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Both the U.S. and Australia are English-speaking countries. Yet, both countries are far away from each other. Australia is almost same size as mainland continetal U.S.
What are the similarities and difference between both countries?
Things I know:
* Both English-speaking * Both use $ dollar as currency * U.S. use Imperial system - Aus. use metric system * U.S. drive on right - Aus. drive on left * Aus. uses British English spellings. * Opposite seasons * U.S. have diverse varied climate, Aus. large cities are mostly warm subtropical.
Please ADD whatever you know are similar & difference....
The really big difference are the ones im sure you will be reminded about many times.
USA Population 310,000,000
Australia Population 22,000,000
US GDP - 15 trillion dollars
Australian - 1.2 Tirillion dollars.
US Spanish Speakers - Lots
Australia - Hardley Any
African American population - Lots
Australias African Population -Hardley any
USA - Play US Sports
Australia - Play British Sports
Mind in % terms, Australias overseas born population just hit 6 million, which is about 27% of the resident population, and about twice the % of the USA. Australias immigrants are mostly all European, Asian, or New Zeland/Pacific Islanders, and 1/3rd of them are native english speakers from the UK/NZ or South Africa.
Last edited by danielsa1775; 11-02-2011 at 11:43 PM..
Spanish speakers is a notable difference. Also, although Australia looks to have a fair amount of people with German ancestry, the US is more German. Australia is about 4.3% German and is like the fifth highest ancestry or so while in the US German is the largest single (reported) ancestry with over 10%. (I thought it was more like 15%, but I'm going with the census) The US is also more Polish. If I read it right the US is around 2-3% Polish while Australia is .9% Polish. Although Australian Poles might be more recent going by the sources.
Australia isn't quite as secular as Europe, I don't think, but it's generally less religious than the US. From what I can find Anglican/Church-of-England is way more common in Australia than in the US. The majority of Australia's Christians look to be Anglican or Catholic with Baptists being far rarer than in the US. Interestingly Eastern Orthodoxy is more common in Australia as it says 2.7% of Australia is Eastern Orthodox while maybe less than 1% of the US is Orthodox. As for other languages they certainly have less Spanish speakers, but somewhat to my surprise they appear to have more Greek speakers. If I read it right 1.3% of Australians speak Greek at home, but in the US it's like .14%. Fitting the idea Australian Poles are more recent the percent of Australians speaking Polish at home looked similar to the percent of Americans speaking Polish at home, even though America has more than two-times the percent of Poles. Going back to the above it looks like just .5% of Australians speak Spanish at home. This is less than the percent reported as speaking Vietnamese, Arabic, or as mentioned Greek.
Much more of Australia is dry or desert than the US. This is part of why their population is much smaller.
In similarities Australia is one of the few nations, besides the US, that sent troops to the Vietnam War. I remember watching some report on Australia's Vietnam vets when I was a teen. I believe Australia is more into suburbs and cars than most non-US nations.
Spanish speakers is a notable difference. Also, although Australia looks to have a fair amount of people with German ancestry, the US is more German. Australia is about 4.3% German and is like the fifth highest ancestry or so while in the US German is the largest single (reported) ancestry with over 10%. (I thought it was more like 15%, but I'm going with the census) The US is also more Polish. If I read it right the US is around 2-3% Polish while Australia is .9% Polish. Although Australian Poles might be more recent going by the sources.
Australia isn't quite as secular as Europe, I don't think, but it's generally less religious than the US. From what I can find Anglican/Church-of-England is way more common in Australia than in the US. The majority of Australia's Christians look to be Anglican or Catholic with Baptists being far rarer than in the US. Interestingly Eastern Orthodoxy is more common in Australia as it says 2.7% of Australia is Eastern Orthodox while maybe less than 1% of the US is Orthodox. As for other languages they certainly have less Spanish speakers, but somewhat to my surprise they appear to have more Greek speakers. If I read it right 1.3% of Australians speak Greek at home, but in the US it's like .14%. Fitting the idea Australian Poles are more recent the percent of Australians speaking Polish at home looked similar to the percent of Americans speaking Polish at home, even though America has more than two-times the percent of Poles. Going back to the above it looks like just .5% of Australians speak Spanish at home. This is less than the percent reported as speaking Vietnamese, Arabic, or as mentioned Greek.
Much more of Australia is dry or desert than the US. This is part of why their population is much smaller.
In similarities Australia is one of the few nations, besides the US, that sent troops to the Vietnam War. I remember watching some report on Australia's Vietnam vets when I was a teen. I believe Australia is more into suburbs and cars than most non-US nations.
It is correct, melbourne is often quoted as having the worlds largest greek populaiton outside of greece, weather their is any truth to that I dont know. It certainly does have a signifiant greek population however.
US citizens are certainly more interested in their ancestory than Australians thats for sure, basically any person hear who's family have being around for more than two generations would identify their ancestory as australian.
Last edited by danielsa1775; 11-03-2011 at 03:01 AM..
Other than population, demographics, climate and other stuff mentioned here - what else is similar and difference?
I find it very curious that Australia calls its territorial units "States" while Canada calls its units "Provinces".
Australia seems to like the word "state" more, possibly because the word state implies (supposedly) more sovereign and independent governments, like the States of the United States and Germany.
Canada in contrast, still uses colonial sounding names like Province and Dominion. In the United States, terms like the Province of New York or the Dominion of Virginia were given up after the Revolution in 1776. But the Canadians still seem to embrace them.
I find it very curious that Australia calls its territorial units "States" while Canada calls its units "Provinces".
Australia seems to like the word "state" more, possibly because the word state implies (supposedly) more sovereign and independent governments, like the States of the United States and Germany.
Canada in contrast, still uses colonial sounding names like Province and Dominion. In the United States, terms like the Province of New York or the Dominion of Virginia were given up after the Revolution in 1776. But the Canadians still seem to embrace them.
its the "commonwealth" of Virginia (and Massachusetts, Kentucky and Pennsylvania) "Technically" they are not really states.
Australia is my absolute favorite country to visit, and is probably one of the only countries that I would live in outside of the United States. Heck, I'd live in Sydney or Melbourne before living in most other US cities.
Here are some things differences and similarities I've noticed:
FOOD
- Australians put beets ("beetroot") on their burgers (blech)
- For whatever reason they just LOVE vegemite as a spread (vegemite is like a salty spread -- I can't really even describe it but to this American's mouth it tasted terrible)
- Australian and US wines are both top notch
PEOPLE & LANGUAGE
- Probably the friendliest people I've met are Australian -- they are very outgoing and not at all reserved like their British cousins. Americans for the most part are also friendly, but I think a little more guarded.
- The accents between the US and Australia are obviously quite different
- Australia seems to have a lot of words/slang that only they understand. I'm sure the US does as well (or even different parts of the US), but since I'm a native of the US I'm not sure which phrases/words we use that would make an Australian say "what does that mean"?
HOUSING & SHOPPING
- I think a lot of the residential neighborhoods that I saw (at least around Sydney) seemed very similar to American neighborhoods with single family homes on fairly large yards, two car garages, etc.
- It seems that Australia and the US have similar shopping areas, with the usual "big box" stores, supermarkets, etc. I didn't see a big difference in the retail environment between the two countries.
FLORA AND FAUNA
- It seems like every animal in Australia is the "most poisonous" thing on earth that will kill you -- jellyfish, spiders, snakes, not to mention crocodiles, great white sharks, etc. While the US has some poisonous animals as well, I've never encountered so many warnings about the animals as I did in Australia. We couldn't even go in the water at the beach because it was "box jellyfish season" and they will kill you if you touch them.
- That said, Australia makes up for it with Koalas and Kangaroos. Although they treat kangaroos like the US treats white tail deer -- kind of a pest.
Anyway, those are some of the things I can think of off the top of my head. If you want a very good (and hysterical) read of an American traveling in Australia, I highly recommend Bill Bryson's book "In a Sunburned Country". It is a very ammusing read of an American's adventures in Australia, and all of the "local color" he encounters.
I find it very curious that Australia calls its territorial units "States" while Canada calls its units "Provinces".
Australia seems to like the word "state" more, possibly because the word state implies (supposedly) more sovereign and independent governments, like the States of the United States and Germany.
Canada in contrast, still uses colonial sounding names like Province and Dominion. In the United States, terms like the Province of New York or the Dominion of Virginia were given up after the Revolution in 1776. But the Canadians still seem to embrace them.
Australias states are way less autonomous than the various US states are.
It was not always the case however, the original constitution of Australia, gave many powers to the states, which they have since given up (Income Taxation, Social Securty and Immigration being the Big ones). "State" was possibly the correct word to use when they were created.
Politically of course Australia like Canada is a Constitutional Monarchy, I have not even tried to comprehend the mindfield that is the US political System.
Last edited by danielsa1775; 11-04-2011 at 12:21 AM..
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Although they treat kangaroos like the US treats white tail deer -- kind of a pest.
