Samoa

Airports

3 total, 3 usable; 1 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m; none with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Civil air

3 major transport aircraft

Highways

2,042 km total; 375 km sealed; remainder mostly gravel, crushed stone, or earth

Merchant marine

3 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 24,930 GRT/34,135 DWT; includes 2 container, 1 roll-on/roll-off cargo

Ports

Apia

Telecommunications

7,500 telephones; 70,000 radios; stations--1 AM, no FM, no TV; 1 Pacific Ocean INTELSAT station

Branches

Department of Police and Prisons

Defense expenditures

$NA, NA% of GDP

Manpower availability

males 15-49, 49,119; NA fit for military service

Agriculture

accounts for 50% of GDP; coconuts, fruit (including bananas, taro, yams)

Budget

revenues $70 million; expenditures $73 million, including capital expenditures of $41 million (1990)

Currency

tala (plural--tala); 1 tala (WS$) = 100 sene

Economic aid

US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $18 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-88), $291 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $4 million

Electricity

29,000 kW capacity; 45 million kWh produced, 240 kWh per capita (1990)

Exchange rates

tala (WS$) per US$1--2.3170 (January 1991), 2.3095 (1990), 2.2686 (1989), 2.0790 (1988), 2.1204 (1987), 2.2351 (1986), 2.2437 (1985)

Exports

$9.4 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.); commodities--coconut oil and cream 54%, taro 12%, copra 9%, cocoa 3%; partners--NZ 28%, EC 23%, American Samoa 23%, Australia 11%, US 6% (1990)

External debt

$83 million (December 1990 est.)

Fiscal year

calendar year

GDP

$115 million, per capita $620; real growth rate - 4.5% (1990 est.)

Imports

$87 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.); commodities--intermediate goods 58%, food 17%, capital goods 12%; partners--New Zealand 31%, Australia 20%, Japan 15%, Fiji 15%, US 5%, EC 4% (1987)

Industrial production

growth rate - 4.3% (1990 est.); accounts for 14% of GDP

Industries

timber, tourism, food processing, fishing

Inflation rate (consumer prices)

17% (1990 est.)

Overview

Agriculture employs more than half of the labor force, contributes 50% to GDP, and furnishes 90% of exports. The bulk of export earnings comes from the sale of coconut oil and copra. The economy depends on emigrant remittances and foreign aid to support a level of imports about five times export earnings. Tourism has become the most important growth industry, and construction of the first international hotel is under way.

Unemployment rate

NA%; shortage of skilled labor

Climate

tropical; rainy season (October to March), dry season (May to October)

Coastline

403 km Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm; Territorial sea: 12 nm

Comparative area

slightly smaller than Rhode Island

Environment

subject to occasional typhoons; active volcanism

Land boundaries

none

Land use

arable land 19%; permanent crops 24%; meadows and pastures NEGL%; forest and woodland 47%; other 10%

Natural resources

hardwood forests, fish

Note

located 4,300 km southwest of Honolulu in the South Pacific Ocean about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand

Terrain

narrow coastal plain with volcanic, rocky, rugged mountains in interior

Total area

2,860 km2; land area: 2,850 km2

Administrative divisions

11 districts; Aana, Aiga-i-le-Tai, Atua, Faasaleleaga, Gagaemauga, Gagaifomauga, Palauli, Satupaitea, Tuamasaga, Vaa-o-Fonoti, Vaisigano

Capital

Apia

Constitution

1 January 1962

Diplomatic representation

Ambassador Fili (Felix) Tuaopepe WENDT; Chancery (temporary) at the Western Samoan Mission to the UN, 820 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10017 (212) 599-6196; US--the ambassador to New Zealand, Della Newman, is accredited to Western Samoa (mailing address is P.O. Box 3430, Apia); telephone (685) 21-631

Executive branch

monarch, Executive Council, prime minister, Cabinet

Flag

red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side quadrant bearing five white five-pointed stars representing the Southern Cross constellation

Independence

1 January 1962 (from UN trusteeship administered by New Zealand)

Judicial branch

Supreme Court, Court of Appeal Chief of State--Susuga Malietoa TANUMAFILI II (Co-Chief of State from 1 January 1962 until becoming sole Chief of State on 5 April 1963); Head of Government--Prime Minister TOFILAU Eti Alesana (since 7 April 1988) Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP), TOFILAU Eti, chairman; Samoan National Development Party (SNDP), VA'AI Kolone, chairman

Legal system

based on English common law and local customs; judicial review of legislative acts with respect to fundamental rights of the citizen; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Legislative branch

unicameral Legislative Assembly (Fono)

Long-form name

Independent State of Western Samoa

Member of

ACP, AsDB, C, ESCAP, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IMF, IOC, ITU, LORCS, SPC, SPF, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WHO

National holiday

National Day, 1 June

Suffrage

universal adult at age NA, but only matai (head of family) are able to run for the Legislative Assembly Legislative Assembly--last held NA February 1991 (next to be held by February 1994); results--percent of vote by party NA; seats--(47 total) HRPP 30, SNDP 14, independent 3

Type

constitutional monarchy under native chief

Birth rate

34 births/1,000 population (1991)

Death rate

6 deaths/1,000 population (1991)

Ethnic divisions

Samoan; Euronesians (persons of European and Polynesian blood) about 7%, Europeans 0.4%

Infant mortality rate

47 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)

Labor force

38,000; 22,000 employed in agriculture (1987 est.)

Language

Samoan (Polynesian), English

Life expectancy at birth

64 years male, 69 years female (1991)

Literacy

97% (male 97%, female 97%) age 15 and over can read and write (1971)

Nationality

noun--Western Samoan(s); adjective--Western Samoan

Net migration rate

- 4 migrants/1,000 population (1991)

Organized labor

Public Service Association (PSA)

Population

190,346 (July 1991), growth rate 2.3% (1991)

Religion

Christian 99.7% (about half of population associated with the London Missionary Society; includes Congregational, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Latter Day Saints, Seventh-Day Adventist)

Total fertility rate

4.5 children born/woman (1991)