Australia

• Australia, officially called the Commonwealth of Australia, the country comprises of six states and two territories.
• The capital of Australia is Canberra, and the largest city is Sydney. Popular metropolitan cities include Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
• Australia is amongst one of the most popular study destinations for international students. International students prefer to study in Australia because of the cultural diversity, friendly natives and quality of education.
• Australia has one of the world's highest living standards, with living expenses and tuition fees considerably affordable than other Western countries.
• The QS Best Student Cities has consistently ranked seven Australian cities amongst the top Best Student Cities in the world, which includes Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth and the Gold Coast.
• Australia is home to more than 1100 higher education institutions, offering over 22,000 courses, including 43 universities, several hundred colleges, TAFEs and private colleges, with seven Australian universities ranking in the top 100 universities across the globe (according to QS World University Ranking 2021).

Geography

• The smallest island continent, Australia, is the 6th largest country, area wise.
• The Country is surrounded by the Pacific and the Indian Ocean, separated from Asia by Arafura and Timor seas.
• Australia is a vast country with diverse landscapes from beaches, rainforests, mountains, reefs, deserts, lakes, rivers, tropical islands to snow-capped mountains. Australia comprises over 500 national parks and over 2,700 conservation areas, from wildlife sanctuaries to aboriginal reserves along with human-made icons like the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
• Australia has the world’s largest coral reef. Great Barrier Reef, which lies on the northeast coast, and Mount Augustus, claimed to be the monolith, is also in Australia.

Climate

• Australia is an arid continent, 2/3rd of the region receives heavy rainfall of an average of 20 inches. Around 1/3rd of landmass receives an average of 10 inches of rainfall.
• Australian Climate is influenced by ocean currents, Indian Ocean Dipole and the El Nino Southern Oscillation.
• Australia has moderate summers and winters.
• Summers are from December to February and the maximum temperature rises to 38 ºC

Natural Resources

• The Australian mining industry has a vital impact on the nation's economy.
• Queensland and New South Wales are known for its massive coal mining operations.
• Economically significant mineral reserves including iron ore, nickel, bauxite, diamond, gold are found in Western Australia.
• Australia has the world's low-cost uranium reserve found in Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia.

Economy

• Australia has a mixed market economy with the GDP of the Australian Dollar as 1.334 trillion (2020).
• It is the 2nd wealthiest nation in terms of wealth per head.
• The service sector dominates the Australian economy, employing close to 80% of the labor force.
• Australia has not witnessed a recession in over 25 years.
• Some of the top-performing Australian organizations include Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, Woolworths, BHP Billiton, Caltex, Macquarie Group, Westpac, National Australia Bank Wesfarmers.

Demography

• Australia’s average population density is 3.4 people per square km, and according to census 2021, the nation has a total population of 25,742,300.
• According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), the Australian population increased by 3.8 million (17.9 %) in the past decade.
• The steady population growth over the past several years has been a key contributor to the Australian economy's growth in recent years.

States & Provinces

Australia is a federation of 6 states and 2 territories and most of the Australian cities lies in coastal regions: