Fiji

Branches

Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF; includes army, navy, and air elements)

Defense expenditures

exchange rate conversion - $28 million, 2.5% of GDP (1995)

Manpower availability

males age 15-49: 205,616 males fit for military service: 113,339 males reach military age (18) annually: 8,746 (1996 est.)

Radio broadcast stations

AM 7, FM 1, shortwave 0

Radios

NA

Telephone system

modern local, interisland, and international (wire/radio integrated) public and special-purpose telephone, telegraph, and teleprinter facilities; regional radio communications center domestic: NA international: access to important cable link between US and Canada and NZ and Australia; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)

Telephones

60,017 (1987 est.)

Television broadcast stations

0

Televisions

12,000 (1992 est.) Defense

Agriculture

sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice, sweet potatoes, bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish catch nearly 33,000 tons (1989)

Budget

revenues: $495.6 million expenditures: $591.2 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1995 est.)

Currency

1 Fijian dollar (F$) = 100 cents

Economic aid

recipient: ODA, $NA

Economic overview

Fiji, richly endowed with forest, mineral, and fish resources, is one of the most developed of the Pacific island economies, though still with a large subsistence sector. Sugar exports and tourism are the major sources of foreign exchange. Industry contributes 17% to GDP; sugar processing makes up one-third of industrial activity. Roughly 250,000 tourists visit each year. Political uncertainty and drought, however, contribute to substantial fluctuations in earnings from tourism and sugar and to the emigration of skilled workers. In 1992, growth was approximately 3%, based on growth in tourism and a lessening of labor-management disputes in the sugar and gold-mining sectors. In 1993, the government's budgeted growth rate of 3% was not achieved because of a decline in non-sugar agricultural output and damage from Cyclone Kina. Growth in 1994 of 5% was largely attributable to increased tourism and expansion in the manufacturing sector.

Electricity

capacity: 200,000 kW production: 480 million kWh consumption per capita: 581 kWh (1993)

Exchange rates

Fijian dollars (F$) per US$1 - 1.4347 (January 1996), 1.4063 (1995), 1.4641 (1994), 1.5418 (1993), 1.5030 (1992), 1.4756 (1991)

Exports

$571.8 million (f.o.b., 1995) commodities: sugar 40%, clothing, gold, processed fish, lumber partners: EC 26%, Australia 15%, Pacific Islands 11%, Japan 6%

External debt

$670 million (1994 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

purchasing power parity - $4.7 billion (1995 est.)

GDP composition by sector

agriculture: 22% industry: 17% services: 61% (1994)

GDP per capita

$6,100 (1995 est.)

GDP real growth rate

2.2% (1995 est.)

Imports

$864.3 million (c.i.f., 1995) commodities: machinery and transport equipment, petroleum products, food, consumer goods, chemicals partners: Australia 30%, NZ 17%, Japan 13%, EC 6%, US 6%

Industrial production growth rate

0% (1993 est.)

Industries

sugar, tourism, copra, gold, silver, clothing, lumber, small cottage industries

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

2% (1995)

Labor force

235,000 by occupation: subsistence agriculture 67%, wage earners 18%, salary earners 15% (1987)

Unemployment rate

5.4% (1992)

Area

total area: 18,270 sq km land area: 18,270 sq km comparative area: slightly smaller than New Jersey

Climate

tropical marine; only slight seasonal temperature variation

Coastline

1,129 km

Environment

current issues: deforestation; soil erosion natural hazards: cyclonic storms can occur from November to January international agreements: party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Whaling

Geographic coordinates

18 00 S, 175 00 E

Geographic note

includes 332 islands of which approximately 110 are inhabited

International disputes

none

Irrigated land

10 sq km (1989 est.)

Land boundaries

0 km

Land use

arable land: 8% permanent crops: 5% meadows and pastures: 3% forest and woodland: 65% other: 19%

Location

Oceania, island group in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand

Map references

Oceania

Maritime claims

measured from claimed archipelagic baselines continental shelf: 200-m depth or to the depth of exploitation; rectilinear shelf claim added exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm

Natural resources

timber, fish, gold, copper, offshore oil potential

Terrain

mostly mountains of volcanic origin lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Tomanivi 1,324 m

Administrative divisions

4 divisions and 1 dependency*; Central, Eastern, Northern, Rotuma*, Western

Capital

Suva

Constitution

10 October 1970 (suspended 1 October 1987); a new Constitution was proposed on 23 September 1988 and promulgated on 25 July 1990; the 1990 Constitution is under review; the review is scheduled to be complete by 1997

Data code

FJ

Diplomatic representation in US

chief of mission: Ambassador Pita Kewa NACUVA chancery: Suite 240, 2233 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20007 telephone: [1] (202) 337-8320

Executive branch

chief of state: President Ratu Sir Kamisese MARA (Acting President since 15 December 1993, President since 12 January 1994) was appointed for a five-year term by the Great Council of Chiefs; First Vice President Ratu Sir Josaia TAIVAIQIA (since 12 January 1994); Second Vice President Ratu Inoke TAKIVEIKATA (since 12 January 1994) head of government: Prime Minister Sitiveni RABUKA (since 2 June 1992) was appointed by the president; Deputy Prime Minister Timoci VESIKULA (since NA)

FAX

[1] (202) 337-1996 consulate(s): New York

FAX

[679] 300081

Flag

light blue with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the Fijian shield centered on the outer half of the flag; the shield depicts a yellow lion above a white field quartered by the cross of Saint George featuring stalks of sugarcane, a palm tree, bananas, and a white dove

Great Council of Chiefs

highest ranking members of the traditional chiefly system cabinet: Cabinet was appointed by the prime minister from among the members of Parliament and is responsible to Parliament

House of Representatives

members serve five-year terms; elections last held 18-25 February 1994 (next to be held NA 1999); results - percent of vote by party NA; seats - (70 total, with ethnic Fijians allocated 37 seats, ethnic Indians 27 seats, and independents and other 6 seats) SVT 31, NFP 20, FLP 7, FAP 5, GVP 4, independents 2, ANC 1

Independence

10 October 1970 (from UK)

International organization participation

ACP, AsDB, CP, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, ITU, PCA, Sparteca, SPC, SPF, UN, UNAMIR, UNAVEM III, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNIFIL, UNIKOM, UPU, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO

Judicial branch

Supreme Court

Legal system

based on British system

Legislative branch

bicameral Parliament

Name of country

conventional long form: Republic of Fiji conventional short form: Fiji

National holiday

Independence Day, 10 October (1970)

Political parties and leaders

Fijian Political Party (SVT - primarily Fijian), leader Maj. Gen. Sitivini RABUKA; National Federation Party (NFP; primarily Indian), Jai Ram REDDY; Fijian Nationalist Party (FNP), Sakeasi BUTADROKA; Fiji Labor Party (FLP), Mahendra CHAUDHRY; General Voters Party (GVP), Leo SMITH; Fiji Conservative Party (FCP), leader NA; Conservative Party of Fiji (CPF), leader NA; Fiji Indian Liberal Party, leader NA; Fiji Indian Congress Party, leader NA; Fiji Independent Labor (Muslim), leader NA; Four Corners Party, leader NA; Fijian Association Party (FAP), Josevata KAMIKAMICA; General Electors' Association, leader NA note: in early 1995, ethnic Fijian members of the All National Congress (ANC) merged with the Fijian Association (FA); the remaining members of the ANC have renamed their party the General Electors' Association

Presidential Council

advises the president on matters of national importance

Senate

nonelective body, members are appointed by the president and serve five-year terms; seats - (34 total, 24 reserved for ethnic Fijians, 9 for Indians and others, and 1 for the island of Rotuma)

Suffrage

21 years of age; universal

Type of government

republic note: military coup leader Maj. Gen. Sitiveni RABUKA formally declared Fiji a republic on 6 October 1987

US diplomatic representation

chief of mission: Ambassador Don Lee GEVIRTZ embassy: 31 Loftus Street, Suva mailing address: P. O. Box 218, Suva telephone: [679] 314466

Age structure

0-14 years: 35% (male 141,652; female 135,829) 15-64 years: 62% (male 240,621; female 240,620) 65 years and over: 3% (male 11,235; female 12,424) (July 1996 est.)

Birth rate

23.37 births/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Death rate

6.35 deaths/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Ethnic divisions

Fijian 49%, Indian 46%, European, other Pacific Islanders, overseas Chinese, and other 5%

Infant mortality rate

17.4 deaths/1,000 live births (1996 est.)

Languages

English (official), Fijian, Hindustani

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 65.71 years male: 63.39 years female: 68.14 years (1996 est.)

Literacy

age 15 and over can read and write (1995 est.) total population: 91.6% male: 93.8% female: 89.3%

Nationality

noun: Fijian(s) adjective: Fijian

Net migration rate

-4.22 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1996 est.)

Population

782,381 (July 1996 est.)

Population growth rate

1.28% (1996 est.)

Religions

Christian 52% (Methodist 37%, Roman Catholic 9%), Hindu 38%, Muslim 8%, other 2% note: Fijians are mainly Christian, Indians are Hindu, and there is a Muslim minority (1986)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female all ages: 1.01 male(s)/female (1996 est.)

Total fertility rate

2.83 children born/woman (1996 est.)

Airports

total: 21 with paved runways over 3 047 m: 1 with paved runways 1 524 to 2 437 m: 1 with paved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 1 with paved runways under 914 m: 15 with unpaved runways 914 to 1 523 m: 3 (1995 est.)

Highways

total: 4,800 km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km

Merchant marine

total: 5 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 16,267 GRT/17,884 DWT ships by type: chemical tanker 2, oil tanker 1, roll-on/roll-off cargo 2 (1995 est.)

Ports

Labasa, Lautoka, Levuka, Savusavu, Suva

Railways

total: 597 km; note - belongs to the government-owned Fiji Sugar Corporation narrow gauge: 597 km 0.610-m gauge (1995)

Waterways

203 km; 122 km navigable by motorized craft and 200-metric-ton barges