Fast facts about English speaking countries
Australia
Australia is the only country in the world that covers an entire continent. It is one of the largest countries on Earth.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: Commonwealth of Australia |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary democracy |
| CAPITAL: Canberra |
| POPULATION: 23,470,145 |
| MONEY: Australian dollar |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English |
Australia is rich in natural resources and has a lot of fertile land, but more than one-third of Australia is desert.
Most Australian cities and farms are located in the southwest and southeast, where the climate is more comfortable. There are dense rain forests in the northeast. The famous outback (remote rural areas) contains the country’s largest deserts, where there are scorching temperatures, little water, and almost no vegetation.
Canada
Canada is a vast and rugged land. From north to south it spans more than half the Northern Hemisphere.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: Canada |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Federal parliamentary state |
| CAPITAL: Ottawa |
| POPULATION: 35,881,659 |
| MONEY: Canadian dollar |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: English, French |
Canada is the second largest country in the world, but it has only one-half of one percent of the world’s population.
Canada features black-blue lakes, numerous rivers, majestic western mountains, rolling central plains, and forested eastern valleys.
Ireland
Ireland is an island nation on the westernmost edge of Europe. It is the continent’s second largest island (after Great Britain).
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: Ireland |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional Democracy |
| CAPITAL: Dublin |
| POPULATION: 5,068,050 |
| MONEY: Euro |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: English and Gaelic |
The Republic of Ireland occupies 80 percent of the island, while a large chunk of land in the north is part of the United Kingdom.
Ireland is known for its wide expanses of lush, green fields. In fact, its nickname is the Emerald Isle. But there are also large areas of rugged, rocky landscape.
Jamaica
Jamaica is a mountainous island in the Caribbean Sea about 600 miles (965 kilometres) south of Miami, Florida.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: Jamaica |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary democracy |
| CAPITAL: Kingston |
| POPULATION: 2,812,090 |
| MONEY: Jamaican dollar |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English |
Jamaica is part of the chain of Caribbean islands called the Greater Antilles, along with Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico.
Jamaica is the tip of a mountain rising from the sea floor. Nearly half of the island is more than 1,000 feet (330 metres) above sea level. There are lush rolling hills that are ideal for agriculture and coastal beach regions that are popular with tourists.
New Zealand
New Zealand is a remote, mountainous group of islands located off the southeast coast of Australia.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: New Zealand |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Parliamentary democracy |
| CAPITAL: Wellington |
| POPULATION: 4,545,627 |
| MONEY: New Zealand dollar |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English/Maori |
New Zealand’s two main islands, North and South Islands, are separated by the Cook Strait. Australia, its nearest neighbour, is 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometres) away.
New Zealand has more than 50 volcanoes, some of which are still active today.
The South Island is home to the highest mountain peak in New Zealand, Mount Cook, which rises to 12,316 feet (3,754 metres) and is called «Cloud Piercer» by the Maori people.
South Africa
Most of South Africa’s landscape is made up of high, flat areas called plateaus.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: Republic of South Africa |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Republic |
| CAPITALS: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative), Bloemfontein (judicial) |
| POPULATION: 55,380,210 |
| MONEY: New Zealand dollar |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGES: Afrikans, English... |
South Africa has another country within its borders. Nestled in the Drakensberg is the mountainous kingdom of Lesotho. Much of South Africa’s water comes from the snowcapped peaks of this tiny nation.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom, also called the U.K., consists of a group of islands off the northwest coast of Europe. These include England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitutional monarchy with parliamentary government |
| CAPITAL: London |
| POPULATION: 65,105,246 |
| MONEY: Pound sterling |
| OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: English |
The United Kingdom is a unique country made up of four nations: England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. England, Wales, and Scotland also make up Great Britain.
Much of the north and west of the U.K. is covered in high ground, knife-edged mountain ridges separated by deep valleys. In the south of England, the countryside is mostly rolling hills.
United States
The United States of America is the world’s third largest country in size and nearly the third largest in terms of population.
Fast facts
| OFFICIAL NAME: United States of America |
| FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Constitution-based federal republic |
| CAPITAL: Washington, D.C. |
| POPULATION: 330,175,936 |
| MONEY: U.S. dollar |
| LANGUAGES: English, Spanish (no official national language) |
Located in North America, the country is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. Along the northern border is Canada and the southern border is Mexico. There are 50 states and the District of Columbia.
More than twice the size of the European Union, the United States has high mountains in the West and a vast central plain.
Source: kids.nationalgeographic.com