Country:  Niue
(free association with New Zealand)
- Geography
Total area: 260 km2; land area: 260 km2
 
Comparative area: slightly less than 1.5 times the size of Washington, DC
 
Land boundaries: none
 
Coastline: 64 km
 
Maritime claims:
 
Extended economic zone: 200 nm;
 
Territorial sea: 12 nm
 
Climate: tropical; modified by southeast trade winds
 
Terrain: steep limestone cliffs along coast, central plateau
 
Natural resources: fish, arable land
 
Land use: 61% arable land; 4% permanent crops; 4% meadows and
pastures; 19% forest and woodland; 12% other
 
Environment: subject to typhoons
 
Note: one of world's largest coral islands; located about 460 km
east of Tonga
 
- People
Population: 2,019 (July 1990), growth rate NA (1990)
 
Birth rate: NA births/1,000 population (1990)
 
Death rate: NA deaths/1,000 population (1990)
 
Net migration rate: NA migrants/1,000 population (1990)
 
Infant mortality rate: NA deaths/1,000 live births (1990)
 
Life expectancy at birth: NA years male, NA years female (1990)
 
Total fertility rate: NA children born/woman (1990)
 
Nationality: noun--Niuean(s); adjective--Niuean
 
Ethnic divisions: Polynesian, with some 200 Europeans, Samoans, and
Tongans
 
Religion: 75% Ekalesia Nieue (Niuean Church)--a Protestant
church closely related to the London Missionary Society, 10% Mormon, 5% Roman
Catholic, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventist
 
Language: Polynesian tongue closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English
 
Literacy: NA%, but education compulsory between 5 and 14 years of age
 
Labor force: 1,000 (1981 est.); most work on family plantations; paid work
exists only in government service, small industry, and the Niue Development
Board
 
Organized labor: NA
 
- Government
Long-form name: none
 
Type: self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand
 
Capital: Alofi
 
Administrative divisions: none
 
Independence: none (self-governing territory in free association with
New Zealand)
 
Constitution: no formal, written constitution
 
Legal system: English common law
 
National holiday: Waitangi Day (Treaty of Waitangi established British
sovereignty), 6 February (1840)
 
Executive branch: British monarch, premier, Cabinet
 
Legislative branch: Legislative Assembly
 
Judicial branch: Appeal Court of New Zealand, High Court
 
Leaders:
Chief of State--Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952), represented
by New Zealand Representative John SPRINGFORD (since 1974);
 
Head of Government--Premier Sir Robert R. REX (since NA October
1974)
 
Suffrage: universal adult at age 18
 
Political parties and leaders: Niue People's Action Party,
leader NA
 
Elections:
Legislative Assembly--last held on 28 March 1987 (next to be
held NA 1990);
results--percent of vote NA;
seats--(20 total, 6 elected) independents 5, Niue People's Action Party 1
 
Member of: ESCAP (associate member), SPF
 
Diplomatic representation: none (self-governing territory in free
association with New Zealand)
 
Flag: yellow with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the
flag of the UK bears five yellow five-pointed stars--a large one on a blue
disk in the center and a smaller one on each arm of the bold red cross
 
- Economy
Overview: The economy is heavily dependent on aid from New
Zealand. Government expenditures regularly exceed revenues, with the
shortfall made up by grants from New Zealand--the grants are used to pay
wages to the 80% or more of the work force employed in public service.
The agricultural sector consists mainly of subsistence gardening, although some
cash crops are grown for export. Industry consists primarily of small factories
to process passion fruit, lime oil, honey, and coconut cream. The sale of
postage stamps to foreign collectors is an important source of revenue.
The island in recent years has suffered a serious loss of population
because of migration of Niueans to New Zealand.
 
GNP: $2.1 million, per capita $1,000; real growth rate NA% (1989 est.)
 
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9.6% (1984)
 
Unemployment rate: NA%
 
Budget: revenues $5.5 million; expenditures $6.3 million, including
capital expenditures of NA (FY85 est.)
 
Exports: $175,274 (f.o.b., 1985); commodities--canned coconut cream,
copra, honey, passion fruit products, pawpaw, root crops, limes, footballs,
stamps, handicrafts; partners--NZ 89%, Fiji, Cook Islands, Australia
 
Imports: $3.8 million (c.i.f., 1985); commodities--food, live
animals, manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, lubricants, chemicals, drugs;
partners--NZ 59%, Fiji 20%, Japan 13%, Western Samoa, Australia, US
 
External debt: $NA
 
Industrial production: growth rate NA%
 
Electricity: 1,500 kW capacity; 3 million kWh produced,
1,420 kWh per capita (1989)
 
Industries: tourist, handicrafts
 
Agriculture: copra, coconuts, passion fruit, honey, limes; subsistence
crops--taro, yams, cassava (tapioca), sweet potatoes; pigs, poultry, beef cattle
 
Aid: Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-87), $58 million
 
Currency: New Zealand dollar (plural--dollars);
1 New Zealand dollar (NZ$) = 100 cents
 
Exchange rates: New Zealand dollars (NZ$) per US$1--1.6581 (January 1990),
 1.6708 (1989), 1.5244 (1988), 1.6886 (1987), 1.9088 (1986), 2.0064 (1985)
 
Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March
 
- Communications
Highways: 123 km all-weather roads, 106 km access and plantation roads
 
Ports: none; offshore anchorage only
 
Airports: 1 with permanent-surface runway of 1,650 m
 
Telecommunications: single-line telephone system connects all villages on
island; 383 telephones; 1,000 radio receivers (1987 est.); stations--1 AM, 1 FM,
no TV
 
- Defense Forces
Note: defense is the responsibility of New Zealand