KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1978
Population: 10,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.8% p.a. 1990–2012
Official languages: Tuvaluan, English
Time: GMT plus 12hr
Currency: Australian dollar; Tuvaluan dollar
Geography
Area: 26 sq km
Coastline: 24 km
Capital: Funafuti
Tuvalu, formerly the Ellice Islands, is a group of atolls lying south of the equator in the western Pacific Ocean, south of Kiribati and north of Fiji. Funafuti, the main island and capital, lies 1,046 km north of Suva, Fiji. The other islands are Nanumanga, Nanumea, Niulakita, Niutao, Nui, Nukufetau, Nukulaelae and Vaitupu.
Main towns:
Vaiaku (on Funafuti, 5,100 in 2010), Asau (on Vaitupu, 650), Lolua (on Nanumea, 570), Savave (on Nukufetau, 520) and Kua (on Niutao, 480).
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 379
Life expectancy: 65 years (est.)
Population:
10,000 (2012); population density on inhabited islands very high, especially on Funafuti; 51 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 0.4 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 24 per 1,000 people (est.); life expectancy 65 years (est.) In February 2000, a request was made to New Zealand for resettlement of about one-third of Tuvalu’s population who were threatened by rising sea level. The Tuvaluans are a Polynesian people.
Language:
Tuvaluan and English are official languages. The people of Nui Island speak the language of Kiribati, I-Kiribati.
Education:
There are seven years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Primary school comprises seven years and secondary six, with cycles of four and two years. There are ten state primary schools, two on the island of Vaitupu and one on each of the other eight inhabited islands. There is one state secondary boarding school on Vaitupu, with about 600 students, and one private secondary school run by the Congregational Christian Church of Tuvalu. The school year starts in February. The Maritime Training Institute on Funafuti (founded in 1979) provides vocational and technical training for those seeking employment on ships and fishing boats and in-service training for serving seamen. The Technical Education Centre offers training in building trades, while Tuvalu is a partner in the regional University of the South Pacific, which has its main campus in Suva, Fiji, and a campus on Funafuti.
