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Cook Islands Geography 2020

SOURCE: 2020 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES











Cook Islands Geography 2020
SOURCE: 2020 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES


Page last updated on January 27, 2020

Location:
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand

Geographic coordinates:
21 14 S, 159 46 W

Map references:
Oceania

Area:
total: 236 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
land: 236 sq km
[see also: Area - land country ranks ]
water: 0 sq km
[see also: Area - water country ranks ]
country comparison to the world (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data): 215

Area - comparative:
1.3 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
120 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
[see also: Maritime claims - territorial sea country ranks ]
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
[see also: Maritime claims - exclusive economic zone country ranks ]
continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
[see also: Maritime claims - continental shelf country ranks ]

Climate:
tropical oceanic; moderated by trade winds; a dry season from April to November and a more humid season from December to March

Terrain:
low coral atolls in north; volcanic, hilly islands in south

Elevation:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Te Manga 652 m

Natural resources:
coconuts (copra)

Land use:
agricultural land: 8.4% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - agricultural land country ranks ]
arable land: 4.2% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks ]
permanent crops: 4.2% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - permanent crops country ranks ]
permanent pasture: 0% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - permanent pasture country ranks ]
forest: 64.6% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - forest country ranks ]
other: 27% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use country ranks ]

Irrigated land:
NA
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]

Population distribution:
most of the population is found on the island of Rarotonga

Natural hazards:
tropical cyclones (November to March)

Environment - current issues:
limited land presents solid and liquid waste disposal problems; soil destruction and deforestation; environmental degradation due to indiscriminant use of pesticides; improper disposal of pollutants; overfishing and destructive fishing practices; over dredging of lagoons and coral rubble beds; unregulated building

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection

Geography - note:
the northern Cook Islands are seven low-lying, sparsely populated, coral atolls; the southern Cook Islands, where most of the population lives, consist of eight elevated, fertile, volcanic isles, including the largest, Rarotonga, at 67 sq km


NOTE: 1) The information regarding Cook Islands on this page is re-published from the 2020 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Cook Islands Geography 2020 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Cook Islands Geography 2020 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may have the following issues:
  a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
  b) The CIA sometimes assigns counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order.






This page was last modified 27-Jan-20
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