Location:
Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands
Geographic coordinates:
0 32 S, 166 55 E
Map references:
Oceania
Area:
Area - comparative: Land boundaries:
0 km
Coastline: Maritime claims:
Climate: Terrain: Elevation extremes:
Natural resources: Land use:
Irrigated land: Natural hazards: Environment - current issues: Environment - international agreements:
Geography - note:
total:
21 sq km
country comparison to the world: 240
land:
21 sq km
water:
0 sq km
about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC
[see also: Land boundaries country ranks ]
30 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]
territorial sea:
12 nm
contiguous zone:
24 nm
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February)
sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center
lowest point:
Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point:
unnamed elevation along plateau rim 61 m
phosphates, fish
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
20%
other:
80% (2011)
NA
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]
periodic droughts
limited natural freshwater resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years - mainly by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources
party to:
Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
world's smallest island country; situated just 53 km south of the Equator; Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia