Australia is the sixth largest nation in the world after Russia, Canada, China, the United States of America and Brazil. It has, however a relatively small population. It is the only nation to govern the entire continent and its outlying islands.

The Australian federation consists of six States and two Territories. Most inland borders follow lines of longitude and latitude. The largest State, Western Australia, is about the same size as Western Europe.

Economy
Australia enjoys one of the most outstanding economies of the world in recent years. It has a high-growth, low-inflation and low interest rate economy. It is more vibrant than ever before. There is an efficient government sector, a flexible labour market and a very competitive business sector.
With its abundant physical resources, Australia has enjoys a high standard of living since the nineteenth century. It has made a comparatively large investment in social infrastructure, including education, training, health and transport.
The Australian workforce has seen many improvements over the last decade, leading to the surge in productivity in the 1990s.

The Australian Currency
Australia was the first country in the world to have a complete system of bank notes based on plastic (polymer). These notes provide much greater security against counterfeiting. They also last four times as long as conventional paper (fibrous) notes. At the same time the polymer notes are cleaner than paper notes and easily recyclable. Australia’s currency consists of coins of five, 10, 20 and 50 cent and one and two dollar denomination; and notes of five, 10, 20, 50 and 100 dollar denomination.

Immigration
Australia's culturally diverse society includes its Indigenous peoples and settlers from countries all around the world. It has a multicultural society built by people from many different backgrounds, Cultures from many races and many walks of life. Immigration is an important feature of Australian society. Since 1945, over six million people from 200 countries have come to Australia as new settlers. Migrants have made a major contribution to shaping modern Australia. People born overseas make up almost one quarter of the total population.

The federal government sets immigration intake numbers on a yearly basis. Australia's immigration policies are non-discriminatory and all applicants to migrate must meet the same selection criteria. The program is global and non-discriminatory in character, which means that an applicant's nationality, ethnic origin, sex, colour or religion are of no relevance in assessing their ability to meet the criteria.