REPUBLIC OF NAURU Official name: Republic of Nauru Location: Pacific Ocean International organisations: African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, Commonwealth of Nations, Pacific Islands Forum, United Nations, World Trade Organisation Borders: None Coastline: Pacific Ocean Land area: 21 Km2 Population: 13,000 Ethnicity: The Nauruans, a Polynesian people, make up 58% of the population. The remainder are people from other Pacific states, Chinese and Europeans. Language: Nauruan is the official language but English is widely understood and is the language of business and administration. Religion: Most Nauruans are Christians, about two-thirds being Protestants and the remainder Catholics. Form of government: Presidential democratic republic. Capital: None

Constitution: The Constitution of Nauru came into effect on 29 January 1968.
Head of state: The President, chosen by the legislature from among its own members for a three-year term.
Head of government: The President, who appoints all ministers.
Legislature: Nauru has a unicameral legislature, the Parliament, which has 18 members, elected from multi-member constituencies for three-year terms.
Electoral authority: None known
Freedom House rating: Political Rights 1, Civil Liberties 1

Political history

Nauru was discovered by an American seaman, Captain John Fearn, in 1798, but was such a small and remote place that it escaped the attention of the imperial powers until 1888, when its valuable phosphate deposits led to its annexation by Germany. It was administered as part of the German Marshall Islands until 1906, when it was transferred to German New Guinea. In 1914 it was occupied by Australian troops, and in 1920 it became a joint League of Nations mandate of Australia, New Zealand, and Britain, although Australia actually administered the island. It was occupied by the Japanese from 1942 to 1945, then administered again by Australia as a United Nations trust territory until independence in 1968.

Nauru is one of the smallest independent states in the world, but its prosperity seemed assured due to the huge royalities paid by mining companies who exploited the island's phosphate reserves. Unfortunately the islanders wasted most of the money on expensive imported goods and poor investments in Australian real estate, and by the 1990s the phosphate was exhausted and the island was bankrupt. Nauru has no formal party system. In its early years it was dominated by its founding president Hammer de Roburt, but since his death in 1992 the country has suffered from a series of weak governments. Nauru is now heavily dependent on Australian aid and its future as a viable state is in doubt.