_#_Climate: wet season May to November; hot and humid
_#_Terrain: islands vary geologically from the high mountainous main
island of Babelthuap to low, coral islands usually fringed by large
barrier reefs
_#_Natural resources: forests, minerals (especially gold), marine
products; deep-seabed minerals
_#_Land use: arable land NA%; permanent crops NA%; meadows and
pastures NA%; forest and woodland NA%; other NA%
_#_Environment: subject to typhoons from June to December; archipelago
of six island groups totaling over 200 islands in the Caroline chain
_#_Note: important location 850 km southeast of the Philippines;
includes World War II battleground of Peleliu and world-famous rock
islands
_*_People
_#_Population: 14,411 (July 1991), growth rate 0.7% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 25 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Net migration rate: - 12 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Infant mortality rate: 26 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
_#_Life expectancy at birth: 68 years male, 74 years female (1991)
_#_Total fertility rate: 3.3 children born/woman (1991)
_#_Nationality: noun--Palauan(s); adjective--Palauan
_#_Ethnic divisions: Palauans are a composite of Polynesian, Malayan,
and Melanesian races
_#_Religion: predominantly Christian, mainly Roman Catholic
_#_Language: Palauan is the official language, though English is
commonplace; inhabitants of the isolated southwestern islands speak a
dialect of Trukese
_#_Literacy: 92% (male 93%, female 91%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1980)
_#_Labor force: NA
_#_Organized labor: NA
_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
(no short-form name); may change to Republic of Palau after independence;
note--Belau, the native form of Palau, is sometimes used
_#_Type: UN trusteeship administered by the US; constitutional
government signed a Compact of Free Association with the US on
10 January 1986, after approval in a series of UN-observed plebiscites;
until the UN trusteeship is terminated with entry into force of the
Compact, Palau remains under US administration as the Palau District of
the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands
_#_Capital: Koror; a new capital is being built about 20 km northeast
in eastern Babelthuap
_#_Administrative divisions: none
_#_Independence: still part of the US-administered UN trusteeship
(the last polity remaining under the trusteeship; the Republic of the
Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Commonwealth of the
Northern Marianas have left); administered by the Office of Territorial
and International Affairs, US Department of Interior
_#_Constitution: 11 January 1981
_#_Legal system: based on Trust Territory laws, acts of the
legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws
_#_National holiday: Constitution Day, 9 July (1979)
_#_Executive branch: US president, US vice president, national
president, national vice president
_#_Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament (Olbiil Era Kelulau or
OEK) consists of an upper house or Senate and a lower house or House of
Delegates
_#_Judicial branch: Supreme Court
_#_Leaders:
Chief of State--President George BUSH (since 20 January
1989); represented by the Assistant Secretary for Territorial Affairs,
US Department of the Interior, Stella GUERRA (since NA July 1989);
Head of Government--President Ngiratkel ETPISON (since 2 November
1988)
_#_Political parties: no formal parties
_#_Suffrage: universal at age 18
_#_Elections:
President--last held on 2 November 1988 (next to be held November
1992); Ngiratkel ETPISON 26.3%, Roman TMETUCHL 25.9%,
Thomas REMENGESAU 19.5%, other 28.3%;
Senate--last held 2 November 1988 (next to be held November 1992);
results--percent of vote NA;
seats--(18 total);
House of Delegates--last held 2 November 1988 (next to be held
November 1992);
results--percent of vote NA;
seats--(16 total)
_#_Member of: ESCAP (associate), SPC, SPF (observer)
_#_Diplomatic representation: none;
US--US Liaison Officer Lloyd MOSS; US Liaison Office at Top
Side, Neeriyas, Koror (mailing address: P. O. Box 6028, Koror, Republic
of Palau 96940); telephone 160-680-920 or 990
_#_Flag: light blue with a large yellow disk (representing the moon)
shifted slightly to the hoist side
_*_Economy
_#_Overview: The economy consists primarily of subsistence agriculture
and fishing. Tourism provides some foreign exchange, although the remote
location of Palau and a shortage of suitable facilities has hindered
development. The government is the major employer of the work force,
relying heavily on financial assistance from the US.
_#_GDP: $31.6 million, per capita $2,260; real growth rate NA% (1986)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): NA%
_#_Unemployment rate: 20% (1986)
_#_Budget: revenues $6.0 million; expenditures NA, including capital
expenditures of NA (1986)
_#_Exports: $0.5 million (f.o.b., 1986);
commodities--NA;
partners--US, Japan
_#_Imports: $27.2 million (c.i.f., 1986);
commodities--NA;
partners--US
_#_External debt: $NA
_#_Industrial production: growth rate NA%
_#_Electricity: 16,000 kW capacity; 22 million kWh produced,
1,540 kWh per capita (1990)
_#_Industries: tourism, craft items (shell, wood, pearl), some
commercial fishing and agriculture
_#_Agriculture: subsistence-level production of coconut, copra,
cassava, sweet potatoes
_#_Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $2
billion; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-87), $62.6 million
_#_Currency: US currency is used
_#_Exchange rates: US currency is used
_#_Fiscal year: 1 October-30 September
_*_Communications
_#_Highways: 25.7 km paved macadam and concrete roads, otherwise
stone-, coral-, or laterite-surfaced roads (1986)
_#_Ports: Koror
_#_Airports: 2 with permanent-surface runways 1,220-2,439 m
_#_Telecommunications: stations--1 AM, 1 FM, 1 TV; 1 Pacific Ocean
INTELSAT earth station
_*_Defense Forces
_#_Note: defense is the responsibility of the US and that will not
change when the UN trusteeship terminates
_%_
_@_Pacific Ocean
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 165,384,000 km2; includes Arafura Sea, Banda Sea,
Bellingshausen Sea, Bering Sea, Bering Strait, Coral Sea, East China Sea,
Gulf of Alaska, Makassar Strait, Philippine Sea, Ross Sea, Sea of Japan,
Sea of Okhotsk, South China Sea, Tasman Sea, and other tributary water
bodies
_#_Comparative area: slightly less than 18 times the size of the US;
the largest ocean (followed by the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, and
Arctic Ocean); covers about one-third of the global surface; larger than
the total land area of the world
_#_Coastline: 135,663 km
_#_Climate: the western Pacific is monsoonal--a rainy season occurs
during the summer months, when moisture-laden winds blow from the ocean
over the land, and a dry season during the winter months, when dry winds
blow from the Asian land mass back to the ocean
_#_Terrain: surface in the northern Pacific dominated by a clockwise,
warm water gyre (broad, circular system of currents) and in the southern
Pacific by a counterclockwise, cool water gyre; sea ice occurs in the
Bering Sea and
Sea of Okhotsk during winter and reaches maximum northern extent from
Antarctica in October; the ocean floor in the eastern Pacific is
dominated by the East Pacific Rise, while the western Pacific is
dissected by deep trenches; the world's greatest depth is 10,924 meters
in the Marianas Trench
_#_Natural resources: oil and gas fields, polymetallic nodules, sand
and gravel aggregates, placer deposits, fish
_#_Environment: endangered marine species include the dugong, sea
lion, sea otter, seals, turtles, and whales; oil pollution in Philippine
Sea and South China Sea; dotted with low coral islands and rugged
volcanic islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean; subject to tropical
cyclones (typhoons) in southeast and east Asia from May to December (most
frequent from July to October); tropical cyclones (hurricanes) may form
south of Mexico and strike Central America and Mexico from June to
October (most common in August and September); southern shipping lanes
subject to icebergs from Antarctica; occasional El Nino phenomenon
occurs off the coast of Peru when the trade winds slacken and the warm
Equatorial Countercurrent moves south, which kills the plankton that is
the primary food source for anchovies; consequently, the anchovies move
to better feeding grounds, causing resident marine birds to starve by the
thousands because of their lost food source
_#_Note: the major choke points are the Bering Strait, Panama
Canal, Luzon Strait, and the Singapore Strait; the Equator divides the
Pacific Ocean into the North Pacific Ocean and the South Pacific Ocean;
ships subject to superstructure icing in extreme north from October to
May and in extreme south from May to October; persistent fog in the
northern Pacific from June to December is a hazard to shipping;
surrounded by a zone of violent volcanic and earthquake activity
sometimes referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire
_*_Economy
_#_Overview: The Pacific Ocean is a major contributor to the world
economy and particularly to those nations its waters directly touch.
It provides cheap sea transportation between East and West, extensive
fishing grounds, offshore oil and gas fields, minerals, and sand and
gravel for the construction industry. In 1985 over half (54%) of the
world's total fish catch came from the Pacific Ocean, which is the only
ocean where the fish catch has increased every year since 1978.
Exploitation of offshore oil and gas reserves is playing an
ever-increasing role in the energy supplies of Australia, New Zealand,
China, US, and Peru. The high cost of recovering offshore oil and gas,
combined with the wide swings in world prices for oil since 1985, has
slowed but not stopped new drillings.
_#_Industries: fishing, oil and gas production
_*_Communications
_#_Ports: Bangkok (Thailand), Hong Kong, Los Angeles (US),
Manila (Philippines), Pusan (South Korea), San Francisco (US), Seattle
(US), Shanghai (China), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Vladivostok
(USSR), Wellington (NZ), Yokohama (Japan)
_#_Telecommunications: several submarine cables with network focused
on Guam and Hawaii
_%_
_@_Pakistan
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 803,940 km2; land area: 778,720 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly less than twice the size of California
_#_Land boundaries: 6,774 km total; Afghanistan 2,430 km, China
523 km, India 2,912 km, Iran 909 km
_#_Coastline: 1,046 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 24 nm;
Continental shelf: edge of continental margin or 200 nm;
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;