No capital city and a devastating phosphate mine are just two of the most interesting facts about Nauru, one of the world’s smallest countries.
Fast facts
Official name: Republic of Nauru
Capital city: Yaren District (de facto)
Population: 9,982
Area: 21 sq km
Major languages: Nauruan, English
Time zone: UTC+12
Interesting facts about Nauru
1. Nauru is a small oval-shaped island located in Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean.
2. The origins of Nauru’s first inhabitants remain unknown. By the time Europeans arrived in the 18th century, Nauruan society consisted of 12 ancestral tribal groups, each with a chief.
3. Nauru does not have an official capital city. However, its government offices are located in the Yaren District.
4. Nauru was initially named Pleasant Island by British navigator Captain John Fearn as he sailed past on his way from New Zealand to the China Seas in 1798.
5. Nauru’s flag consists of a blue background representing the Pacific Ocean, a single horizontal yellow stripe representing the Equator and a 12-pointed white star which represents the location of the island (to the south of the equator and west of the international date line), independence and the 12 original tribes of Nauru.
See how Nauru’s flag compares to other Oceania flags.
6. By population, Nauru is the world’s second-smallest sovereign country after Tuvalu. Technically, Vatican City is smaller but is not a UN member state.
7. By land area, Nauru is also the world’s third-smallest sovereign nation after Monaco and Vatican City. Furthermore, it is the smallest country in the Pacific Ocean, the smallest country outside of Europe, the world’s smallest island country, and the world’s smallest independent republic.
8. Nauru is one of just 21 countries that does not have an army.
9. Nauru has the highest projected smoking rate in the world. About one-third of the population engage in daily smoking habits.
10. Among sovereign nations, Nauru has the second-highest obesity rate by male population and fourth by female population. Approximately 70% of its population is affected by obesity.
11. Nauru has the second smallest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world after only Tuvalu.
12. Nauru only has 30km of roads. Only Tuvalu has less when it comes to the total length of the roadway.
13. Despite its tiny size, Nauru has a five kilometer stretch of railway. It serves the phosphate mine and carries ore to dryers before it’s loaded onto ships.
14. In 1963, and then again in 1970, there were discussions about moving the entire population of Nauru to an island off Queensland in Australia because scientists considered Nauru would be uninhabitable by the mid-1990s. The Nauruans opposed the idea and chose to remain.
15. Phosphate mining has devastated the center of Nauru, turning it into a barren wasteland with 15m-high serrated coral pinnacles sticking up from the ground. A century of mining stripped between 80% and 90% of the land area.
16. As such, many indigenous birds have either disappeared or become rare, due to loss of habitat.
17. Phosphate mining resumed in 2005 when a secondary phosphate deposit was discovered. The government estimates that this secondary deposit will last around 30 years.
18. Nauru was technically once the wealthiest country (per capita) in the world thanks to its rich, deep phosphate mines.
19. Nauru has been used by Australia as an asylum-seeker detention camp since 2001. The conditions and treatment of the asylum-seekers is deeply controversial and has been found to be unlawful by the International Criminal Court with widespread allegations of human rights abuses and overcrowding.
20. Nauru is probably the least visited country in the world. There were not even enough visitors to make it onto the most recent World Tourism Organization report. Some estimates suggest that only around 200 tourists make it to Nauru every year.
21. Nauru has never won a medal at the Olympic Games since its debut in 1996.
22. During the 1990s, Nauru became a money-laundering haven selling banking licenses and passports, including diplomatic passports, which confer immunity for up to $30,000 each. Customers included the Russian mafia and al-Qaeda.
23. Nauru has also raised supplementary income by recognizing breakaway and disputed countries. A state aiming for sovereignty can only be taken seriously if it is recognized by other UN member states (the more, the better). In 2009, Nauru recognized Russia-backed Abkhazia and South Ossetia in exchange for $50m in Russian aid. Other controversial examples have included Kosovo and Taiwan.
24. Nauru has historically suffered from extremely high unemployment rates. In 2004, it was estimated to be 90%, and in 2019, it was reduced to 18%.
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