Country - Australia
Australia Country Information
Australia, officially known the Commonwealth of Australia, is geographically located on a continent on its own name i.e. Australia, between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean. Canberra is the capital and Sydney is the largest city and other main cities are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. More than half people live in and around them.
Australia is the largest country in the world by land area and 23–24 million people live. Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Zealand are neighboring countries. Country is made up of six states namely New South Wale, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia and two major mainland territories, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. It is the world's 13th largest economy and has the World’s 9th largest immigrant population. Until 1901, country was not a nation; it was six separate colonies governed by Britain. Country became a separate nation on 1 January 1901. It is the world`s largest producer of wool and bauxite and it is also famous for mining.
National anthem is "Advance Australia Fair". There is no official language but the most commonly used language is English. Australian English is different from other varieties of English in grammar and spelling. 72.7% of the population speak only in English. Others speak in Mandarin (2.5%), Arabic (1.4%), Cantonese (1.2%), Vietnamese (1.2%) and Italian (1.2%). Country has without a state religion but Christianity is the largest religion and non-Christian religions are Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism.
Australia is one of the most educated countries in the world and 38 percent population has a university or college degree, which is among the highest percentages in the world. Registration for home schooling is compulsory. According to the QS World University Rankings, five Australian universities rank in the top 50. The five universities are Australian National University (ANU), University of Melbourne, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney),University of Queensland (UQ), University of Sydney. Since 1915, it has had overall 12 Nobel Prize winners in the area of literature, medicine, physics, economics.
Australia is the dream destination to many travellers. The country is known for its Sydney Opera House, the Great Barrier Reef, a vast interior desert wilderness called the Outback, and unique animal species like kangaroos and duck-billed platypuses. Some of the most impressive tourist attractions are Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park, Blue Mountains National Park, Sydney Harbour Bridge, Bondi Beach, Daintree National Park, Fraser Island, Great Ocean Road, Broome and the Kimberley region, Kakadu National Park.