Australia
Why Are Syrian Refugees Fleeing and How Can Australia Help?
Who Are The Syrian Refugees and Why Are They Fleeing?
A brutal war is going on in Syria leaving many families scared and anxious to flee. These people are called the Syrian Refugees. The Syrian Refugees consist mainly of young families and children. Many countries around Syria are trying to find space and resources for refugees so they can take more refugees in. This is a difficult task to calculate. The UK has taken on thousands of refugees. "The UK is to provide resettlement to thousand more Syrian Refugees in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis" says David Cameron, former British Prime Minister. Other countries like Turkey and Lebanon have taken in about 1.1 million refugees in the past 4 years. (http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/09/world/welcome-syrian-refugees-countries/)
So What Can Australia Do To Help?
Distance From Syria To Australia
Syria is roughly 7,500 miles away from Australia. This is a challenge in using Australia as a new place to settle for the refugees. (Read more in Transportation From Syria to Australia)
Deserts To Settle Around
This map shows the large areas of desert that Australia has. Deserts would be harder for the refugees to live in because they are not used to having to survive in that climate. This climate would also make it hard for the refugees to grow food to survive.
How Big Is Australia
This map shows how big Australia is compared to the US just to give a better idea of how many people could potentially fit into this country.
Australia Demographics
Australia is country and continent that is surrounded by the Indian and Pacific oceans.
- Population: 23.13 million people in 2013
- 2.9 people per square kilometer
- 81% of people spoke english in 2011
- Average age is 37.3 (2011)
- Variety of indigenous cultural population
- Main religions are Catholic, Anglican, and Uniting Church
- About 6% is affiliated with non christian religions
- 6% unemployment rate
- Average adult has $402,578
- Debt for an average adult is $100,492
Population Numbers:
0-14: 18% (males 2,075, 316 females 1,969, 645)
15-24 years: 13.3% (male 1,534,947/female 1,457,250)
25-54 years: 41.8% (male 4,783,473/female 4,626,603)
55-64 years: 11.8% (male 1,321,246/female 1,341,329)
65 years and over: 15.1% (male 1,569,197/female 1,828,611)
Job Market Information
The job market in Australia is at an average rate right now but increases are predicted for the future. 16 out of 19 industries in Australia are said to increase in 2018. With only a 6% unemployment rate right now Australia's people are mostly employed. Trading is said to decrease in the coming years.
Transportation From Syria to Australia
Oceans is all that is seen from Syria to Australia. Boats and planes would be the only option for refugees to get from Syria to Australia. An average speed for an airplane is 560 mph, so it would take approximately 13 hours by plane to get from Syria to Australia. Boat time would differ depending on the boat and the weather.
Is Australia An Ideal Place For Refugees To Escape To?
Overall, the new population that would be coming in would be younger families and children. This would not change the age population much because the population is already mostly younger people. The real change would be the diversity in religions and languages. Most of the syrian refugees are Arab, while in Australia most are Catholic, Anglican, and United Church and almost all of the population speaks english. The language difference would have a big impact on how the two different populations mix. I don't think that the population will be noticeably changed because Australia already has a large population (23.13 million) and a few more thousand wouldn't have a huge impact. Refugees are already assigned to start heading to Australia and Iraq. I think that it will work out fine as long as they can get over the language differences.