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Nauru Geography 2020

SOURCE: 2020 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES











Nauru Geography 2020
SOURCE: 2020 CIA WORLD FACTBOOK AND OTHER SOURCES


Page last updated on January 27, 2020

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:
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 (CIA rank, may be based on non-current data): 240

Area - comparative:
about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
30 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 ]
contiguous zone: 24 nm
[see also: Maritime claims - contiguous zone country ranks ]

Climate:
tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February)

Terrain:
sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center

Elevation:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: Command Ridge 70 m

Natural resources:
phosphates, fish

Land use:
agricultural land: 20% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - agricultural land country ranks ]
arable land: 0% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks ]
permanent crops: 20% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - permanent crops country ranks ]
permanent pasture: 0% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - permanent pasture country ranks ]
forest: 0% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use - forest country ranks ]
other: 80% (2011 est.)
[see also: Land use country ranks ]

Irrigated land:
0 sq km (2012)
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]

Population distribution:
extensive phosphate mining made approximately 90% of the island unsuitable for farming; most people live in the fertile coastal areas, especially along the southwest coast

Natural hazards:
periodic droughts

Environment - current issues:
limited natural freshwater resources, roof storage tanks that collect rainwater and desalination plants provide water; a century of intensive phosphate mining beginning in 1906 left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland; cadmium residue, phosphate dust, and other contaminants have caused air and water pollution with negative impacts on health; climate change has brought on rising sea levels and inland water shortages

Environment - international agreements:
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

Geography - note:
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


NOTE: 1) The information regarding Nauru 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 Nauru Geography 2020 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Nauru 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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