Australian Census statistics from 2002 show that the Northern Territory - colloquially known as the 'Top End' - is quite different from much of the rest of Australia.

The Northern Territory covers one-sixth of Australia, but is home to only 1% of Australia's population of about 19.5 million. With this small population of about 200,000 - most living in the main cities and towns - there is a lot of uninhabited land. On average, there is only one person for every 10 square kilometres.

		Almost 60,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in the Northern Territory in Australia. This is about 29% of the Territory's population.
		In comparison, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people account for only 2.4% of the national population.
Nearly half of the Northern Territory is owned by Aboriginal people compared to the national figure of 14%.

A further important difference between the Northern Territory and the rest of Australia is that while the NT is self-governing it does not have the status of a State of the Australian federation. This means that the Commonwealth Government retains the power to make laws for the Northern Territory, and can override laws of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.

The Land Rights Act is a Commonwealth law which applies only to the Northern Territory.