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. Estimates of Aboriginal population prior to European settlement range from 300,000 to one million, with archaeological finds indicating a sustainable population of around 750,000. This ratio is much lower than many other countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member developed countries). In 2015, 2.15% of the Australian population lived overseas, one of the lowest proportions worldwide. The current Australian resident population is estimated at 28,282,000 (29 November 2025). Multicultural immigration since the Second World War has led to the growth of non-Christian religions, the largest of which are Islam (3.2%), Hinduism (2.7%), Buddhism (2.4%), Sikhism (0.8%), and Judaism (0.4%). Australia has the highest ratio of international students per head of population in the world by a large margin, with 812,000 international students enrolled in the nation's universities and vocational institutions in 2019. Australia has five cities (including their suburbs) that have populations larger than one million people. In common with many other developed countries, Australia is experiencing a demographic shift towards an older population, with more retirees and fewer people of working age. The population is heavily concentrated on the east coast, and in particular in the south-eastern region between South East Queensland to the north-east and Adelaide to the south-west. Australia has generally strong protections for civil and political rights, and the country has signed up to a wide range of international rights treaties. The Dutch charted the western and northern coastlines of what they called New Holland in the seventeenth century, but made no attempt at settlement. Well-known fauna include the platypus and echidna; a host of marsupials, including the koala, kangaroo, wombat; and birds such as the emu, and kookaburra. Most Australian woody plant species are evergreen and many are adapted to fire and drought, including many eucalypts and acacias. The capital city is Canberra, although the population is concentrated in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. The world's largest monolith, Mount Augustus, is located in Western Australia. Australia's population density is 3.5 inhabitants per square kilometre, which is one of the lowest in the world. About 95% of the population lives within 100 km of the coast; the world average is 39%. The Murray-Darling is the major river system, draining most of inland New South Wales and Southern Queensland towards Lake Alexandrina and the sea in South Australia. The Great Dividing Range runs along most of eastern Australia, dividing the central lowlands from the eastern highlands. The Australian mainland is relatively flat, with an average height of 325 metres (1,066 ft) compared with 870 metres (2,850 ft) for all continents. Australia has a federal form of government, with a national government for the Commonwealth of Australia and individual state governments (those of New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania). The country’s low relief results from the long and extensive erosive action of the forces of wind, rain, and the heat of the sun during the great periods of geologic time when the continental mass was elevated well above sea level. The American-style concept of a national “frontier” moving outward along a line of settlement is also inappropriate. At least 60,000 years before European explorers sailed into the South Pacific, the first Aboriginal explorers had arrived from Asia, and by 20,000 years ago they had spread throughout the mainland and its chief island outlier, Tasmania. Australia is separated from Indonesia to the northwest by the Timor and Arafura seas, from Papua New Guinea to the northeast by the Coral Sea and the Torres Strait, from the Coral Sea Islands Territory by the Great Barrier Reef, from New Zealand to the southeast by the Tasman Sea, and from Antarctica in the far south by the Indian Ocean. To the south, Australian jurisdiction extends a further 310 miles (500 km) to the southern extremity of the island of Tasmania, and in the north it extends to the southern shores of Papua New Guinea. Australia is a very safe country to visit (even if you travel alone). Keep in mind, there’s an AUD$10,000 limit for bringing cash into the country (if you bring more, you’ll have to declare it at the border). After this date, everyone (including visitors) will need a 4G or 5G capable device to access Australia’s mobile phone networks. If you cross the date line moving east, you subtract a day; if travelling west you add a day (with local variations). The International Date Line crossing the Pacific Ocean changes the date by one day. Australia is a country for all seasons! After your arrival, you'll find many ways to travel around Australia, each offering a unique way to experience the country. Per capita, Australia has more people of Chinese ancestry than any country outside Asia. Chinese Australians are one of the largest groups of Overseas Chinese people, forming the largest Overseas Chinese community in Oceania, and are the largest Asian-Australian community. Chinese Australians are Australians of Chinese ancestry, forming the single largest non Anglo-Celtic ancestry in the country, constituting 5.5% of those nominating their ancestry at the 2021 census. At the 2021 census, the number of ancestry responses categorised within the Asian groups as a proportion of the total population amounted to 17.4% (including 6.5% Southern and Central Asian, 6.4% North-East Asian, and 4.5% South-East Asian).
