Australia

Commonwealth of Australia
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Advance Australia Fair"[N 1]
Commonwealth of Australia   Australian territorial claim in Antarctica
Capital	Canberra 35°18′29″S 149°07′28″E / 35.30806°S 149.12444°E / -35.30806; 149.12444
Largest city	Sydney (metropolitan) Melbourne (urban)[N 2]
Official and national language	English
Religion (2021)[4]	43.9% Christianity 38.9% no religion 3.2% Islam 2.7% Hinduism 2.4% Buddhism 1.7% other 7.2% unanswered[N 3]
Demonym(s)	Australian Aussie (colloquial)[5][6][7]
Government	Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy
• Monarch	Charles III
• Governor-General	Sam Mostyn
• Prime Minister	Anthony Albanese
Legislature	Parliament
• Upper house	Senate
• Lower house	House of Representatives
Independence  from the United Kingdom
• Federation	1 January 1901
• Balfour Declaration	15 November 1926
• Statute of Westminster Adoption Act	9 October 1942
• Australia Acts	3 March 1986
Area
• Total	7,688,287[8][9][10] km2 (2,968,464 sq mi) (6th)
• Water (%)	1.79 (2015)[10]
Population
• 2025 estimate	27,698,400[11] (54th)
• 2021 census	25,890,773[12]
• Density	3.6/km2 (9.3/sq mi) (244th)
GDP (PPP)	2024 estimate
• Total	$1.898 trillion[13] (19th)
• Per capita	$69,475[13] (23rd)
GDP (nominal)	2024 estimate
• Total	$1.802 trillion[13] (14th)
• Per capita	$65,966[13] (12th)
Gini (2020)	32.4[14] medium inequality
HDI (2022)	0.946[15] very high (10th)
Currency	Australian dollar ($) (AUD)
Time zone	UTC+8; +9.5; +10 (AWST, ACST, AEST[N 4])
• Summer (DST)	UTC+10.5; +11 (ACDT, AEDT[N 4])
	DST not observed in Qld, WA and NT
Date format	dd/mm/yyyy[16]
Calling code	+61
ISO 3166 code	AU
Internet TLD	.au

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands.^{[N 5]} 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.^[18] 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.

The ancestors of Aboriginal Australians began arriving from south-east Asia 50,000 to 65,000 years ago, during the last glacial period.^[19][20][21] By the time of British settlement, Aboriginal Australians spoke 250 distinct languages and had one of the oldest living cultures in the world.^[22] Australia's written history commenced with Dutch exploration of most of the coastline in the 17th-century. British colonisation began in 1788 with the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales. By the mid-19th century, most of the continent had been explored by European settlers and five additional self-governing British colonies were established, each gaining responsible government by 1890. The colonies federated in 1901, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. This continued a process of increasing autonomy from the United Kingdom, highlighted by the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942, and culminating in the Australia Acts of 1986.^[23]

Australia is a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy comprising six states and ten territories. Its population of almost 28 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard.^[24] Canberra is the nation's capital, while its most populous cities are Sydney and Melbourne, both with a population of more than 5 million.^[24] Australia's culture is diverse, and the country has one of the highest foreign-born populations in the world. It has a highly developed economy^[25] and one of the highest per capita incomes globally.^[26] Its abundant natural resources and well-developed international trade relations are crucial to the country's economy. It ranks highly for quality of life, health, education, economic freedom, civil liberties and political rights.^[27]

Australia is a middle power, and has the world's thirteenth-highest military expenditure. It is a member of international groups including the United Nations; the G20; the OECD; the World Trade Organization; Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation; the Pacific Islands Forum; the Pacific Community; the Commonwealth of Nations; and the defence and security organisations ANZUS, AUKUS, and the Five Eyes. It is also a major non-NATO ally of the United States.^[28]

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