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
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