Nauru

This article is about the island country. For the Tanzanian village, see Nauru, Tanzania.

Republic of Nauru
Repubrikin Naoero (Nauruan)[1]
Motto: "God's will first"
Anthem: Nauru Bwiema
"Nauru, our homeland"
Location of Nauru
CapitalNone (de jure)
Yaren (de facto)[a]
0°31′39″S 166°56′06″E / 0.52750°S 166.93500°E / -0.52750; 166.93500
Largest cityDenigomodu
Official languages
Demonym(s)Nauruan
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic with an executive presidency under a non-partisan democracy[6]
• President
David Adeang
Marcus Stephen
LegislatureParliament
Independence
31 January 1968
Area
• Total
21 km2 (8.1 sq mi) (193rd)
• Water (%)
0.57
Population
• 2024 estimate
11,919[7][8] (227th)
• 2011 census
10,084[9]
• Density
480/km2 (1,243.2/sq mi) (25th)
GDP (PPP)2021 estimate
• Total
$132 million[10] (192nd)
• Per capita
$9,995[10] (94th)
GDP (nominal)2022 estimate
• Total
$150 million[10]
• Per capita
$10,125[10]
HDI (2022)Increase 0.696[11]
medium (122nd)
CurrencyAustralian dollar (AUD)
Time zoneUTC+12[12]
Drives onleft
Calling code+674
ISO 3166 codeNR
Internet TLD.nr

Nauru (/nɑːˈuːruː/ nah-OO-roo[13] or /ˈnaʊruː/ NOW-roo;[14] Nauruan: Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru (Nauruan: Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Micronesia, part of the Oceania region in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba of Kiribati about 300 km (190 mi) to the east.[15]

It lies northwest of Tuvalu, 1,300 km (810 mi) northeast of the Solomon Islands,[16] east-northeast of Papua New Guinea, southeast of the Federated States of Micronesia and south of the Marshall Islands. With an area of only 21 km2 (8.1 sq mi), Nauru is the third-smallest country in the world, larger than only Vatican City and Monaco, making it the smallest republic and island nation, as well as the smallest member state of the Commonwealth of Nations by area. Its population of about 10,800 is the world's third-smallest (not including colonies or overseas territories). Nauru is a member of the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States.

Settled by Micronesians circa 1000 BCE, Nauru was annexed and claimed as a colony by the German Empire in the late 19th century. After World War I, Nauru became a League of Nations mandate administered by Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by Japanese troops, and was bypassed by the Allied advance across the Pacific. After the war ended, the country entered into United Nations trusteeship. Nauru gained its independence in 1968. At various points since 2001, it has accepted aid from the Australian Government in exchange for hosting the Nauru Regional Processing Centre, a controversial offshore Australian immigration detention facility. As a result of heavy dependence on Australia, some sources have identified Nauru as a client state of Australia.[17][18][19]

Nauru is a phosphate-rock island with rich deposits near the surface, which allowed easy strip mining operations for over a century. However, this has seriously harmed the country's environment, causing the island nation to suffer from what is often referred to as the "resource curse". The phosphate was exhausted in the 1990s, and the remaining reserves are not economically viable for extraction.[20] A trust established to manage the island's accumulated mining wealth, set up for the day the reserves would be exhausted, has diminished in value. To earn income, Nauru briefly became a tax haven and illegal money laundering centre.[21]

  1. ^ Franks, Patricia C.; Bernier, Anthony, eds. (10 August 2018). International Directory of National Archives. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 263.
  2. ^ a b Worldwide Government Directory with Intergovernmental Organizations. CQ Press. 2013. p. 1131.
  3. ^ "REPUBLIC OF NAURU Revenue Administration Act Act No. 15 of 2014" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 March 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2023. All Bills are to be drafted in English, the official language of Nauru.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference CIA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference state was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Nauru's Constitution of 1968 with Amendments through 2015" (PDF). constituteproject.org. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2023. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  7. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  8. ^ "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  9. ^ "National Report on Population ad Housing" (PDF). Nauru Bureau of Statistics. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 9 June 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects". www.imf.org. Archived from the original on 2 May 2021. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Human Development Report 2023/2024" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  12. ^ Department of Justice and Border Control (21 December 1978). "Nauru Standard Time Act 1978" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 11 September 2020. Because of the peculiar way the legislation is worded the legal time is not GMT+12.
  13. ^ "Nauru Pronunciation in English". Cambridge English Dictionary. Cambridge University Press. Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  14. ^ "Nauru – Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes". Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 2 January 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  15. ^ "Nauru and Ocean Island". II(8) Pacific Islands Monthly. 15 March 1932. Archived from the original on 26 September 2021. Retrieved 26 September 2021.
  16. ^ "Yaren | district, Nauru". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 8 September 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  17. ^ "Pacific correspondent Mike Field". Radio New Zealand. 18 June 2015. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  18. ^ "Nauru's former chief justice predicts legal break down". Special Broadcasting Service. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
  19. ^ Ben Doherty (28 October 2015). "This is Abyan's story, and it is Australia's story". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2017. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  20. ^ Hogan, C Michael (2011). "Phosphate". Encyclopedia of Earth. National Council for Science and the Environment. Archived from the original on 25 October 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
  21. ^ Hitt, Jack (10 December 2000). "The Billion-Dollar Shack". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 January 2018. Retrieved 29 January 2018.


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