Australia

Commonwealth of Australia

Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Governor-General: Michael Jeffery (2003)

Prime Minister: John Howard (1996)

Land area: 2,941,283 sq mi (7,617,931 sq km); total area: 2,967,909 sq mi (7,686,850 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 20,264,082 (growth rate: 0.9%); birth rate: 12.1/1000; infant mortality rate: 4.6/1000; life expectancy: 80.5; density per sq mi: 7

Capital (2003 est.): Canberra, 327,700

Largest cities: Sydney, 4,250,100; Melbourne, 3,610,800; Brisbane, 1,545,700; Perth, 1,375,200; Adelaide, 1,087,600

Monetary unit: Australian dollar

Languages: English 79%, native and other languages

Ethnicity/race: Caucasian 92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other 1%

Religions: Roman Catholic 26%, Anglican 21%, other Christian 21%, Buddhist 2%, Islam 2%, other 1%, none 15% (2001)

Literacy rate: 100% (1980 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $642.1 billion; per capita $32,000. Real growth rate: 2.6%. Inflation: 2.7%. Unemployment: 5.2%. Arable land: 6.15%. Agriculture: wheat, barley, sugarcane, fruits; cattle, sheep, poultry. Labor force: 10.42 million; agriculture 3.6%, industry 21.2%, services 75.2% (2004 est.). Industries: mining, industrial and transportation equipment, food processing, chemicals, steel. Natural resources: bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas, petroleum. Exports: $103 billion (2005 est.): coal, gold, meat, wool, alumina, iron ore, wheat, machinery and transport equipment. Imports: $119.6 billion (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment, computers and office machines, telecommunication equipment and parts; crude oil and petroleum products. Major trading partners: Japan, China, U.S., South Korea, New Zealand, India, UK, Germany, Singapore (2004).

Member of Commonwealth of Nations

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 11.66 million (2004); mobile cellular: 16.48 million (2004). Radio broadcast stations: AM 262, FM 345, shortwave 1 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 104 (1997). Internet hosts: 5,351,622 (2005). Internet users: 14,189,544 (2005).

Transportation: Railways: total: 54,652 km (3,859 km electrified) (2004). Highways: total: 811,601 km; paved: 316,524 km; unpaved: 495,077 km (2002). Waterways: 2,000 km (mainly used for recreation on Murray and Murray-Darling river systems) (2002). Ports and harbors: Brisbane, Dampier, Fremantle, Gladstone, Hay Point, Melbourne, Newcastle, Port Hedland, Port Kembla, Port Walcott, Sydney. Airports: 450 (2005).

International disputes: East Timor and Australia agreed in 2005 to defer the disputed portion of the boundary for fifty years and to split hydrocarbon revenues evenly outside the Joint Petroleum Development Area covered by the 2002 Timor Sea Treaty; East Timor dispute hampers creation of a revised maritime boundary with Indonesia (see also Ashmore and Cartier Islands dispute); regional states express concern over Australia's 2004 declaration of a 1,000-nautical mile-wide maritime identification zone; Australia asserts land and maritime claims to Antarctica (see Antarctica); in 2004 Australia submitted its claims to UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) to extend its continental margin from both its mainland and Antarctic claims


 

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