Located between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, Australia encompasses approximately 7,686,850 sq. km. which is nearly the size of the US 48 contiguous states. Having 25,760 km of coastline, it claims territorial waters of 12 nautical miles and oversees 24 nm contiguous zone and an exclusive economic zone of 200 nm. The continental shelf extends about 200 nautical miles.

Consisting primarily of low, semiarid plateau with arid deserts, the more temperate, fertile plain is in the south and east which is where the majority of the population lives. The highest point is Mount Kosciuszko at 2,229 m and the low point is Lake Eyre at -15 meters. While only about 6.15% of the land is arable, 27 million hectares are cultivated grassland, only .04% is permanent crops. Of this, 25,450 sq km are irrigated.

The natural resources are considerable and include bauxite, coal, iron ore, copper, tin, gold, silver, uranium, nickel, tungsten, mineral sands, lead, zinc, diamonds, natural gas and petroleum.

As of 1995, the renewable water resources total 398 cu km. In 2000, a total of 24.06 cu km of water were used per year. That’s 1,193 cubic meters per person.

Not unlike other countries in the region, Australia has a long history with disasters, both natural and environmental. Along with natural occurrences like forest fires, cyclones and severe draughts, environmentally caused problems are of growing concern; specifically the Great Barrier Reef, the largest coral reef in the world, is threatened by increased shipping and tourism; agricultural land clearing is threatening numerous habitats of unique plants and animals; desertification; limited natural fresh water, overgrazing, urbanization, industrial development and poor farming methods is causing significant soil erosion.

To help work toward resolving these both inside and outside the country, Australia has joined a number of international environmental agreements, including: Antarctic-Environmental Protocol, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Antarctic Seals, Antarctic Treaty, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber, Wetlands and Whaling.

The total population was estimated at 21,007,310 as of July, 2008. Of those, 18.8% are under 14 years old; 2,022,151 being male and 1,919,002 female. 67.9% are between 15 and 64 years old; 7,233,555 bring male and 7,038,722 female. The 65 and older group make up 13.3%; 1,266,166 male and 1,527,714 being female. That makes the median age 37.1 years old; males’ average 36.4 while females about 37.9 years old.

The annual population growth rate is 1.221% according to the 2008 estimates. Birth rates are about 12.55 per 1,000 and deaths at 6.68 per 1,000. Immigrants account for another 6.34 per 1,000 population per year. Beyond this, the infant mortality rate is 5.15 males per 1,000 live births and 4.47 female deaths per 1,000.

The life expectancy of males is 79.16 years while females is 84.02 years for an average expectancy of 81.53 years. (est. 2008)

The ethnic makeup of Australians is: white 92%, Asian 7%, aboriginal and other groups at 1%. Per the 2001 census, English makes up 79.1% of the languages spoken while Chinese is 2.1%, Italian is 1.9% and other is 11.1% leaving 5.8% unstated. The breakdown religions found down under are as follows: Catholic 26.4%, Anglican 20.5%, other Christian 20.5%, Buddhist 1.9%, Muslim 1.5%, other 1.2%, unspecified 12.7% and none 15.3%.

There is a high literacy rate stating that 99% of all Australians over 15 can read and write. Including both primary and tertiary education, school life expectancy is 20 years which accounts for 4.5% of the GDP.