Palau
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Ngerulmud
- Population
- 21,947 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 459 sq km
- Government
- presidential republic in free association with the US
- Languages
- Palauan (official on most islands) 65.2%, other Micronesian 1.9%, English (official) 19.1%, Filipino 9.9%, Chinese 1.2%, other 2.8% (2015 est.)
- Religions
- Roman Catholic 46.9%, Protestant 30.9% (Evangelical 24.6%, Seventh Day Adventist 5%, other Protestant 1.4%), Modekngei 5.1% (indigenous to Palau), Muslim 4.9%, other 12.3% (2020 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Palauan (Micronesian with Malayan and Melanesian admixtures) 70.6%, Carolinian 1.2%, Asian 26.5%, other 1.7% (2020 est.)
- Life Expectancy
- 75.2 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .pw
- Climate
- tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November
- Terrain
- varying topography from the high, mountainous main island of Babelthuap to low, coral islands usually fringed by large barrier reefs
- Natural Resources
- forests, minerals (especially gold), marine products, deep-seabed minerals
- Major Exports
- ships, refined petroleum (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
Humans arrived in the Palauan archipelago from Southeast Asia around 1000 B.C. and developed a complex, highly organized matrilineal society where high-ranking women picked the chiefs.