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Country: Nauru
- Geography
Total area: 21 km2; land area: 21 km2

Comparative area: about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 30 km

Maritime claims:

Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

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

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

Natural resources: phosphates

Land use: 0% arable land; 0% permanent crops; 0% meadows and
pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 100% other

Environment: only 53 km south of Equator

Note: one of three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific
(others are Banaba or Ocean Island in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia)

- People
Population: 9,202 (July 1990), growth rate 1.5% (1990)

Birth rate: 20 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: NEGL migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 41 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 64 years male, 69 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 2.3 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Nauruan(s); adjective--Nauruan

Ethnic divisions: 58% Nauruan, 26% other Pacific Islander, 8% Chinese, 8%
European

Religion: Christian (two-thirds Protestant, one-third Roman Catholic)

Language: Nauruan, a distinct Pacific Island language (official); English
widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes

Literacy: 99%

Labor force: NA

Organized labor: NA

- Government
Long-form name: Republic of Nauru

Type: republic

Capital: no capital city as such; government offices in Yaren District

Administrative divisions: 14 districts; Aiwo, Anabar, Anetan, Anibare,
Baiti, Boe, Buada, Denigomodu, Ewa, Ijuw, Meneng, Nibok, Uaboe, Yaren

Independence: 31 January 1968 (from UN trusteeship under Australia,
New Zealand, and UK); formerly Pleasant Island

Constitution: 29 January 1968

Legal system: own Acts of Parliament and British common law

National holiday: Independence Day, 31 January (1968)

Executive branch: president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: unicameral Parliament

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders:
Chief of State and Head of Government--President Bernard DOWIYOGO
(since 12 December 1989)

Political parties and leaders: none

Suffrage: universal and compulsory at ag