Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
Religions
Nauru Congregational 35.4%, Roman Catholic 33.2%, Nauru Independent Church 10.4%, other 14.1%, none 4.5%, unspecified 2.4% (2002 census)
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Languages
Nauruan (official; a distinct Pacific Island language), English widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Area
21 km sq
9,826,675 km sq
Coastline
30 km
19,924 km
Climate
tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February)
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
