West Coast - Western Australia is a state
occupying the entire western third of Australia.
It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north
and west, the Great Australian Bight and
Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern
Territory to the north-east and South Australia
to the south-east.
Western Australia is Australia's largest state with
a total land area of 2,529,875 square kilometres
(976,790 sq mi), and the second-largest
country subdivision in the world – however, a
significant part of it is sparsely populated. The
state has about 2.6 million inhabitants, around
11% of the national total. 92% of the population
lives in the south-west corner of the state.
Western Australia's economy is largely driven
by extraction and processing of a diverse range
of mineral and petroleum commodities. The
structure of the economy is closely linked to
these natural resources, providing a
comparative advantage in resource extraction
and processing.