Page last updated on February 5, 2013

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:
total: 21 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 240
land: 21 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:
about 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km
[see also: Land boundaries country ranks ]

Coastline:
30 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February)

Terrain:
sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
[see also: Elevation extremes - lowest point country ranks ]
highest point: unnamed elevation along plateau rim 61 m

Natural resources:
phosphates, fish

Land use:
arable land: 0%
[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks ]
permanent crops: 0%
other: 100% (2005)

Irrigated land:
NA
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]

Natural hazards:
periodic droughts

Environment - current issues:
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

Environment - international agreements:
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

Geography - note:
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; only 53 km south of Equator