Location:
Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands
Geographic coordinates:
0 32 S, 166 55 E
Map references:
Oceania
Area: Area - comparative: Land boundaries: Coastline: Maritime claims: Climate: Terrain: Elevation: Natural resources: Land use: Irrigated land: Natural hazards: Environment - current issues: Environment - international agreements: Geography - note:
total: 21 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
land: 21 sq km
[see also: Area - land country ranks ]
water: 0 sq km
[see also: Area - water country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 240
about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC
0 km
[see also: Land boundaries country ranks ]
30 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February)
sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center
mean elevation: NA
[see also: Mean Elevation country ranks ]
elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed elevation along plateau rim 61 m
phosphates, fish
agricultural land: 20%
arable land 0%; permanent crops 20%; permanent pasture 0%
[see also: Land use - agricultural land country ranks ]
forest: 0%
[see also: Land use - forest country ranks ]
other: 80% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - other country ranks ]
0 sq km (2012)
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]
periodic droughts
limited natural freshwater resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant; a century of intensive phosphate mining beginning in 1906 - mainly by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
world's smallest island country; situated just 53 km south of the Equator; 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