Australia became an independent nation on 1 January 1901 when the British Parliament passed legislation allowing the six Australian colonies to govern in their own right as part of the Commonwealth of Australia.
France also has many territories, including Clipperton Island, New Caledonia, French Polynesia, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre, Guadeloupe, Martinique, French Guiana, and others. In 2016, the population of France is estimated at 66,689,000, which ranks 20th in the world. France has an estimated 2016 metro population of 64,750,000, which does not include overseas territories. Combined, the territories add an additional 2 million people. Metropolitan France has a population density of 117.37 people per square kilometer, which ranks 95th in the world.
The first Muslims came to France centuries ago - but the greatest number of Muslims came to France in the contemporary era, in the wake of the colonial wars of independence (1954 - 1962). The major Muslim population centres in France are Paris, Marseille, and Lyon and their outlying suburbs (banlieues). Of the approximately 15 million Muslims who currently live in the European Union, France is home to the largest number, equal to around one third of the total. Germany follows with 3.3 million, Britain with 1.6 million, and Italy and the Netherlands with as many as 1 million each.