al
submarine cable

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Branches: Army, Navy, Air Force, paramilitary Police Force

_#_Manpower availability: males 15-49, 28,070,431; 16,040,870 fit for
military service; 1,302,970 reach military age (18) annually

_#_Defense expenditures: $300 million, 1% of GNP (1990 est.)
_%_
_@_Niue
(free association with New Zealand)
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 260 km2; land area: 260 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly less than 1.5 times the size of
Washington, DC

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: 64 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Climate: tropical; modified by southeast trade winds

_#_Terrain: steep limestone cliffs along coast, central plateau

_#_Natural resources: fish, arable land

_#_Land use: arable land 61%; permanent crops 4%; meadows and pastures
4%; forest and woodland 19%; other 12%

_#_Environment: subject to typhoons

_#_Note: one of world's largest coral islands; located about 460 km
east of Tonga

_*_People
_#_Population: 1,908 (July 1991), growth rate - 0.1% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: NA births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: NA deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: NA migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: NA deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: NA years male, NA years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: NA children born/woman (1991)

_#_Nationality: noun--Niuean(s); adjective--Niuean

_#_Ethnic divisions: Polynesian, with some 200 Europeans, Samoans, and
Tongans

_#_Religion: Ekalesia Nieue (Niuean Church)--a Protestant church
closely related to the London Missionary Society 75%, Mormon 10%,
Roman Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist 5%

_#_Language: Polynesian tongue closely related to Tongan and Samoan;
English

_#_Literacy: NA% (male NA%, female NA%) but compulsory education
age 5 to 14

_#_Labor force: 1,000 (1981 est.); most work on family plantations;
paid work exists only in government service, small industry, and the Niue
Development Board

_#_Organized labor: NA

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: none

_#_Type: self-governing territory in free association with New
Zealand; Niue fully responsible for internal affairs; New Zealand
retains responsibility for external affairs

_#_Capital: Alofi

_#_Administrative divisions: none