untry: Western Samoa
- Geography
Total area: 2,860 km2; land area: 2,850 km2

Comparative area: slightly smaller than Rhode Island

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 403 km

Maritime claims:

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate: tropical; rainy season (October to March), dry season
(May to October)

Terrain: narrow coastal plain with volcanic, rocky, rugged
mountains in interior

Natural resources: hardwood forests, fish

Land use: 19% arable land; 24% permanent crops; NEGL% meadows and
pastures; 47% forest and woodland; 10% other

Environment: subject to occasional typhoons; active volcanism

Note: located 4,300 km southwest of Honolulu in the South Pacific
Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand

- People
Population: 186,031 (July 1990), growth rate 2.3% (1990)

Birth rate: 34 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 5 migrants/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 48 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

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

Total fertility rate: 4.6 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Western Samoan(s); adjective--Western Samoan

Ethnic divisions: Samoan; about 7% Euronesians (persons of European
and Polynesian blood), 0.4% Europeans

Religion: 99.7% Christian (about half of population associated with the
London Missionary Society; includes Congregational, Roman Catholic, Methodist,
Latter Day Saints, Seventh-Day Adventist)

Language: Samoan (Polynesian), English

Literacy: 90%

Labor force: 37,000; 22,000 employed in agriculture (1983 est.)

Organized labor: Public Service Association (PSA)

- Government
Long-form name: Independent State of Western Samoa

Type: constitutional monarchy under native chief

Capital: Apia

Administrative divisions: 11 districts; Aana, Aiga-i-le-Tai, Atua,
Faasaleleaga, Gagaemauga, Gagaifomauga, Palauli, Satupaitea, Tuamasaga,
Vaa-o-Fonoti, Vaisigano

Independence: 1 January 1962 (from UN trusteeship administered
by New Zealand)

Constitution: 1 January 1962

Legal system: based on English common law and local customs; judicial
review of legislative acts with respect to fundamental rights of the citizen;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

National holiday: National Day, 1 June

Executive branch: monarch, Executive Council, prime minister, Cabinet

Legislative branch: u