Part of the country series of articles.
TRAVEL ADVISORY: NORMAL PRECAUTIONSThe Commonwealth advises travellers to exercise normal precautions when travelling in this country. Travellers should familiarise themselves with local laws and customs and consular availability.
| Commonwealth of Australia | |
|---|---|
| Federal Constitutional Monarchy | |
 |
|
| Capital | Canberra |
| Languages | English, and many indigenous languages |
| Population | 24,800,000 |
The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy in the southern Pacific, one of the wealthiest countries in the world by per capita income. It has a large and productive manufacturing sector by regional standards, but the economy is increasingly shaped by raw commodity exports – iron ore, coal, copper, wheat and wool – as Asian industrialisation creates demand that Australia is well positioned to meet. The shift has generated considerable wealth and considerable debate about what kind of country Australia should be.
Its closest trading relationships remain New Zealand and Britain, as a legacy of imperial commerce that have continued into the 21st Century, but the pull of Asian markets grows stronger each decade. Japan and Korea have been significant partners for nearly a century, and the pace of Chinese industrialisation, however unpredictable, represents either the largest opportunity or the largest complication in Australian economic planning depending on who in Canberra you ask. Australia is broadly comfortable with its prosperity and broadly uncertain about its strategic position, sitting between a Commonwealth it is culturally close to and an Asian neighbourhood it is geographically part of.