

Land

7,682,300 sq km

Water

58,920 sq km

Size comparison

Slightly smaller than the 48 contiguous US states

Coastline

25,760 km

Land borders

Total 0 km

Natural resources

Alumina, coal, iron ore, copper, lithium, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, rare earth elements, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, opals, natural gas, petroleum

Land use

Agricultural land

47.2% (2023 est.)

Arable land

4% (2023 est.)

Permanent crops

0.1% (2023 est.)

Permanent pasture

43.1% (2023 est.)

Forest

17.3% (2023 est.)

Other

35.4% (2023 est.)

Natural hazards

Cyclones along the coast; severe droughts; forest fires

Volcanism: volcanic activity on Heard and McDonald Islands

Note

Note 1: world's smallest continent but sixth-largest country; the largest country in Oceania, the largest country entirely in the Southern Hemisphere, and the largest country without land borders

Note 2: the Great Dividing Range that runs along eastern Australia is that continent’s longest mountain range and the third-longest land-based range in the world; the term "Great Dividing Range" refers to the fact that the mountains form a watershed crest from which all of the rivers of eastern Australia flow – east, west, north, and south

Note 3: Australia is the only continent without glaciers; it is the driest inhabited continent on earth; Perth on the west coast is home to the invigorating sea breeze known as the "Fremantle Doctor," one of the most consistent winds in the world; Australia hosts 10% of the world's biodiversity, and a great number of its flora and fauna exist nowhere else in the world

Population

Total

27,490,921 (2025 est.)

Male

13,685,935

Female

13,804,986

Nationality

Noun

Australian(s)

Adjective

Australian

Ethnic groups

English 33%, Australian 29.9%, Irish 9.5%, Scottish 8.6%, Chinese 5.5%, Italian 4.4%, German 4%, Indian 3.1%, Australian Aboriginal 2.9%, Greek 1.7%, unspecified 4.7% (2021 est.)

Languages

English 72%, Mandarin 2.7%, Arabic 1.4%, Vietnamese 1.3%, Cantonese 1.2%, other 15.7%, unspecified 5.7% (2021 est.)

Religions

Roman Catholic 20%, Protestant 18.1% (Anglican 9.8%, Uniting Church 2.6%, Presbyterian and Reformed 1.6%, Baptist 1.4%, Pentecostal 1%, other Protestant 1.7%), other Christian 3.5%, Muslim 3.2%, Hindu 2.7%, Buddhist 2.4%, Orthodox 2.3% (Eastern Orthodox 2.1%, Oriental Orthodox 0.2%), other 2.1%, none 38.4%, unspecified 7.3% (2021 est.)

Median age

Total

38.5 years (2025 est.)

Male

36.9 years

Female

39.2 years

Life expectancy

Total population

83.5 years (2024 est.)

Male

81.3 years

Female

85.7 years

Urbanisation

Urban population

86.6% of total population (2023)

Rate of urbanization

1.27% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

Where people live

Population is primarily located on the periphery, with the highest concentration of people residing in the east and southeast; a secondary population center is located in and around Perth in the west; of the states and territories, New South Wales has, by far, the largest population; the interior, or "outback," has a very sparse population

Largest cities

5.235 million Melbourne, 5.121 million Sydney, 2.505 million Brisbane, 2.118 million Perth, 1.367 million Adelaide, 472,000 CANBERRA (capital) (2023)

Background

Aboriginal Australians arrived on the continent at least 60,000 years ago and developed complex hunter-gatherer societies and oral histories. Dutch navigators led by Abel TASMAN were the first Europeans to land in Australia in 1606, and they mapped the western and northern coasts. They named the continent New Holland but made no attempts to permanently settle it. In 1770, Englishman James COOK sailed to the east coast of Australia, named it New South Wales, and claimed it for Great Britain. In 1788 and 1825 respectively, Great Britain established New South Wales and then Tasmania as penal colonies. Great Britain and Ireland sent more than 150,000 convicts to Australia before ending the practice in 1868. As Europeans began settling areas away from the coasts, they came into more direct contact with Aboriginal Australians. Europeans also cleared land for agriculture, impacting Aboriginal Australians’ ways of life. These issues, along with disease and a policy in the 1900s that forcefully removed Aboriginal children from their parents, reduced the Aboriginal Australian population from more than 700,000 pre-European contact to a low of 74,000 in 1933.

Four additional colonies were established in Australia in the mid-1800s: Western Australia (1829), South Australia (1836), Victoria (1851), and Queensland (1859). Gold rushes beginning in the 1850s brought thousands of new immigrants to New South Wales and Victoria, helping to reorient Australia away from its penal colony roots. In the second half of the 1800s, the colonies were all gradually granted self-government, and in 1901, they federated and became the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia contributed more than 400,000 troops to Allied efforts during World War I, and Australian troops played a large role in the defeat of Japanese troops in the Pacific in World War II. Australia severed most constitutional links with the UK in 1942 but remained part of the British Commonwealth. Australia’s post-war economy boomed and by the 1970s, racial policies that prevented most non-Whites from immigrating to Australia were removed, greatly increasing Asian immigration to the country. In recent decades, Australia has become an internationally competitive, advanced market economy due in large part to economic reforms adopted in the 1980s and its proximity to East and Southeast Asia.

In the early 2000s, Australian politics became unstable with frequent attempts to oust party leaders, including five changes of prime minister between 2010 and 2018. As a result, both major parties instituted rules to make it harder to remove a party leader.

Government

Federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm

Capital

Canberra

Time zone

UTC+11 (16 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)

Independence

1 January 1901 (from the federation of UK colonies)

National day

Australia Day (commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet of Australian settlers), 26 January (1788); ANZAC Day (commemorates the anniversary of the landing of troops of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during World War I at Gallipoli, Turkey), 25 April (1915)

Overview

High-income and globally integrated economy; strong mining, manufacturing, and service sectors driving slow but steady growth; net exporter, driven by commodities to East Asian trade partners; weak productivity and aging population straining labor force participation

GDP per capita

Real GDP per capita 2024

$60,100 (2024 est.)

Real GDP per capita 2023

$60,500 (2023 est.)

Real GDP per capita 2022

$59,900 (2022 est.)

Inflation

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2024

3.2% (2024 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2023

5.6% (2023 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2022

6.6% (2022 est.)

Unemployment

Unemployment rate 2024

4.1% (2024 est.)

Unemployment rate 2023

3.7% (2023 est.)

Unemployment rate 2022

3.8% (2022 est.)

Exchange rate

Currency

Australian dollars (AUD) per US dollar -

Exchange rates 2024

1.515 (2024 est.)

Exchange rates 2023

1.505 (2023 est.)

Exchange rates 2022

1.442 (2022 est.)

Exchange rates 2021

1.331 (2021 est.)

Exchange rates 2020

1.453 (2020 est.)

Main industries

Mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel

Agriculture

Wheat, sugarcane, barley, rapeseed, milk, cotton, sorghum, beef, lentils, grapes (2023)

Airports

2,257 (2025)

Railways

Total

32,606 km (2022) 3,448 km electrified

Standard gauge

18,007 km (2022) 1.435 mm

Narrow gauge

11,914 km (2022) 1.067 mm

Broad gauge

2,685 km (2022) 1.600 mm

Ports

Total ports

66 (2024)

Large

5

Medium

8

Small

24

Very small

29

Ports with oil terminals

38

Key ports

Brisbane, Dampier, Darwin, Fremantle, Geelong, Hobart, Melbourne, Newcastle, Port Adelaide, Port Dalrymple, Port Kembla, Port Lincoln, Sydney

Internet domain

.au

Internet users

Percent of population 97% (2023 est.)

Mobile subscriptions

Total subscriptions

30.1 million (2024 est.)

Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants

113 (2024 est.)

Environmental issues

Soil erosion from overgrazing, deforestation, industrial development, urbanization, and poor farming practices; limited natural freshwater resources; soil salinity from use of poor-quality water, drought, desertification; habitat loss from agricultural clearing; floral extinctions; Great Barrier Reef preservation; overfishing; pollution; invasive species

Fresh water

492 billion cubic meters (2022 est.)