slightly more than 2.5 times the size of
Washington, DC

_#_Land boundaries: none

_#_Coastline: 1,519 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 12 nm;

Continental shelf: 200 m (depth);

Exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 3 nm

_#_Climate: wet season May to November; hot and humid

_#_Terrain: islands vary geologically from the high mountainous main
island of Babelthuap to low, coral islands usually fringed by large
barrier reefs

_#_Natural resources: forests, minerals (especially gold), marine
products; deep-seabed minerals

_#_Land use: arable land NA%; permanent crops NA%; meadows and
pastures NA%; forest and woodland NA%; other NA%

_#_Environment: subject to typhoons from June to December; archipelago
of six island groups totaling over 200 islands in the Caroline chain

_#_Note: important location 850 km southeast of the Philippines;
includes World War II battleground of Peleliu and world-famous rock
islands

_*_People
_#_Population: 14,411 (July 1991), growth rate 0.7% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 25 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Net migration rate: - 12 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Infant mortality rate: 26 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 74 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 3.3 children born/woman (1991)

_#_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: 92% (male 93%, female 91%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1980)

_#_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