ing
during the past 90 years-mainly by a UK, Australia, and New Zealand
consortium-has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens
limited remaining land resources

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography-note: Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands
in the Pacific Ocean-the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati
and Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator

@Nauru:People

Population: 10,501 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: NA
15-64 years: NA
65 years and over: NA

Population growth rate: 1.33% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 18.03 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 5.1 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 40.6 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 66.68 years
male: 64.3 years
female: 69.18 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.08 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Nauruan(s)
adjective: Nauruan

Ethnic groups: 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

Literacy: NA

@Nauru:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Nauru
conventional short form: Nauru
former: Pleasant Island

Data code: NR

Government type: republic

National capital: no official capital; government offices in Yaren
District

Administrative divisions: 14 districts; Aiwo, Anabar, Anetan, Anibare,
Baiti, Boe, Buada, Denigomodu, Ewa, Ijuw, Meneng, Nibok, Uaboe, Yaren

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

National holiday: Independence Day, 31 January (1968)

Constitution: 29 January 1968

Legal system: acts of the Nauru Parliament and British common law

Suffrage: 20 years of age; universal and compulsory

Executive branch:
chief of state: President Kinza CLODUMAR (since 8 February 1997);
note-the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Kinza CLODUMAR (since 8 February 1997);