Australia - Geography, Climate, Political system, Economy

Australia
It covers an area of 7 686 848 sq km and the population is 18 322 23; Australia has one of the lowest density in the world - only 2 people per 1 sq km. The capital city is Canberra (325 400) and the main ethnic groups are: British (90 %), other Europeans (5 %) and Aborigines (about 200 000).

Geography
Australia is the smallest continent in the world and lying in the Southern Hemisphere 1 between the Indian and the Pacific Oceans. There are Coral and Tasman Seas and many large islands such as Tasmania (on the south, separated by 240 km wide Bass Strait) or Papua-New Guinea (on the east-west, separated by Torres Strait) over Australia. Nearly half of the continent occupies the Great Western Plateau on the west, in central part there are also three big deserts - the Great Sandy Desert, the Gibson Desert and the Great Victoria Desert.