What is Australia's size?

Australia covers about 7.69 million square kilometres, making it the sixth-largest country in the world by total area, behind Russia, Canada, the United States, China, and Brazil. It is the largest country in Oceania and the only country that is also a continent.

Western Australia is by far the largest state at 2.53 million square kilometres, more than three times the area of Texas. Queensland is the second-largest state at 1.85 million square kilometres, followed by the Northern Territory at 1.35 million, South Australia at 984,000, New South Wales at 801,000, Victoria at 227,000, Tasmania at 68,000, the ACT at 2,400, and Jervis Bay Territory at just 73 square kilometres.

Despite its size, Australia has just 26.6 million people, giving it one of the lowest population densities in the world at about 3.4 people per square kilometre. Compare that with the United Kingdom (about 280 per square kilometre) or Japan (about 333). The contrast is sharper still inside Australia, with the Northern Territory averaging less than 0.2 people per square kilometre while inner Sydney can exceed 7,000.

Australia also claims a substantial maritime jurisdiction. The Australian exclusive economic zone covers about 8.2 million square kilometres of ocean, the third-largest in the world, including waters around the mainland, Tasmania, the external territories, and the Australian Antarctic Territory. The country's coastline is about 36,000 kilometres long when major islands are included, and Tasmania alone has a coastline of about 4,800 kilometres. From east to west the mainland stretches about 4,000 kilometres and from north to south about 3,200 kilometres, distances that span three time zones and create logistics challenges familiar to any business operating nationally.