The world’s smallest island nation

According to Far & Wide, with less than 1,000 visitors a year (sometimes even 200), Nauru is one of the world’s 10 least visited countries and also one of the world’s most isolated islands .

This small island nation is located in Micronesia, northeast of Australia. The entire island has an area of less than 21 square kilometers and is home to about 10,000 residents.

Nauru has fewer than 1,000 visitors each year

The island is about 800 miles (1,300km) northeast of the Solomon Islands; The nearest neighbor is the island of Banaba, in Kiribati, about 200 miles (300km) to the east. Nauru has no official capital, but Government offices are located in the Yaren district.

Most of Nauru rises abruptly from the ocean and has no protected harbors or anchorages. A fertile but relatively narrow belt surrounds the island and encircles the mainland Buada Lagoon. Further inland, coral cliffs rise into a plateau 30m above sea level, the highest point is about 65m. The plateau is largely composed of phosphorus rocks. Minerals cover more than two-thirds of the island, and mining has created strange spire-shaped limestone outcrops, giving the island nation an unusual landscape.

The world’s smallest island nation, Nauru is only larger than two other countries, Vatican City and Monaco. With such a modest area, Nauru has no protected areas, no world heritage sites, no rivers and only 18 miles (30km) of roads.

Nauru is also the world’s smallest island nation

The climate on Nauru is tropical, with low daytime temperatures (about 28 degrees Celsius) driven by ocean breezes. The average annual rainfall is about 2,000mm and is unstable, leading to prolonged drought. In Nauru there are no rivers or streams.

The soil on Nauru is not fertile and highly porous. Along with that, irregular rainfall limits farming. Phosphate mining has devastated the island’s interior, leaving about four-fifths of it uninhabitable and uncultivable. Self-sufficient crops, mainly coconuts, pandanus, bananas, pineapples and some vegetables, are not enough to supply the people. Nauru is a favorite stopover for migratory birds and many species of chicken. There are no mammals on the island and some animals were brought here from other countries.

Strange country “from rich to poor”

Nauru is one of the countries with the lowest GDP. According to countryeconomy.com, in 2020, Nauru’s GDP was 125 million USD, ranking 195th out of 196 countries in the world. By 2022, this country’s GDP will only reach 152 million USD, nearly 3,000 times less than Vietnam.

In 1980, Nauru was the richest country on Earth. But from 2017 until now, Nauru has been ranked among the 5 poorest countries in the world by BusinessTech. The history of this small Pacific island is both interesting and strange.

Nauru, once the richest in the world, is now one of the poorest countries

The island was initially occupied by people from Micronesia and Polynesia, then colonized by several countries since the 19th century. The island nation was first claimed by Germany, then administered by Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. During World War II, Nauru was occupied by the Japanese army. Nauru finally achieved independence in 1968.

As of the first 6 months of 2022, Nauru’s GDP is still reaching 134 million USD, ranking 190th out of 191 countries, reaching the top 10 countries with the lowest GDP. Photo: visualcapitalist.com​

As the world’s smallest and least visited country with one of the world’s smallest populations, Nauru is perhaps best known for its rags-to-riches history. This was described specifically by Helen Hughes in a 2004 article.

Phosphorus mining was Nauru’s main source of income in the 1970s and 1980s. With phosphorus prices high in the 1970s, Hughes estimates that Nauru’s GDP per capita in 1975 was $50,000, just above after Saudi Arabia.

Phosphorus mining was Nauru’s main source of income in the 1970s

The nation’s economy boomed and people quickly took advantage of their newfound prosperity to buy cars and build large houses. The government built the island with impressive buildings and hotels. They even established their own airline to import Western food.

However, all those good things did not last long. Due to overexploitation, phosphorus resources became depleted and the country fell into debt. Government spending begins to exceed revenue.

In the late 1990s, Nauru became desperate and as a result the country faced criticism for its offshore tax haven strategies and passport sales. These strategies were eventually abandoned. The value of the Nauru Phosphate Royalties Trust (NPRT) fell from $1.3 billion in 1990 to $0.3 billion in 2004, and by then the Government was deeply in debt and struggling. to pay your bills. By the early 2000s, these resources had almost completely disappeared.

The beautiful island was not hit by Covid-19

Although it is a small country, Nauru also has a railway. A 2.4-mile (3.9km) stretch of narrow-gauge railway was built in 1907 to transport mined phosphorus – the basis of the island’s economy for decades.

Another interesting thing is that most people on the island speak English. With close ties to Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, it’s no surprise that Nauru is one of 45 countries where at least half of the population speaks English (according to the book “English as a Global Language” by David Crystal). However, the official language is Nauru, a distinct Pacific Island language spoken in most indigenous households.

Nauru is still a beautiful island nation

Nauru is also an island not attacked by Covid-19. According to the International Monetary Fund, there are no cases of Covid-19 in Nauru. “Early and decisive measures successfully contained the Covid-19 outbreak on Nauru, and as of January 2022 there were no Covid-19 cases on the island,” the IMF said. In addition to Nauru, Micronesia, Tuvalu, the Pitcairn Islands and St Helena are also places that have not been attacked by Covid-19.

Nauru is also not an easy place to develop tourism. Visitors are required to pay 100 USD for a visa from the Nauru consulate and embassy. However, in the world there are only 10 offices that can do this.

If the visa application is successful, tourists will have to go to Brisbane, Australia to catch Our Airlane’s once-a-week flight to Nauru, which includes a stopover in the Solomon Islands, east of Papua New Guinea.

On the island there are 4 hotels, including Menen – the largest hotel on Nauru, and the remaining hotels all have sea views. Restaurants here serve Western and Pacific cuisine.

Although this place only welcomes an estimated 200 tourists each year, Nauru is still considered a “pleasant country”. Records show that the first Western visitor to arrive in 1789 was an English whale fisherman named John Fearn. He described the “island as pleasant thanks to its healthy climate”. The island is covered with coral reefs, suitable for many diving and marine exploration activities.