Nauru

Full name of country: Republic of Nauru

Region: Australia-Oceania

Official language: Nauruan, English

Population: 9,892 (2024 est.)

Nationality: Nauruan(s) (noun), Nauruan (adjective)

Land area: 21 sq km (8 sq miles)

Capital: No official capital; government offices in Yaren District

National anthem: "Nauru Bwiema" (Song of Nauru), by Margaret Hendrie/Laurence Henry Hicks

National holiday: Independence Day, January 31 (1968)

Population growth: 0.39% (2024 est.)

Time zone: UTC +12

Flag: The flag of Nauru depicts the island's geographical location, and consists of a dark blue field, representing the Pacific Ocean, with a horizontal golden stripe, representing the equator, running through the center. Nauru itself is represented as a twelve-pointed white star and sits in the lower hoist quarter, below the line, representing Nauru's geographical position of 1 degree below the Equator. The color white symbolizes the phosphate once abundantly found on the island, while the twelve points of the star represent the island's original twelve tribes.

Motto: "God's Will First"

Independence: January 31, 1968 (from the Australia-, NZ-, and UK-administered UN trusteeship)

Government type: republic

Suffrage: universal and compulsory for those twenty years of age

Legal system: common law based on the English model and customary law

English Captain John Fearn, the first European to see Nauru, called it Pleasant Island. The South Pacific island gained its independence from Australia in 1968, becoming the smallest independent republic in the world.

Today, the Republic of Nauru is in a state of ecological disaster due to a century of mining phosphates (bird guano) for fertilizer. With the guano deposits nearly depleted, Nauru has few other economic options and has relied on controversial revenue streams, including hosting an Australian detention camp for asylum seekers. Most of the island is uninhabitable, and almost all food and water must be imported.

Note: unless otherwise indicated, statistical data in this article is sourced from the CIA World Factbook, as cited in the bibliography.

People and Culture

Population: Ethnically, Nauruans are a mixture of Polynesian, Melanesian, and Micronesian. Their language is unique. While some experts find elements of Melanesian languages, Polynesian languages, and Micronesian languages, others maintain that Nauruan is unrelated to any of these linguistic families. Although Nauruan is the official language, English is the language of government and commerce.

The name "Nauru" ("Naoero" in Nauruan) is thought to derive from the word "anaoero," meaning "I go to the beach."

Ethnic groups living on the island according to 2021 estimates include Nauruans (94.6 percent of the population), I-Kiribati (2.2 percent), Fijian (1.3 percent), and other groups (1.9 percent). Most, if not all, non-Nauruans are connected with the phosphate industry, as laborers, executives, or financiers.

About 60.4 percent of Nauruans are Protestant, according to 2021 estimates. Another 33.9 percent are Roman Catholic. Missionaries arrived on the island in the late nineteenth century, and the Nauruans were quickly converted to Christianity.

Nauru's entire population is concentrated on the narrow strip of coastline around the perimeter of the island. Due to Nauru's small size, it does not have distinct towns or cities, but its single contiguous settlement is divided into fourteen districts, of which the most populous are Denigomodu, Meneng, and Aiwo. The district of Yaren contains most administrative facilities and is generally considered the capital.

The government hopes to ease overcrowding by developing cleared areas on the central plateau, where phosphate mining operations have been conducted for many decades.

Nauru's HDI value for 2022 is 0.696— which put the country in the Medium human development category—positioning it at 122 out of 193 countries and territories.

Indigenous People: Nauruans, descended from Polynesian explorers, are the island's indigenous population. They are organized into twelve traditional clans. Clan membership is matrilineal.

Education: Education is free, and it is compulsory for children between the ages of six and sixteen. The island supports several small schools, including pre-primary, primary, secondary, and vocational institutions.

Nauru has no university, but it maintains an extension center of the University of the South Pacific (Suva, Fiji).

Health Care: The average life expectancy in Nauru is 68.6 years at birth;65 years for men and 72.3 years for women (2024 estimates).

The relatively short life expectancy of Nauruans is blamed on poor diet, resulting in a high incidence of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. The country has had one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world.

In the 1970s, life expectancy in Nauru was even shorter than it is today. Men could expect to live no longer than fifty years, the shortest lifespan in the Pacific Islands group. The improvement is attributed to preventive health care and education.

Another major cause of death is automobile accidents. The island has only about 30 kilometers of roadway, but most families own at least one car.

Health care is free to residents of Nauru. There are about 1.35 doctors per thousand people (2015 estimate). Health expenditure was 12 percent of the GDP in 2020.

Food: Traditionally, the Nauruans, like other Pacific islanders, ate fresh fish, coconut, and pandanus fruit. Pandanus fruit grows on a tree in a large cluster that resembles a pineapple. The fruit may be eaten raw or cooked.

Today, Western convenience foods and junk food have taken over. There is no Nauruan cuisine. Fast-food restaurants are found throughout the island, and fast food is the mainstay of the Nauruans' diet.

Arts & Entertainment: The Nauruans lost most of their traditional culture when the island was taken over by Europeans. Today, the islanders receive television broadcasts from New Zealand.

The national sport of Nauru is Australian Rules football. The game involves two teams of eighteen players who compete on a pitch shaped like a cricket oval. This game is so popular that many Nauruan children have been named after football stars.

Nauru has an Olympic weightlifting team, established in 1994. Marcus Stephen won numerous gold and silver medals in the sport. Other weightlifters of note are Sheeva Peo and Yukio Peter.

Fishing is a popular activity on the island. Birds and fish caught by Nauruan sportsmen are usually eaten. Nauruans have hunted the noddy, or black tern, so extensively that it has become locally rare.

Holidays: Official holidays include Independence Day (January 31), Constitution Day (May 17), National Youth Day (September 25). Angam Day, or Homecoming Day (October 26), commemorates the times when the island's population has exceeded 1,500 people. This is thought to be the minimum number necessary for survival. The Nauruan population first fell below 1,500 during World War I, and so in 1919 it was decided that the day the population reached that target would become a public holiday. Angam Day was first celebrated in 1939, but during World War II Nauru again suffered significant loss of life, sending the population below 1,500 once more. The holiday was then put on hold until the target was met again in March 1949 (though the holiday retained the original October date).

Environment and Geography

Topography: Nauru is an oval coral island surrounded by a reef. The island lies in the South Pacific Ocean, 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the equator and 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) northeast of Sydney, Australia. Its nearest neighbor, another island of phosphate rock, is Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati, 300 kilometers (186 miles) to the east.

Nauru has a narrow, sandy beach around its perimeter. In the center of the island is the phosphate plateau, or "topside." This area's primary guano deposits have been depleted, and mining operations have left strange-looking coral pinnacles all over the plateau.

The surrounding coral reef is exposed at low tide. Because of the danger posed by the reef, ships anchor at sea, and passengers and cargo are shuttled by barge to shore.

The island's highest point, at 70 meters (229 feet), is on the rim of the phosphate plateau.

Natural Resources: Nauru's only natural resource is petrified guano, the droppings of bats and seabirds. Guano contains high-quality phosphate, which is used in fertilizer. However, by the twenty-first century this resource had been severely depleted.

Rainwater is collected in roof storage tanks, and an outdated desalinization plant provides a small amount of fresh water for the island's inhabitants.

Plants & Animals: Like many other Pacific islands, Nauru did not have a rich biology even before humans arrived. Today, most native plant species are extinct, and the destruction of habitats has greatly diminished the bird population.

One plant that does well is the pandanus. Other names for this medium-sized tree (usually 15–25 feet tall) include "screw-pine," "tourist pineapple" and "hala." Thriving in poor soil and saltwater conditions, it is common to tropical Pacific islands. The fruit is eaten, and the long leaves yield a fiber often used by Pacific Islanders for weaving. The pandanus also has some medicinal properties.

Also growing in the coastal area are some coconut palms. The Buada lagoon has a surrounding fertile area which supports bananas and some vegetables.

Only a few species of birds live on Nauru permanently, but many species visit seasonally. Some local species are the frigate bird, the noddy (black tern), and the Nauru canary (a nightingale reed warbler). The frigate bird is the national bird and is sometimes kept as a caged pet.

Although there are no native mammals, rats, cats, and mice have arrived with travelers. Packs of wild dogs roam the central plateau.

Climate: Nauru has a tropical climate, making for warm, humid and breezy weather with little variation. Daytime temperatures are between 24° and 34° Celsius (75° and 93° Fahrenheit). Humidity is steady at about 80 percent. The northwest trade winds blow from March through October.

Rainfall varies widely. Some years, the island receives a total of 190 to 200 centimeters (75 to 79 inches) of rain. Westerly monsoons are responsible for the wet season November through February. Other years see extensive droughts.

Phosphate mining has changed the very climate of Nauru. The bare rock exposed by mining retains heat and dries up moisture, lengthening, intensifying and increasing the number of droughts.

Nauru's elevation is so low that as global warming results in a rise in ocean levels, the entire island could be submerged.

Economy

After 1968, when Nauru gained its independence, the Nauruans were among the richest people in the world. Labor was imported from Kiribati and Tuvalu, and Nauruans grew wealthy from the sale of their phosphate reserves.

Phosphate exports declined in the 1990s when the Australian market collapsed and Asia was in financial crisis. Production was suspended briefly in 2001 due to a dispute with landowners. In the early twenty-first century, with primary phosphate deposits running out, the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) fell as low as $147.996 million USD in 2023. The economy later rebounded somewhat as secondary phosphate reserves began to be exploited. The per capita GDP stood at US$12,500 according to 2023 estimates.

Knowing that the phosphate deposits would be exhausted, Nauru invested heavily in trust funds. However, fraud, poor investments, and government corruption nearly bankrupted the country. Nauru has been forced to sell off its international real estate holdings in order to pay its debts. In an attempt to save money, the government has frozen wages, privatized some government agencies, reduced the staff in others, and closed some overseas consulates.

For a few years, Nauru tried to position itself as a tax haven, but that plan was dropped by 2004. Beginning in 2001, Nauru received aid from Australia in return for hosting a controversial center in which refugees seeking asylum in Australia would be held indefinitely. The so-called Nauru detention center was closed for several years but reopened in 2012. The center remained a subject of controversy but became an important source of revenue for the country until it closed again in 2020.

Industry: For decades, Nauru's only industry has been phosphate mining. High-quality phosphate from petrified guano deposits was discovered in 1899, and mining began in earnest in 1906. The agreement to mine Nauru was made between the German and British governments. Though not required to by the agreement, the Germans chose to pay the Nauruan landowners a fee for the phosphate mined on their land.

Primary phosphate deposits were exhausted in the mid-2000s, and secondary deposits that began to be mined a few years later were forecast to last only thirty more years. One possible source of income in the future is coconut products. In the mid-nineteenth century, Nauru produced as much as a million pounds of copra (dried coconut meat) for export.

Agriculture: Nauru has virtually no arable land, except for the narrow coastal strip. Some small-scale agriculture is practiced. Coconuts are the principal crop, with up to 1,600 metric tons produced annually. Other agricultural products include tropical fruits (bananas, pineapples, and pandanus), vegetables, and coffee.

Some small Nauruan farms raise pigs and chickens. The fishing industry yields roughly 400 metric tons of fish each year.

Tourism: Nauru has very little tourism, and has not developed a tourism infrastructure. However, tourism is considered one of the possibilities for revitalizing the nation's economy in the future.

There are some good beaches on Nauru, particularly in Anibare Bay. Swimming, however, can be dangerous because of the strong, unpredictable currents. Facilities for golf and tennis are available, and it is possible to walk around the island in a day.

Charter boats are available for deep-sea fishing or diving. Divers can enjoy the coral reef that surrounds the island, or they can explore the many World War II-era shipwrecks on the ocean floor. Because of the deep water close to the shore, fishing is excellent. Marlin, sailfish, wahoo, and yellowfin tuna may be caught just off the beaches.

Government

In the late 1870s, a civil war erupted in Nauru, decimating the population. The Nauruans welcomed German annexation in 1888, which resulted in a ban on alcohol and firearms introduced to the island through trading, and brought about the end of the civil war.

After Germany's defeat in World War I, the League of Nations awarded trusteeship of Nauru to Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. After World War II, the United Nations confirmed the trusteeship, with Australia as administrator.

In 1968, Nauru gained its independence. In 1999, it joined the United Nations.

Nauru is a republic with a constitution that has been in force since January 31, 1968. The voting age is twenty. Suffrage is universal, and voting is compulsory.

Executive authority rests with the president, who is both the chief of state and the head of government. The president is chosen by Parliament from among its members and serves for a three-year, renewable term, or until a vote of "no confidence." The president appoints a Cabinet of four or five members from among the members of Parliament.

The nineteen-member Parliament is a unicameral legislature, elected by popular vote. The members of parliament are elected for up to three years, but they can lose their seats in case of a no-confidence vote.

Nauru's highest court is the Supreme Court. Judges are appointed by the president to serve until the age of sixty-five. Nauru also has district and family courts.

No-confidence votes are frequent, and have resulted in many changes of government since independence. Several presidents and members of parliament have lost elections or been forced out of office on charges of corruption or for such social errors as refusing to apologize.

Nauru has opposed missile defense shield propositions by the United States due to fears that missile testing would cause debris to fall on the island.

Australia paid Nauru to detain asylum seekers between 2001 and 2008, when Australia closed its detention center. In 2012, as part of its new offshore immigration policy, Australia opened a new detention camp for asylum seekers in Nauru, but it was later shut down in 2020. However, Australia did not evacuate its last detained refugee from Nauru until 2023.

Interesting Facts

• There is only one football (soccer) pitch on the island. Because there is no grass, the pitch consists of guano powder spread over crushed rock. Pitch markings are made with oil.
• Nauru is the only republic with no officially designated capital, as there are no separated cities or towns on the island. The district of Yaren serves as the de facto capital.

Bibliography

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"Nauru." The Commonwealth, thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries/nauru. Accessed 15 Nov. 2023.

"Nauru." The World Bank 2024, data.worldbank.org/country/nauru. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

"Nauru." The World Factbook, Central Intelligence Agency, 16 Jan. 2025, www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/nauru/. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

"Nauru Country Profile." BBC News, 27 Oct. 2023, www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-15433616. Accessed 24 Jan. 2025.

Sokhin, Vlad. "No Way but Nauru." Roads and Kingdoms, 31 Mar. 2015, roadsandkingdoms.com/2015/no-way-nauru/. Accessed 16 July 2019.