While Australia is the smallest continent by land area, Antarctica is by far the smallest by population. There are no permanent residents in Antarctica, but during the summer, the population of scientists and support staff can reach about 5,000. In the winter, this number drops to roughly 1,000. Because no one 'lives' there in the legal sense of citizenship, the population density is essentially zero. This makes Antarctica the only continent without a native human language, a indigenous culture, or an economy. It is also the only continent with no trees or flowering plants (except for two species of grass), making its geography entirely dominated by ice and rock.