KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1970
Population: 189,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.9% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 96
Official language: Samoan
Time: GMT plus 13–14hr
Currency: Tala or Samoan dollar (T)
Geography
Area: 2,831 sq km
Coastline: 403 km
Capital: Apia
The name Samoa, from Sa (‘sacred’) and Moa (‘centre’), means ‘Sacred Centre of the Universe’. Samoa (formerly Western Samoa) is an archipelago of nine islands at the centre of the south-west Pacific island groups, surrounded by (clockwise from north) Tokelau, American Samoa, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna. The nine islands of Samoa are Apolima, Manono, Fanuatapu, Namu’a, Nuutele, Nuulua, Nuusafee, Savai’i (the largest, at 1,708 sq km including adjacent small islands) and Upolu (second largest, at 1,118 sq km including adjacent small islands). Five of the islands are uninhabited.
Main towns:
Apia (capital, pop. 36,400 in 2010), Vaitele (7,300), Faleasiu (3,900), Vailele (3,200) and Leauvaa (3,200) on Upolu; Safotu (1,500), Sapulu (1,200) and Gataivai (1,100) on Savai’i.
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 67
Life expectancy: 73 years
Net primary enrolment: 95%
Population:
189,000 (2012); 20 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 0.7 per cent p.a. 1990–2012, depressed over this period by emigration, mostly to New Zealand; birth rate 27 per 1,000 people (39 in 1970); life expectancy 73 years (55 in 1970). Predominantly Polynesian population, with small minorities of Chinese, European, or other Pacific descent. The people live mainly in extended family groups, known as aiga. These groups are headed by a leader, known as matai, who is elected for life. The population is largely concentrated in villages close to the shore. There are 131,103 Samoans living in New Zealand, more than half of whom were born there (2006 New Zealand census).
Language:
Samoan is the official language; English is used in administration and commerce and is widely spoken.
Education:
Public spending on education was six per cent of GDP in 2008. There are eight years of compulsory education starting at the age of five. Primary school comprises six years and secondary seven, with cycles of two and five years. The government began to introduce free education in 2009. As well as state schools, there are several faith schools. Some 77 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2010). The school year starts in February. The principal tertiary institution within the country is the National University of Samoa, which was established in Apia in 1984. Samoa was one of the founders of the regional University of the South Pacific, which has its main campus in Suva, Fiji, and the Alafua Campus in Apia, Samoa, where the university’s Samoa Centre, School of Agriculture and Food Technology, and Institute for Research, Extension and Training in Agriculture are located. The Alafua Campus was established as the university’s agricultural campus in 1977. The USP Samoa Centre relocated from Malifa, where it had been launched in 1976, to the Alafua Campus in 1998. Literacy among people aged 15–24 is 99 per cent (2010).
