INDONESIA AND AUSTRALIAIndonesia and Australia are nations located in southeast Asia, separated by the Timor Sea and the Java Trench. Both have faced economic, governmental and demographic challenges that are similar and very different from each other. Indonesia is “the world's largest archipelagic (fragmented) state” (Blij 503) with multiple heritages and cultures. Australia has undergone a slow decline over the last century and continues to disintegrate economically. According to data held on economics, governance and demographics, both Australia and Indonesia continue to be recognized as similar and distinct in their own right. DEMOGRAPHICS AND STRUCTURE OF THE TERRITORY Indonesia's 275 million inhabitants are spread across the 13,000 islands it includes. It holds the position of the fourth most populous nation in the world, containing a diversity of people including Javanese, Sudanese, Malays, and Balinese, and other smaller groups that make up fifty-five percent of the population. Four of its largest islands are known as the Greater Sunda Islands. Jawa has the smallest area but is the largest in population density (with about 120 million), Sumatera lies to the west across from Malaysia, Kalimantan (which shares land space with Malaysia in Borneo), and Sulawesi, which it is also called Celebes, the "quadrilateral-shaped" island of the east. The fifth largest island is New Guinea, which is not primarily part of Indonesian cultural ties, although half of the western part of the island is under the Indonesian control. Australia is approximately 10 times larger than Texas, with a population of eighteen million. 85% live in cities, of which approximately 300,000 are Aboriginal. The majority of the population is concentrated in the central area to the east and southeast, facing the Pacific Ocean. This area is more humid and extends between the Great Dividing Range and the eastern coast, which is less populated and consists of desert or steppe fundamental for living conditions but contains mineral deposits. RESOURCES AND PRODUCTION Indonesia has a wide variety of natural resources, consisting of petroleum, palm oil, rubber, timber, tin, coffee, tea and other cash crops. However, the population continues on an upward climb that will have a doubling time of 43 years. This creates a long-term threat to the country's future much more than anything else. With this sharp increase in population, the nation has already been forced to import large quantities of rice and wheat to feed its population.