Tuvalu | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff
Infoplease has everything you need to know about Tuvalu. Check out our country profile, full of essential information about Tuvalu's geography, history, government, economy, population, culture, religion and languages. If that's not enough, click over to our collection of world maps and flags.

Facts & Figures

  • Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

    Governor-General: Iakoba Italeli (2010)

    Prime Minister: Enele Sopoaga (2013)

    Total area: 10 sq mi (26 sq km)

    Population (2014 est.): 10,782 (growth rate: 0.8%); birth rate: 23.74/1000; infant mortality rate: 31.69/1000; life expectancy: 65.81; density per sq mi: 1,142

    Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Funafuti, 5,000

    Monetary unit: Australian dollar

    Current government officials

    Languages: Tuvaluan, English, Samoan, Kiribati (on the island of Nui)

    Ethnicity/race: Polynesian 96%, Micronesian 4%

    Religions: Church of Tuvalu (Congregationalist) 97%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.4%, Baha'i 1%, other 0.6%

    Literacy rate: n.a.

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $40 million; per capita $3,500 (2013 est.). Real growth rate: 1.1% (2013 est.). Inflation: 3.8% (2006 est.). Unemployment: n.a. Arable land: 0%. Agriculture: coconuts; fish. Labor force: 3,615 (2004 est.); people make a living mainly through exploitation of the sea, reefs, and atolls and through overseas remittances (mostly from workers in the phosphate industry and sailors). Industries: fishing, tourism, copra. Natural resource: fish. Exports: $600,000 (2010 est.): copra, fish. Imports: $16.5 million (2010 est.): food, animals, mineral fuels, machinery, manufactured goods. Major trading partners: Germany, Fiji, Italy, UK, Poland, Japan, Australia, China, New Zealand (2004).

    Member of Commonwealth of Nations

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 1,450 (2012); mobile cellular: 2,800 (2012). Radio broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 0, shortwave 0 (2009). Radios: 4,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 0 (1997). Televisions: 800. Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 145,158 (2012). Internet users: 4,200 (2008)

    Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 8 km (2011 est.); paved: 8 km; unpaved: 0 km. Ports and harbors: Funafuti. Airports: 1 (2013).

    International disputes: none.

    Major sources and definitions