Solomon Islands Geography - 2024

Location

Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea

Geographic coordinates

8 00 S, 159 00 E

Map references

Oceania

Area

total: 28,896 sq km

land: 27,986 sq km

water: 910 sq km

Area - comparative

slightly smaller than Maryland

Land boundaries

total: 0 km

Coastline

5,313 km

Maritime claims

territorial sea: 12 nm

exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

continental shelf: 200 nm

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines

Climate

tropical monsoon; few temperature and weather extremes

Terrain

mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls

Elevation

highest point: Mount Popomanaseu 2,335 m

lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m

Natural resources

fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates, lead, zinc, nickel

Land use

agricultural land: 3.9% (2018 est.)

arable land: 0.7% (2018 est.)

permanent crops: 2.9% (2018 est.)

permanent pasture: 0.3% (2018 est.)

forest: 78.9% (2018 est.)

other: 17.2% (2018 est.)

Irrigated land

0 sq km (2022)

Population distribution

most of the population lives along the coastal regions; about one in five live in urban areas, and of these some two-thirds reside in Honiara, the largest town and chief port

Natural hazards

tropical cyclones, but rarely destructive; geologically active region with frequent earthquakes, tremors, and volcanic activity; tsunamis

volcanism: Tinakula (851 m) has frequent eruption activity, while an eruption of Savo (485 m) could affect the capital Honiara on nearby Guadalcanal

Geography - note

strategic location on sea routes between the South Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Sea, and the Coral Sea; Rennell Island, the southernmost in the Solomon Islands chain, is one of the world’s largest raised coral atolls; the island’s Lake Tegano, formerly a lagoon on the atoll, is the largest lake in the insular Pacific (15,500 hectares)