l
Islands

Geographic coordinates:
0 32 S, 166 55 E

Map references:
Oceania

Area:
total: 21 sq km
water: 0 sq km
land: 21 sq km

Area - comparative:
about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
30 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm

Climate:
tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to
February)

Terrain:
sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with
phosphate plateau in center

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m

Natural resources:
phosphates, fish

Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA sq km

Natural hazards:
periodic droughts

Environment - current issues:
limited natural fresh water resources, roof storage tanks collect
rainwater, but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination
plant; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years - mainly
by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - has left the central 90% of
Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the
Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and
Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator

People Nauru

Population:
12,809 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 38.2% (male 2,516; female 2,372)
15-64 years: 60% (male 3,782; female 3,898)
65 years and over: 1.9% (male 128; female 113) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 19.9 years
male: 19.5 years
female: 20.4 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
1.87% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
25.61 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
6.95 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 1.13 male(s)/female
total populati