Australia and the Pacific
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Australia
Chief of state: Queen Elizabeth II is a
hereditary monarch, represented by Governor General Sir William
Deane
Head of Government: Prime Minister John Winston
Howard
Type of Government: federal parliamentary state
Capital: Canberra
Total Area: 7,686,850 sq km
Population: 18,260,863 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Caucasian 95%, Asian 4%,
aboriginal and other 1%
Religions: Anglican 26.1%, Roman Catholic 26%,
other Christian 24.3%
Languages: English, native languages
GDP: purchasing power parity - $405.4 billion
(1995 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 3.3% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $22,100 (1995 est.)
Fiji
Chief of State: President Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara
Head of Government: Prime Minister Sitiveni
Rabuka
Type of Government: republic note: military coup leader Maj. Gen.
Sitiveni Rabuka formally declared Fiji a republic on 6 October
1987
Capital: Suva
Total Area: 18,270 sq km
Population: 782,381 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Fijian 49%, Indian 46%,
European, other Pacific Islanders, overseas Chinese, and other 5%
Religions: 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)
Languages: English (official), Fijian,
Hindustani
GDP: purchasing power parity - $4.7 billion
(1995 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 2.2% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $6,100 (1995 est.)
Kiribati
Chief of state and Head of Government: President
(Beretitenti) Teburoro Tito
Type of Government: republic
Capital: Tarawa
Total Area: 717 sq km
Population: 80,919 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Micronesian
Religions: Roman Catholic 52.6%, Protestant
(Congregational) 40.9%, Seventh-Day Adventist, Baha'i, Church of
God, Mormon 6% (1985)
GDP: purchasing power parity - $68 million (1995
est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 2.6% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $860 (1995 est.)
Marshall
Islands
Chief of state and Head of Government: President
Amata Kabua
Type of Government: constitutional government in
free association with the US; the Compact of Free Association
entered into force 21 October 1986
Capital: Majuro
Total Area: 181.3 sq km
Population: 58,363 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Micronesian
Religions: Christian (mostly Protestant)
Languages: English (universally spoken and is
the official language), two major Marshallese dialects from the
Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese
GDP: purchasing power parity - $94 million (1995
est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 1.5% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $1,680 (1995 est.)
Micronesia, Federated
States of
Chief of state and Head of Government: President
Jacob Nena
Type of Government: constitutional government in
free association with the US; the Compact of Free Association
entered into force 3 November 1986
Capital: Kolonia (on the island of Pohnpei)
note: a new capital is being built about 10 km southwest in the
Palikir valley
Total Area: 702 sq km
Population: 125,377 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: nine ethnic Micronesian and
Polynesian groups
Religions: Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 47%,
other and none 3%
Languages: English (official and common
language), Trukese, Pohnpeian, Yapese, Kosrean
GDP: purchasing power parity - $205 million
(1994 est.) note: GDP
is supplemented by grant aid, averaging perhaps $100 million
annually
GDP Real Growth Rate: 1.4% (1994 est.)
GDP per capita: $1,700 (1994 est.)
Nauru
Chief of state and Head of Government: President
Kinza Clodumar
Type of Government: republic
Capital: no official capital; government offices
in Yaren District
Total Area: 21 sq km
Population: 10,273 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Nauruan 58%, other Pacific
Islander 26%, Chinese 8%, European 8%
Religions: Christian (two-thirds Protestant,
one-third Roman Catholic)
Languages: Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific
Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for
most government and commercial purposes.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $100 million
(1993 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: NA%
GDP per capita: $10,000 (1993 est.)
New Zealand
Chief of State: Queen Elizabeth II is a
hereditary monarch, represented by Governor General Sir Michael
Hardie-Boys
Head of Government: Prime Minister Jenny Shipley
Type of Government: parliamentary democracy
Capital: Wellington
Total Area: 268,680 sq km
Population: 3,547,983 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: European 88%, Maori 8.9%,
Pacific Islander 2.9%, other 0.2%
Religions: Anglican 24%, Presbyterian 18%, Roman
Catholic 15%, Methodist 5%, Baptist 2%, other Protestant 3%,
unspecified or none 33% (1986)
Languages: English (official), Maori
GDP: purchasing power parity - $62.3 billion
(1995 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 5.5% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $18,300 (1995 est.)
Niue
Chief of State: Queen Elizabeth II is a
hereditary monarch; the queen and New Zealand are represented by
New Zealand High Commissioner Warren Searell
Head of Government: Premier Frank Fakaotimanava
Lui
Type of Government: self-governing territory in
free association with New Zealand; Niue fully responsible for
internal affairs; New Zealand retains responsibility for external
affairs
Capital: Alofi
Total Area: 260 sq km
Population: 2,174 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Polynesian (with some 200
Europeans, Samoans, and Tongans)
Religions: Ekalesia Nieue (Niuean Church) 75% -
a Protestant church closely related to the London Missionary
Society, Morman 10%, other 15% (mostly Roman Catholic, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist)
Languages: Polynesian closely related to Tongan
and Samoan, English
GDP: purchasing power parity - $2.4 million
(1993 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: NA%
GDP per capita: $1,200 (1993 est.)
Palau
Chief of state and Head of Government: President
Kuniwo Nakamura
Type of Government: constitutional government in
free association with the US; the Compact of Free Association
entered into force 1 October 1994
Capital: Koror
Total Area: 458 sq km
Population: 16,952 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Palauans are a composite of
Polynesian, Malayan, and Melanesian races
Religions: Christian (Catholics, Seventh-Day
Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, the Assembly of God, the
Liebenzell Mission, and Latter-Day Saints), Modekngei religion
(one-third of the population observes this religion which is
indigenous to Palau)
Languages: English (official in all of Palau's
16 states), Sonsorolese (official in the state of Sonsoral),
Angaur and Japanese (in the state of Anguar), Tobi (in the state
of Tobi), Palauan (in the other 13 states)
GDP: purchasing power parity - $81.8 million
(1994 est.)
note: GDP numbers reflect US spending
GDP Real Growth Rate: NA%
GDP per capita: $5,000 (1994 est.)
Solomon
Islands
Chief of State: Queen Elizabeth II is a
hereditary monarch, represented by Governor General Moses
Pitakaka
Head of Government: Prime Minister Bartholomew
Ulufa'alu
Type of Government: parliamentary democracy
Capital: Honiara
Total Area: 28,450 sq km
Population: 412,902 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Melanesian 93%, Polynesian 4%,
Micronesian 1.5%, European 0.8%, Chinese 0.3%, other 0.4%
Religions: Anglican 34%, Roman Catholic 19%,
Baptist 17%, United (Methodist/Presbyterian) 11%, Seventh-Day
Adventist 10%, other Protestant 5%, traditional beliefs 4%
Languages: Melanesian pidgin in much of the
country is lingua franca, English spoken by 1%-2% of population
note: 120 indigenous languages
GDP: purchasing power parity - $1 billion (1992
est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 8% (1992 est.)
GDP per capita: $2,590 (1992 est.)
Tonga
Chief of State: King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV
Head of Government: Prime Minister Baron Vaea
Type of Government: hereditary constitutional
monarchy
Capital: Nuku'alofa
Total Area: 748 sq km
Population: 106,466 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Polynesian, Europeans about
300
Religions: Christian (Free Wesleyan Church
claims over 30,000 adherents)
Languages: Tongan, English
GDP: purchasing power parity - $228 million
(1995 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 4% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $2,160 (1995 est.)
Tuvalu
Chief of State: Queen Elizabeth II is a
hereditary monarch, represented by Governor General Manuella
Tulaga
Head of Government: Prime Minister Bikenibeu
Paeniu
Type of Government: democracy; began debating
republic status in 1992
Capital: Funafuti
Total Area: 26 sq km
Population: 10,146 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Polynesian 96%
Religions: Church of Tuvalu (Congregationalist)
97%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.4%, Baha'i 1%, other 0.6%
Languages: Tuvaluan, English
GDP: purchasing power parity - $7.8 million
(1995 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: NA%
GDP per capita: $800 (1995 est.)
Vanuatu
Chief of State: President Jean Marie Leye (since
2 March 1994) was elected for a five-year term by an electoral
college consisting of Parliament and the presidents of the
regional councils
Head of Government: Prime Minister Donald
Kalpokas
Type of Government: republic
Capital: Port-Vila
Total Area: 14,760 sq km
Population: 177,504 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: indigenous Melanesian 94%,
French 4%, Vietnamese, Chinese, Pacific Islanders
Religions: Presbyterian 36.7%, Anglican 15%,
Catholic 15%, indigenous beliefs 7.6%, Seventh-Day Adventist
6.2%, Church of Christ 3.8%, other 15.7%
Languages: English (official), French
(official), pidgin (known as Bislama or Bichelama)
GDP: purchasing power parity - $210 million
(1994 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 2% (1994 est.)
GDP per capita: $1,220 (1994 est.)
Western
Samoa
Chief of State: Chief Susuga Malietoa Tanumafili
II
Head of Government: Prime Minister Tofilau Eti
Alesana
Type of Government: constitutional monarchy
under native chief
Capital: Apia
Total Area: 2,860 sq km
Population: 214,384 (July 1996 est.)
Ethnic Divisions: Samoan 92.6%, Euronesians 7%
(persons of European and Polynesian blood), Europeans 0.4%
Religions: Christian 99.7% (about one-half of
population associated with the London Missionary Society;
includes Congregational, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Latter-Day
Saints, Seventh-Day Adventist)
Languages: Samoan (Polynesian), English
GDP: purchasing power parity - $415 million
(1995 est.)
GDP Real Growth Rate: 5% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $1,900 (1995 est.)
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