lusive fishing zone:
200 nm
Territorial sea:
3 nm
Disputes:
none
Climate:
wet season May to November; hot and humid
Terrain:
about 200 islands varying geologically from the high, mountainous main
island of Babelthuap to low, coral islands usually fringed by large barrier
reefs
Natural resources:
forests, minerals (especially gold), marine products; deep-seabed minerals
Land use:
arable land NA%; permanent crops NA%; meadows and pastures NA%; forest and
woodland NA%; other NA%
Environment:
subject to typhoons from June to December; archipelago of six island groups
totaling over 200 islands in the Caroline chain
Note:
important location 850 km southeast of the Philippines; includes World War
II battleground of Peleliu and world-famous rock islands

:Pacific Islands, Trust Territory of the People

Population:
15,775 (July 1992), growth rate 1.9% (1992)
Birth rate:
23 births/1,000 population (1992)
Death rate:
7 deaths/1,000 population (1992)
Net migration rate:
2 migrants/1,000 population (1992)
Infant mortality rate:
25 deaths/1,000 live births (1992)
Life expectancy at birth:
69 years male, 73 years female (1992)
Total fertility rate:
3.0 children born/woman (1992)
Nationality:
noun - Palauan(s); adjective - Palauan
Ethnic divisions:
Palauans are a composite of Polynesian, Malayan, and Melanesian races
Religions:
predominantly Christian, including Catholics, Seventh-Day Adventists,
Jehovah's Witnesses, the Assembly of God, the Liebenzell Mission, and
Latter-Day Saints; a third of the population observes the Modekngei
religion, indigenous to Palau
Languages:
English is an official language, though Palauan is also official in 13 of
Palau's 16 states, and Tobi and Sonsorolese are official in the 3 other
states
Literacy:
92% (male 93%, female 91%) age 15 and over can read and write (1980)
Labor force:
NA
Organized labor:
NA

:Pacific Islands, Trust Territory of the Government

Long-form name:
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (no short-form name); may change to
Republic of Palau after independence; note - Belau, the native form of
Palau, is sometimes used
Type:
UN trusteeship administered by the US; constitutional government signed a
Compact of Free Association with the US on 10 January 1986, which was never
approved in a series of U