: 14,310 (July 1990), growth rate 0.7% (1990)

Birth rate: 25 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 12 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 26 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 74 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.3 children born/woman (1990)

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

Ethnic divisions: Palauans are a composite of Polynesian, Malayan,
and Melanesian races

Religion: predominantly Christian, mainly Roman Catholic

Language: Palauan is the official language, though English is
commonplace; inhabitants of the isolated southwestern islands speak a
dialect of Trukese

Literacy: NA%, but education compulsory through eight grades

Labor force: NA

Organized labor: NA

- 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, after approval in a series of UN-observed plebiscites;
until the UN trusteeship is terminated with entry into force of the
Compact, Palau remains under US administration as the Palau District of
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands

Capital: Koror; a new capital is being built about 20 km northeast
in eastern Babelthuap

Administrative divisions: none

Independence: still part of the US-administered UN trusteeship
(the last polity remaining under the trusteeship; the Republic of the
Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Commonwealth of the
Northern Marianas have left); administered by the Office of Territorial
and International Affairs, US Department of Interior

Constitution: 11 January 1981

Legal system: based on Trust Territory laws, acts of the
legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws

National holiday: Constitution Day, 9 July (1979)

Executive branch: US president, US vice president, national president,
national vice president

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament (Olbiil Era Kelulau or OEK)
consists of an upper house or Senate and a lower house or House of Delegates

Judicial branch: Supreme Court

Leaders:
Chief of State--President Walker BUSH (since 20 January
1989), represented by High Commission