nt mortality rate: 19 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

_#_Life expectancy at birth: 62 years male, 67 years female (1991)

_#_Total fertility rate: 3.1 children born/woman (1991)

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

_#_Ethnic divisions: Indian 49%, Fijian 46%, European, other Pacific
Islanders, overseas Chinese, and other 5%

_#_Religion: Christian 52% (Methodist 37%, Roman Catholic 9%),
Hindu 38%, Muslim 8%, other 2%; note--Fijians are mainly Christian,
Indians are Hindu, and there is a Muslim minority (1986)

_#_Language: English (official); Fijian; Hindustani

_#_Literacy: 86% (male 90%, female 81%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1985 est.)

_#_Labor force: 235,000; subsistence agriculture 67%, wage earners
18%, salary earners 15% (1987)

_#_Organized labor: about 45,000 employees belong to some 46 trade
unions, which are organized along lines of work and ethnic origin (1983)

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Republic of Fiji

_#_Type: military coup leader Major General Sitiveni Rabuka formally
declared Fiji a republic on 6 October 1987

_#_Capital: Suva

_#_Administrative divisions: 4 divisions and 1 dependency*; Central,
Eastern, Northern, Rotuma*, Western

_#_Independence: 10 October 1970 (from UK)

_#_Constitution: 10 October 1970 (suspended 1 October 1987);
a new Constitution was proposed on 23 September 1988 and promulgated
on 25 July 1990

_#_Legal system: based on British system

_#_National holiday: Independence Day, 10 October (1970)

_#_Executive branch: president, prime minister, Cabinet

_#_Legislative branch: the bicameral Parliament, consisting of an
upper house or Senate and a lower house or House of Representatives,
was dissolved following the coup of 14 May 1987; the Constitution of 23
September 1988 provides for a bicameral Parliament

_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court

_#_Leaders:

Chief of State--President Ratu Sir Penaia Kanatabatu GANILAU
(since 5 December 1987);

Head of Government--Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese MARA (since 5
December 1987); Deputy Prime Minister Josefata KAMIKAMICA (since NA
October 1991);
note--Ratu Sir Kamisese MARA served as prime minister from 10 October
1970 until the 5-11 April 1987 election; after a second coup led by
Maj. Gen. Sitiveni RABUKA on 25 September 1987, Ratu Sir Kamisese
MARA was reappointed as prime minister

_#_Political parties and leaders:
Fijian Politic