This smallest continent in land mass with over 7,500 islands covers 1.3 million km² and extends over a sea area of 70 million km². Around 2,100 of the islands are inhabited and a total of 9.9 million people live there. However, the size is defined differently. In the German-speaking world, only Polynesia (including Hawaii, New Zealand and French Polynesia), Melanesia (including New Guinea and Fiji) and Micronesia are included.
In the English-speaking world, however, Australia is also counted as part of Oceania. The term Transoceania is also commonly used, which covers an area from the north of Australia via Indonesia to the southern border of the Philippines and the far west of the Pacific islands. Australia and Oceania are often referred to as a continent instead of the continent of Australia (which includes New Guinea as well as the state of Australia).
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