Real Size of Australia: How Big Is Australia Really? (#6 World Rank)

Australia: The Only Country That Is Also a Continent

Australia occupies a unique position in global geography as the only country that encompasses an entire continent. With 7,692,024 square kilometers (2,969,907 square miles) of land area, Australia ranks as the world’s sixth-largest country – sitting just behind Brazil and significantly ahead of India.

Unlike countries located at extreme northern or southern latitudes, Australia experiences relatively little distortion on standard Mercator projection maps. With its landmass centered around 25° South latitude, what you see on most world maps is a fairly accurate representation of Australia’s true size and shape.

Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of Australia is how it combines continental scale with national unity. While Europe, Asia, and the Americas are divided into dozens of countries, Australia functions as a single nation spanning an entire continent (though the continent of Australia technically includes New Guinea and surrounding islands).

Let’s explore how Australia’s true size compares to other major countries and continents, and discover what makes this massive island nation geographically unique.

Australia’s True Size in Global Perspective

To understand Australia’s enormous scale, direct comparisons with other countries and continents reveal surprising insights:

5 Eye-Opening Australia Size Comparisons

1. Australia vs. United States: Australia is about 80% the size of the entire United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), and approximately 95% the size of the contiguous 48 states.
2. Australia vs. Western Europe: Australia could contain the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal, and Austria combined with room to spare.
3. Australia vs. India: Despite having about 50 times fewer people, Australia is 2.3 times larger than India in land area.
4. Australia vs. Japan: Australia is 20 times larger than Japan, though Japan has 5 times Australia’s population.
5. Australia vs. New Zealand. New Zealand is a tiny island compared to Australia.

Australia’s Coastal Nation: An Island Continent

Australia’s unique geography as an island continent creates some remarkable features:

• Coastline Length: Australia boasts 25,760 kilometers (16,007 miles) of coastline, the 6th longest in the world
• Island Status: Australia is the largest island in the world (though it’s categorized as a continent)
• Great Barrier Reef: The world’s largest coral reef system stretches for over 2,300 kilometers along Australia’s northeastern coast
• Marine Territory: Australia’s Exclusive Economic Zone covers 8.2 million square kilometers, the third-largest in the world
• Maritime Borders: Unlike most large nations, Australia shares no land borders with any other country

The Outback: Australia’s Vast Interior

Australia’s interior, known as the Outback, represents one of the world’s most sparsely populated regions:

• The Outback covers approximately 5.6 million square kilometers, about 70% of Australia’s landmass
• Though it constitutes most of Australia’s territory, the Outback is home to only about 10% of Australia’s population
• The Great Victoria Desert alone spans approximately 424,400 square kilometers (larger than Japan)
• Australia contains 10 major deserts, collectively covering about 18% of the continent
• Australia is the driest inhabited continent, with about 35% of the continent receiving so little rainfall that it’s effectively desert

Population vs. Territory: Among the World’s Lowest Densities

Australia’s relationship between population and territory creates striking patterns:

• With approximately 26 million people, Australia has a population density of just 3.4 people per square kilometer, among the lowest in the world
• About 86% of Australians live within 50 kilometers of the coast
• The state of New South Wales alone contains nearly a third of Australia’s population but only 10% of its land area
• Australia’s interior contains vast areas with population densities below 0.1 people per square kilometer
• Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world, with about 86% of its population living in urban areas

Australia’s States: Comparable to Countries

Many of Australia’s states and territories are comparable in size to entire countries:

Geographic Extremes: A Land of Superlatives

Australia contains some remarkable geographic extremes:

• Isolation: Australia is the most isolated continent, separated from other major landmasses by thousands of kilometers of ocean
• Flatness: Australia is the flattest continent, with an average elevation of just 330 meters
• Aridity: The continent contains some of the world’s oldest and most nutrient-poor soils
• Endemic Species: About 80% of Australia’s plants, mammals, reptiles, and frogs are endemic (found nowhere else)
• Ancient Landforms: Australia is home to some of the oldest exposed rock formations on Earth, dating back 3.6 billion years

Western Australia: A State That Would Rank 10th Globally

Western Australia deserves special mention for its extraordinary size:

• Western Australia covers 2,529,875 square kilometers, accounting for about one-third of Australia’s total landmass
• If Western Australia were an independent country, it would be the 10th largest in the world, between Argentina and Kazakhstan
• Despite its enormous size, Western Australia has only about 2.7 million inhabitants (about 10% of Australia’s population)
• The state is nearly three times the size of Texas and larger than the combined territories of Western Europe
• The distance from Perth to the eastern border of Western Australia is roughly equivalent to the distance from London to Moscow

Explore More Size Comparisons

Curious about how other major countries and continents compare in true size? Check out these related articles:

• The True Size of India: Seventh Largest but Densely Populated
• The Real Size of Brazil: A South American Giant Less Distorted on Maps
• The Real Size of the United States: Third Largest and Less Distorted on Maps
• Antarctica Revealed: The Ice Continent’s Actual Dimensions
• Complete List of Countries by True Size