Introduction

Background: Fiji became independent in 1970, after nearly a century as a British colony. Democratic rule was interrupted by two military coups in 1987, caused by concern over a government perceived as dominated by the Indian community (descendants of contract laborers brought to the islands by the British in the 19th century). A 1990 constitution favored native Melanesian control of Fiji, but led to heavy Indian emigration; the population loss resulted in economic difficulties, but ensured that Melanesians became the majority. Amendments enacted in 1997 made the constitution more equitable. Free and peaceful elections in 1999 resulted in a government led by an Indo-Fijian, but a coup in May 2000 ushered in a prolonged period of political turmoil. Parliamentary elections held in August 2001 provided Fiji with a democratically elected government and gave a mandate to the government of Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE.

Geography

 

Location: Oceania, island group in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand

 

Geographic coordinates: 18 00 S, 175 00 E

 

Map references: Oceania

 

Area: total: 18,270 sq km; land: 18,270 sq km; water: 0 sq km

 

Area - comparative: slightly smaller than New Jersey

 

Land boundaries: 0 km

 

Coastline: 1,129 km

 

Maritime claims: measured from claimed archipelagic straight baselines; territorial sea: 12 nm; exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation; rectilinear shelf claim added

 

Climate: tropical marine; only slight seasonal temperature variation

 

Terrain: mostly mountains of volcanic origin

 

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m; highest point: Tomanivi 1,324 m

 

Natural resources: timber, fish, gold, copper, offshore oil potential, hydropower

 

Land use: arable land: 10.95%; permanent crops: 4.65%; other: 84.4% (2001)

 

Irrigated land: 30 sq km (1998 est.)

 

Natural hazards: cyclonic storms can occur from November to January

 

Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil erosion

 

Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

 

Geography - note: includes 332 islands of which approximately 110 are inhabited

 

People

 

Population: 893,354 (July 2005 est.)

 

Age structure: 0-14 years: 31.4% (male 143,066/female 137,346); 15-64 years: 64.5% (male 288,434/female 287,720); 65 years and over: 4.1% (male 16,797/female 19,991) (2005 est.)

 

Median age: total: 24.28 years; male: 23.84 years; female: 24.74 years (2005 est.)

 

Population growth rate: 1.4% (2005 est.)

 

Birth rate: 22.73 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Death rate: 5.65 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Net migration rate: -3.04 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

 

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female; under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female; 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female; 65 years and over: 0.84 male(s)/female; total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

 

Infant mortality rate: total: 12.62 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 13.97 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 11.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

 

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 69.53 years; male: 67.05 years; female: 72.14 years (2005 est.)

 

Total fertility rate: 2.75 children born/woman (2005 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.1% (2003 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 600 (2003 est.)

 

HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 200 (2003 est.)

 

Nationality: noun: Fijian(s); adjective: Fijian

 

Ethnic groups: Fijian 51% (predominantly Melanesian with a Polynesian admixture), Indian 44%, European, other Pacific Islanders, overseas Chinese, and other 5% (1998 est.)

Religions: Christian 52% (Methodist 37%, Roman Catholic 9%), Hindu 38%, Muslim 8%, other 2%; note: Fijians are mainly Christian, Indians are Hindu, and there is a Muslim minority (1986)

 

Languages: English (official), Fijian, Hindustani

 

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 93.7%; male: 95.5%; female: 91.9% (2003 est.)

 

Government

 

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of the Fiji Islands; conventional short form: Fiji

 

Government type: republic; note: military coup leader Maj. Gen. Sitiveni RABUKA formally declared Fiji a republic on 6 October 1987

 

Capital: Suva (Viti Levu)

 

Administrative divisions: 4 divisions and 1 dependency*; Central, Eastern, Northern, Rotuma*, Western

 

Independence: 10 October 1970 (from UK)

 

National holiday: Independence Day, second Monday of October (1970)

 

Constitution: promulgated on 25 July 1990 and amended on 25 July 1997 to allow nonethnic Fijians greater say in government and to make multiparty government mandatory; entered into force 28 July 1998; note - the May 1999 election was the first test of the amended constitution and introduced open voting - not racially prescribed - for the first time at the national level

 

Legal system: based on British system

 

Suffrage: 21 years of age; universal

 

Executive branch: chief of state: President Ratu Josefa ILOILOVATU Uluivuda (since 18 July 2000); head of government: Prime Minister Laisenia QARASE (since 10 September 2000); cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the prime minister from among the members of Parliament and is responsible to Parliament; note - there is also a Presidential Council that advises the president on matters of national importance and a Great Council of Chiefs, which consists of the highest ranking members of the traditional chief system; elections: president elected by the Great Council of Chiefs for a five-year term; prime minister appointed by the president; election results: Ratu Josefa ILOILOVATU Uluivuda elected president by the Great Council of Chiefs; percent of vote - NA%

 

Legislative branch: bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (34 seats; 24 appointed by the President on the advice of the Great Council of Chiefs, nine appointed by the president, and one appointed by the council of Rotuma) and the House of Representatives (71 seats; 23 reserved for ethnic Fijians, 19 reserved for ethnic Indians, three reserved for other ethnic groups, one reserved for the council of Rotuma constituency encompassing the whole of Fiji, and 25 open seats; members serve five-year terms); elections: House of Representatives - last held 25 August through 1 September and 19 September 2001 (next to be held not later than September 2006); election results: House of Representatives - percent of vote by party - FLP 26.5%, SDL 27.5%, NFP 1.2%, MV 4.2%, NLUP 1.3%, UGP .3%, independents 1.4%; seats by party - FLP 27, SDL 32, MV 6, NFP 1, NLUP 2, UGP 1, independents 2

 

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (judges are appointed by the president); Court of Appeal; High Court; Magistrates' Courts

 

Economy

 

Economy - overview: Fiji, endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies, though still with a large subsistence sector. Sugar exports and a growing tourist industry - with 300,000 to 400,000 tourists annually - are the major sources of foreign exchange. Sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity, but is inefficient. Long-term problems include low investment, uncertain land ownership rights, and the government's ability to manage its budget. Yet short-run economic prospects are good, provided tensions do not again erupt between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians. Overseas remittances from Fijians working in Kuwait and Iraq have increased significantly.

 

GDP: purchasing power parity - $5.173 billion (2004 est.)

 

GDP - real growth rate: 3.6% (2004 est.)

 

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $5,900 (2004 est.)

 

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 16.6%; industry: 22.4%; services: 61% (2001 est.)

 

Labor force: 137,000 (1999)

 

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture, including subsistence agriculture 70% (2001 est.)

 

Unemployment rate: 7.6% (1999)

 

Population below poverty line: 25.5% (1990-91)

 

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: NA; highest 10%: NA

 

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.6% (2002 est.)

 

Budget: revenues: $427.9 million; expenditures: $531.4 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2000 est.)

 

Agriculture - products: sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice, sweet potatoes,

bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish

 

Industries: tourism, sugar, clothing, copra, gold, silver, lumber, small cottage industries

 

Industrial production growth rate: NA

 

Electricity - production: 750 million kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - consumption: 697.5 million kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2002)

 

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2002)

 

Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

 

Oil - consumption: 5,700 bbl/day (2001 est.)

 

Oil - exports: NA

 

Oil - imports: NA

 

Exports: $609 million f.o.b. (2002)

 

Exports - commodities: sugar, garments, gold, timber, fish, molasses, coconut oil

 

Exports - partners: US 23.6%, Australia 19.2%, UK 12.8%, Samoa 6.2%, Japan 4.1% (2004)

 

Imports: $835 million c.i.f. (2002)

 

Imports - commodities: manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products, food, chemicals

 

Imports - partners: Australia 27.7%, Singapore 24.8%, New Zealand 17.8%, Japan 4.2% (2004)

 

Debt - external: $188.1 million (2001 est.)

 

Economic aid - recipient: $40.3 million (1995)

 

Currency (code): Fijian dollar (FJD)

 

Exchange rates: Fijian dollars per US dollar - 1.7331 (2004), 1.8958 (2003), 2.1869 (2002), 2.2766 (2001), 2.1286 (2000)

 

Fiscal year: calendar year

 

Communications

 

Telephones - main lines in use: 102,000 (2003)

 

Telephones - mobile cellular: 109,900 (2003)

 

Telephone system: general assessment: modern local, interisland, and international (wire/radio integrated) public and special-purpose telephone, telegraph, and teleprinter facilities; regional radio communications center;  domestic: NA; international: country code - 679; access to important cable links between US and Canada as well as between NZ and Australia; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)

 

Radio broadcast stations: AM 13, FM 40, shortwave 0 (1998)

 

Television broadcast stations: NA

 

Internet country code: .fj

 

Internet hosts: 493 (2003)

 

Internet users: 55,000 (2003)

 

Transportation

 

Railways: total: 597 km; narrow gauge: 597 km 0.600-m gauge; note: belongs to the government-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation; used to haul sugarcane during harvest season (May to December) (2003)

 

Highways: total: 3,440 km; paved: 1,692 km; unpaved: 1,748 km (1999 est.)

 

Waterways: 203 km; note: 122 km navigable by motorized craft and 200-metric-ton barges (2004)

 

Ports and harbors: Lambasa, Lautoka, Suva

 

Merchant marine: total: 7 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 6,372 GRT/7,453 DWT; by type: passenger 3, passenger/cargo 2, roll on/roll off 2; foreign-owned: 1 (Australia 1) (2005)

 

Airports: 28 (2004 est.)

 

Airports - with paved runways: total: 3; over 3,047 m: 1; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1; 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2004 est.)

 

Airports - with unpaved runways: total: 25; 914 t