• Vanuatu’s land area is made up of a group of islands in the south-west Pacific, lying south of Solomon Islands and east of the state of Queensland in Australia.
• Area: 12,190 sq km (4,707 sq miles).
• Topography: The Republic of Vanuatu (formerly New Hebrides) is a Y-shaped archipelago, some 900km long. It forms a double chain of about 40 mountainous islands and 40 islets and rocks of volcanic and coral origin; about 65 of these are inhabited. Some islands, including Tanna, Lopévi and Ambrym, have active volcanoes. Many of the rocky islands are steeply mountainous, the highest peaks, on Esp’ritu Santo Island, rising to over 1,800m (6,000ft). Fresh water is plentiful.
• Climate: Oceanic tropical, with south-east trade winds from May to October. The period from November to April is humid, with moderate rainfall. Cyclones may occur between December and April. 
• Vegetation: The rocky islands are thickly forested, with narrow coastal plains where cultivation is possible.
• Wildlife: Vanuatu is home to 11 species of bat, including the white flying-fox. It is also the easternmost habitation of the dugong, or sea-cow. Espíritu Santo has the richest bird population, with 55 species including the incubator bird which leaves its eggs to incubate in hot volcanic sand from which the young birds emerge fully fledged.
• Main towns: Port Vila (pop. 19,311, 1989) and Luganville (on Espíritu Santo), are the only towns.

Society

• Population: 169,000 (1995 estimate); density 13.5 per sq km, though concentrated near the coast on the four main islands. Population growth was 3% a year during the 1970s, and averaged 2.7% p.a. 1985-95. Birth rate was 38 per 1,000 people (1996). Life expectancy was 65 years (male) and 68 years (female) in 1995. Efaté has the fastest growing population, as people migrate to the capital, but 82% of the population still live in rural areas. About 95% of the population is Melanesian (known as ni-Vanuatu), the rest of mixed Micronesian, Polynesian and European descent.
• Religion: Christianity – Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Seventh Day Adventist.
• Language: National language is Bislama (influenced by English); French and English are widely spoken and also official languages. Over 100 Melanesian languages and dialects.
• Education: Given high priority, education accounted for almost 20% of government expenditure in 1995. Primary education, in French or English at 267 primary schools, is almost universal and provided at nominal charge. There are 27 secondary schools, attended by about 9% of the relevant age group; the government is anxious to raise this proportion. Vanuatu has a branch of the University of the South Pacific. Malapoa Teachers’ Training College and Tagabe Agricultural School also provide tertiary education, and there is a school of nursing in Port Vila. Literacy levels are around 70%.
• Health: The infant mortality rate is 41 per 1,000 live births (1995). One doctor per 14,025 people (1995). There are ten hospitals, the major ones in Port Vila and Luganville, and about 200 health centres and dispensaries. Malaria is widespread and tuberculosis presents a problem, but standards of health are otherwise fairly satisfactory.
• Employment: Agriculture and cattle breeding, on small subsistence farms or plantations, are the main sources of employment. Special incentives have been put in place to encourage training and so raise the skill level of the local workforce. A national minimum wage has been set. In 1994, the government announced plans to reduce public-sector employment by 20%: salaries and wages account for over 50% of the government’s budget.

• Media: The Vanuatu Weekly is published in Bislama, French and English. The monthly Pacific Island Profile and the tourist information publication What’s Doing in Vanuatu are in English. Radio Vanuatu, set up in 1966, gives daily broadcasts in Bislama, French and English. A television station in Port Vila, opened in 1992, broadcasts imported programmes from New Zealand and France. There are 3,000 radio sets.
• Post: There are post offices in Port Vila and Luganville. Airmail to Europe takes about a week.
• Telecoms: Telephone IDD (code 678) is available. There are public telephones at hotels and airports, fax facilities at some hotels, and telex/telegram facilities at big hotels and at the Central Post Office in Port Vila. Work on a rural telephone network is underway. In 1990, Vanuatu became the first Pacific island country to install a digital exchange. 

• Road: About 1,130km of road, about 54km paved.
• Sea: Ferries link the islands. There are shipping services, run by a number of operators, to Australia, New Zealand, Europe and New Caledonia. The main ports are Port Vila and Luganville. Vanuatu maintains an international shipping register, with about 400 ships registered in 1994.
• Air: The chief airports are at Bauerfield, near Port Vila, and Pekoa on Espíritu Santo Island; 26 smaller airfields, with a further three planned. Vanuatu has two airlines: Vanair, which operates internal flights throughout the archipelago, and Air Vanuatu for flights from Bauerfield to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia. Vanuatu is also served by other regional carriers.

• Unit of currency: The vatu (Vt) valued at Vt121.7:US$1 on 5 December 1997. The value of the vatu is linked to a group of currencies, undisclosed to reduce speculation.
• GNP: Vanuatu is rated as a lower-middle income country, with GNP totalling US$202m in 1995, giving a per capita GNP of $1,200. GDP was Vt26,633m in 1995. The average rate of real per capita GNP growth over the 1985-95 period was negative, at –1.1%, but real GDP growth was 3.2% in 1995, and is estimated at 3.0% for 1996.
• Overview: The Vanuatu economy is based on two sectors: agriculture and offshore financial services, with tourism becoming increasingly important. Much of the agriculture is subsistence farming, and the government encourages small farmers to increase production and sell in the local markets. Rural development and innovation are also encouraged (squash, a new crop for the country, is already a significant export), and private enterprise is promoted (two plantations which are partly state-owned are to be privatised). Offshore financial services are the second main support of the economy. Vanuatu created an offshore tax haven in 1971, with a highly liberal financial regime. Offshore company registration contributed nearly 5% of government domestic revenue in 1994. Vanuatu has also become a port of open registry, and its offshore shipping register is a further valuable source of revenue. Tourism is a major growth area and provides additional foreign earnings. Although French nuclear testing in the South Pacific temporarily depressed tourism, it is now expanding, with a new hotel development planned. However, as most exports are agricultural, Vanuatu is vulnerable to fluctuating world prices for commodities. The country has inherent economic difficulties. It is remote and isolated, so faces heavy transport costs and has difficulty in keeping pace with developments. It is prone to cyclone damage, aid has declined and external debt increased. None the less it benefits from better natural resources than many of its Pacific neighbours and, with its great natural beauty, has significant advantages in tourism.
• Inflation: Inflation is relatively low, falling from 6.5% in 1991 to 2.2% in 1995.
• Investment: Vanuatu has a liberal financial and tax regime, encourages offshore financial services, and offshore shipping registration. Inward investment is encouraged, particularly in tourism, fishing and food processing.
• Trade: The main products exported in 1995 were copra (worth US$9.8m), beef, sawn timber, squash and cocoa. The main imports are machinery and transport equipment, food and live animals, basic manufactures and mineral fuels. Vanuatu’s main trading partners are the EU, Japan, Bangladesh and Australia (for exports) and Japan, Australia, Spain and Italy (for imports). Exports were worth US$24m and imports $94m in 1995. Although Vanuatu records a large balance of trade deficit, this tends to be counterbalanced by an invisibles surplus from tourism, financial services, fishing licences and shipping registrations.
• Aid: Due to its small size and narrow skills and resource base, Vanuatu is dependent on aid for development projects. Donors are Britain, Australia, New Zealand, France, Japan, China.
• External debt: US$48.2m (1994), with a debt service ratio of 1.5%.
• Currency restrictions: There are no restrictions on the import or export of currency, foreign or local.
• Regional affiliations: Pacific Islands Commission (formerly South Pacific Commission), South Pacific Forum (SPF), South Pacific Regional Trade and Economic Co-operation Agreement (SPARTECA), Melanesian Spearhead Group, ACP group of country signatories to the Lomé convention.

• Agriculture: Agriculture dominates the physical economy, but there is significant scope for growth as only around 20% of cultivable land is in use. Agriculture accounts for 75% of exports. Copra, cocoa and vegetable squash are the main exports, followed by timber and coffee. Production of copra has been slowly declining, due to cyclone damage and the gradual switching by farmers to more profitable crops, but was still worth Vt894m in exports in 1994. Squash, introduced only in 1992, has proved hugely successful. Coffee is of marginal importance, with under 50 tons a year produced, but has potential, especially with local processing since 1991. Yams, taro, manioc, breadfruit and other vegetables and fruits are grown for local markets. Agriculture, forestry and fisheries accounted for 19% of GDP in 1993.
• Livestock: With 126,000 head of cattle, three abattoirs and three canneries, beef is an important export, frozen or canned. Japan is the main consumer.
• Forestry: Intensive planting in the 1970s and early 80s has increased the value of this sector and forestry is again a growth sector. After a decline at the start of the decade, exports were worth Vt308m in 1994 as against Vt91m in 1990. A policy to ensure sustainable growth and production is in place.
• Fishing: Total catch is 3,000-3,500 tons a year. Tuna is exported to the USA under the Pacific Forum Fisheries Agency arrangement. The Village Fisheries Development Programme is working to improve the market share of artisanal fishermen. Taiwan pays the government an annual licence fee of US$5,000 per vessel for tuna line fishing, but South Korea and Japan have not yet reached agreement with Vanuatu about drift-net fishing in Vanuatu’s maritime zone.
• Manufacturing: Manufacturing contributed 5.8% of GDP in 1993. It consists mainly of processing agricultural and forestry products.
• Mining: There is manganese on Efaté Island, and Vanuatu has reserves of platinum and copper. Prospecting has revealed ore with high silver and gold values on Malakula and Espíritu Santo.
• Tourism: Important source of foreign exchange, with 46,123 tourists in 1996, most of them from Australia and New Zealand. There are 11 hotels in and around Port Vila and there is a controversial proposal to build a hotel on Moso Island on North Efaté. There are French, Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. A special attraction, available on Efaté, consists of displays of traditional activities.
• Energy: Petroleum products are imported. Construction of a hydroelectric plant on Malakula began in 1993 and a further hydroelectric plant is under construction on Espíritu Santo. The only indigenous fuel is wood, but significant oil deposits off Malakula and Espíritu Santo were discovered in late 1994.

• Public holidays: New Year’s Day (1 January), Good Friday to Easter Monday (10-13 April), Labour Day (2 May), Ascension Day (6 May), Independence Day (30 July), Constitution Day (5 October), Unity Day (29 November), Christmas Day (25 December).
• Time: GMT plus 11hr.
• Electricity: 220/240 volts AC, 50Hz. Three-point Australian type plugs are used.
• Driving and local transport: National driving licences are accepted. Buses, taxis and car hire are based at Port Vila and the main airports. Scenic boat tours are available.
• Office hours: 0730-1130hr and 1330-1630hr Monday to Friday.

History

• The islands of Vanuatu have been inhabited since 500 BC, and the region was part of the Tongan Empire into the 14thC. European sailors visited it briefly and at long intervals from early in the 17thC. The name ‘New Hebrides’ was given to the islands by Captain James Cook on his visit in 1774. In 1789 the islands were called at by rescuers seeking Captain Bligh and his officers, who had been turned loose with provisions in an open boat after the mutiny on the Bounty. During the 19thC French and English Christian missionaries and some traders and planters settled on some of the islands which became an Anglo-French condominium by 1906.

  The New Hebrides, as it was then called, was ruled by separate British and French administrations, laying the foundations for some of the problems that have erupted since independence.

  After the Second World War, a power struggle developed between the dual colonial interests and the indigenous islanders, initially over the alienation of land by the Europeans. The first major change was agreement, at a meeting between France and Britain in 1974, to setting up a Representative Assembly (with a majority elected by universal franchise) to replace the colonial Advisory Council. The first national elections followed, in November 1975, but disagreements among the four chiefs representing traditional interests delayed elections to the seats reserved for chiefs.

  Only a few months after the Assembly had come into full operation, in early 1977, a second boycott brought its operations to a halt. The largest party, the Vanua’aku Pati (VP) led by an Anglican priest, Father Walter Lini, objected to the reservation of six seats for members of the Chamber of Commerce. Reluctant to make any compromise agreement, the VP went on to boycott the ensuing conference in Paris in July 1977 and the subsequent general election. A government of National Unity was formed in 1978, and with advisory help from France and Britain, a new constitution providing for independence in 1980, was adopted in October 1979.

  Elections in November 1979 gave victory to the VP, and Lini became Prime Minister. The archipelago became independent on 30 July 1980 as Vanuatu and joined the Commonwealth.

• Law is administered in magistrates' courts, and there is a Supreme Court.

• Vanuatu is a Republic with a non-executive Presidency. The President is elected by Parliament together with the presidents of the regional councils and serves a four-year term. The single-chamber Parliament has 46 members. There is universal adult suffrage. Parliament appoints the Prime Minister from among its members, and the Prime Minister appoints a Council of Ministers from among the MPs. The constitution provides for a certain amount of decentralisation, intended to promote regional autonomy and local participation. In 1994, the eleven local councils were replaced by six provincial governments. The District Councils of Chiefs elect a National Council of Chiefs, which is consulted on, and makes representations on, customary law and traditional factors affecting government.