Head of state: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by a governor-general Prime minister: Danny Philip
Population
106,146
584,578
Life Expectancy
75.380 years
74.420 years
Capital City
Nuku'alofa
Largest city
Nuku`alofa (population: 22,400)
Honiara (population: 56,298)
Human Development Index
0.774
0.591
GDP per capita
$7,400 US
Literacy Rate
98.9%
%
Corruption Perception Index
2.4
2.9
Percentage of Women in Parliament
3.1%
0%
Wealthiest Citizens
Unemployment Rate
13.000%
Death Penalty
Abolished in practice
Abolished
Political System
constitutional monarchy
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
4 June 1970 (from UK protectorate)
Religions
Christian (Free Wesleyan Church claims over 30,000 adherents)
Church of Melanesia 32.8%, Roman Catholic 19%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Languages
Tongan, English
Melanesian pidgin in much of the country is lingua franca; English (official; but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population); 120 indigenous languages
Exports
squash, fish, vanilla beans, root crops
External Debt
$104,600,000 $
Exchange Rate
pa'anga (TOP) per US dollar - NA (2007), 2.0277 (2006), 1.96 (2005), 1.9716 (2004), 2.142 (2003)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.900%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Oceania, archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Area
747 km sq
28,896 km sq
Coastline
419 km
5,313 km
Climate
tropical; modified by trade winds; warm season (December to May), cool season (May to December)
tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
