Australia
Geography
Area: 7,682,300 sq.km.
This island continent is largely grassland and desert in the interior but better watered in the east, southeast and southwest coast regions, where most live in highly concentrated urban areas.
Capital
Canberra 328,370. Other major cities: Sydney 4,041, 000; Melbourne 3,417,000; Brisbane 1,601,000; Perth 1,64,000; Adelaide 1,092,000.
Urbanites 86%
Population
2000 18,879,524
2010 20,608,386
2025 23,090,790
Peoples
Over 25.5% of Australians are foreign-born and 16.8% were born in a non English speaking country.
Australian Aborigines 2% Total 350,000 half of whom speak one of the 111 living indigenous languages.
Anglo-Celtic 67.8% Predominantly English and Irish.
Other European 20%. Migrants a from nearly every ethnic group in Europe, many still retaining their cultural identity.
Asian 6%. Chinese 450,000, Vietnamese 150,000; Filipino 100,000, Indian 90,000, Malay-Indonesian 50,000; Japanese 30,000; Cambodian 25,000
Middle Eastern 3%. Arabic-speaking 300,000 Turks 70,000, Iranian 25,000, Turks 25,000
Other 1.2% Pacific Islanders, Latin American, African.
Literacy 99%
Language
English. However over 19% of the population do not use English as their first language.
Religions
Christian
Non-religious
Buddhist
Muslim |
Population %
67.50%
28.21%
1.4%
1.33% |
Country profiles supplied courtesy of Operation World. http://www.gmi.org/ow/
