Interesting Facts About Australia

Almost 5 million people born overseas live in Australia. More migrants move to Sydney than any other Australian city.

Australian Citizenship Facts
After immigration, you need to spend two years as a permanent resident in Australia before you can apply for Australian Citizenship.

Australia’s Migrants I
Around 24% of Australia’s residents were born overseas. This compares with 20% in New Zealand, 17% in Canada, 10% in the USA and 6% in the UK.

Australia’s Migrants II
Australia has been a magnet for immigration for many years. In fact, Australia’s immigration policy used to be targeted towards attracting people from the British Isles. The emphasis now is to attract anyone from anywhere who has the skills to contribute to Australia’s development.

Facts about Australia

Australia’s agriculture sector is very important to its economy. Australia’s top agricultural exports are wheat, beef, cotton and wool. China is the biggest importer of Australian agricultural products, taking 20 percent of Australia’s output. Japan and the European Union are also major importers.

Tourism Australia Facts

Around five percent of Australians work in tourism.

Biggest State

Western Australia is the biggest Australian state and covers one third of the continent. Its total area is over 2.5 million square kilometres. That makes it 3.6 times bigger than Texas, 4.6 times bigger than France and 11 times bigger than the UK. It’s an interesting fact that, despite its large size, Western Australia is home to only around two million people.

Locally Made TV Shows
By law, free-to-air channels in Australia must show a minimum of 55 percent Australian made content. Home-produced shows make up 90 percent of content in USA, 78 percent in the UK (BBC), 60 percent in Canada and 42 percent in New Zealand.

Natural Hazards
Australia’s main natural hazards are cyclones (hurricanes), drought and forest fires. The biggest killer of all has been heatwaves.

Life Expectancy
Australian men born in the last few years can expect to live to around 80 years and women to 85 years. Life expectancy for Aboriginal Australians is around 10 years lower than for other Australians.

Favourite Television

In 2014, the most watched programmes were:
1. AFL: Grand Final
2. My Kitchen Rules – Winner Announced
3. The Block Glasshouse – Winner Announced
4. Rugby League Grand Final
5. State of Origin Rugby League – QLD vs NSW (2nd match)

Australia Export Facts
The top 10 countries Australian goods are exported to are: China, Japan, South Korea, USA, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, UK, Germany.

Highest and Lowest Temperatures

Australia’s highest temperature, 51 degrees C (123 degrees F), was recorded at Oodnadatta, South Australia in 1960.
The lowest temperature was minus 23 degrees C (minus 9 degrees F) measured high in the mountains at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales.

Favourite Movies
The top grossing films ever in Australia are:
1. Avatar (2009)
2. Titanic (1997)
3. The Avengers (2012)
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011)
5. Shrek 2 (2004)
6. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
7. Skyfall (2012)
8. Crocodile Dundee (1986)
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Health Warning
16 percent of Australians are smokers. Smoking is more common in people who are socially and economically disadvantaged. Around 23 percent of disadvantaged people smoke. Smoking rates amongst advantaged people in Australia are around 9 percent.

The Big Dry
Australia has the lowest precipitation of any of the world’s inhabited continents. (Antarctica gets less.) 70 percent of Australia gets less than 500 mm (20 inches) of rainfall per year.

Australia’s Desert Country

One third of Australia’s land is desert. Australia has 10 deserts of which the largest is the Great Victoria Desert, covering just under 5 percent of the country. Ironically, the Great Victoria Desert is not located in Victoria but is in Western Australia and South Australia. The Great Victoria Desert covers 348,750 square kilometres which makes it around one and a half times bigger than the UK or slightly smaller than Montana.

How Big is Australia?
Australia is the word’s smallest continent and the world’s sixth largest country. Australia covers an area of 7,686,900 square kilometres. That’s slightly smaller than the United States mainland which is 7,827,848 square kilometres (does not include Hawaii and Alaska).

World’s Biggest Crocodiles

The tropical north of Australia is home to the world’s largest species of crocodile, the salt water crocodile. These creatures are protected in Australia. Males can occasionally grow to lengths of over 6 metres (20 feet). Each year one or two people are eaten by crocodiles in Australia.

Most People

New South Wales, with 7.5 million people has the largest population of any of Australia’s states. Victoria, with 5.8 million people is next most populous, followed by Queensland with a population of 4.7 million people.

The Lucky Country
Australia has long been known as the lucky country. This is not surprising when you learn it is the world’s largest iron ore exporter and largest producer of bauxite and alumina. Australia also has the world’s largest deposits of silver, zinc, zircon and easily extracted uranium (over 40% of world resources). It also has about 10 percent of the world’s gold resources.

Wealthiest State
Most people think the Sydney region is the wealthiest part of Australia. In fact the highest wages in Australia are paid in The Australian Capital Territory (ACT). This is because it has a high proportion of public sector workers, who on average earn more than those in the private sector. Western Australia has the second highest wages by state, because of the mining and resource industries situated there.

Sport

Australians are crazy about sport. The most popular sports are walking, gym exercise, swimming and cycling. Jogging is also popular.

Other sports that are popular with males include Australian Rules football, golf, soccer, basketball, cricket and tennis. Sports popular with females include netball, tennis, yoga and dancing / ballet.

Alcohol in Australia

It’s an interesting fact that, compared with other countries, Australians are not very heavy drinkers.
The average Australian drinks 7% less alcohol than the average Briton, 25% less alcohol than the average German and 35% less alcohol than the average Irish.

Babies

Australian fertility (1.9 babies per woman) is the same than that of the USA (1.9) and the UK (1.9)but higher than Japan (1.4) and Germany (1.4).

Go Directly to Jail
Around 143 Australians per 100,000 of population are in jail. This compares with: New Zealand 183, UK 138, Germany 85, Spain 159, Canada 117, South Africa 294, USA 743.