KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1980
Population: 247,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 0.6% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 124
Official languages: Bislama, English, French
Time: GMT plus 11hr
Currency: Vatu (Vt)
Geography
Area: 12,190 sq km
Coastline: 2,530 km
Capital: Port Vila
The Republic of Vanuatu’s land area is made up of a group of islands in the south-west Pacific, lying south of Solomon Islands and east of the state of Queensland in Australia. The country comprises six provinces: Malampa, Penama, Sanma, Shefa, Tafea and Torba.
Main towns:
Port Vila (capital, pop. 47,500 in 2010) and Mele (2,500) on Efaté; Luganville (13,800) and Port Olry (2,900) on Espíritu Santo; Norsup (2,400) on Malakula; and Isangel (1,700) on Tanna.
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 20
Life expectancy: 71 years
Population:
247,000 (2012); concentrated near the coast on the four main islands; 25 per cent of people live in urban areas – Efaté has the fastest-growing population, as people migrate to the capital; growth 2.4 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 27 per 1,000 people (43 in 1970); life expectancy 71 years (53 in 1970). Most of the population is Melanesian, known as ni-Vanuatu (98.5 per cent in the 1999 census), the rest of mixed Micronesian, Polynesian and European descent.
Language:
The national language is Bislama; English and French are widely spoken and also official languages. There are more than 100 Melanesian languages and dialects.
Education:
Public spending on education was seven per cent of GDP in 2008. Primary education, in French or English, is provided free of charge (with effect from 2010). Primary school comprises six years and secondary seven, with cycles of four and three years. Some 71 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2008). The school year starts in February. Vanuatu is a partner in the regional University of the South Pacific, which has its main campus in Suva, Fiji, and a campus, the Emalus Campus, in Port Vila, Vanuatu, where 700–1,000 students per semester are enrolled for certificate, diploma, degree and postgraduate courses, using the university’s distance-learning facilities. The university’s law school and teaching programmes in Pacific languages and early childhood education are based at the Emalus Campus. Institutions offering tertiary education include the Institute of Technology, which offers courses in business and technical education; Institute of Teacher Education; and College of Nursing Education, all of which are located in Port Vila. Literacy among people aged 15–24 is 94 per cent (2010).
