Australian States | 6 States of Australia 2025

Australia is the largest country in Oceania and the sixth-largest country in the world, spanning over 2.969 million square miles. The country’s population is about 25.6 million people. Australia is made up of six states and ten federal territories. Five states can be found on the mainland, while the remaining state is an island located over 100 miles from the mainland. Three of the federal territories are known as “internal territories” because of their mainland location. The remaining seven territories are known as “external” because of their location away from the country. The states of Australia are represented in the parliament and are partially self-governing.

The largest state by area is Western Australia. This state has a total area of over 2.5 million square kilometers. The population is over 2.6 million. The capital of the state of Western Australia is the city of Perth. The largest state by population in Australia is New South Wales. Despite being less than half the size of Western Australia, it has a massive population of over 8.15 million people. The capital of New South Wales is Sydney. All six states of Australia, ordered by population size, are: New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania. Tasmania is the only state not located on the country’s mainland.

As previously mentioned, the country is divided into territories. The internal regions are the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, and Jervis Bay Territory. External territories include Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, Australian Antarctic Territory, Cocos Islands, Coral Sea Islands, Hear Island and McDonald Islands, and Ashmore and Cartier Islands.

Northern Australia is a proposed state, while Lord Howe Island and Macquarie Island are proposed external territories. Throughout its history, several territories are now defunct. That includes Central Australia and North Australia, which were reincorporated as the Northern Territory, the United Nations Trust Territory of Nauru, and the Territory of Papua and New Guinea.