Tonga
The Country of the Week
Quick Facts
- Capital
- Nuku'alofa
- Population
- 104,519 (2025 est.)
- Area
- 747 sq km
- Government
- constitutional monarchy
- Languages
- Tongan only 85%, Tongan and other language 13.9%, Tongan not used at home 1.1% (2021 est.)
- Religions
- Protestant 63.9% (Free Wesleyan Church 34.2%, Free Church of Tonga 11.3%, Church of Tonga 6.8%, Seventh Day Adventist 2.5%, Assembly of God 2.5%, Tokaikolo/Maamafo'ou 1.5%, Constitutional Church of Tonga 1.2%, other Protestant 4%), Church of Jesus Christ 19.7%, Roman Catholic 13.7%, other 2.1%, none 0.6%, no answer 0.1% (2021 est.)
- Ethnic Groups
- Tongan 96.5%, other (European, Fijian, Samoan, Indian, Chinese, other Pacific Islander, other Asian, other) 3.5% (2021 est.)
- Currency
- pa'anga (TOP)
- Life Expectancy
- 78 years (2024 est.)
- Internet Domain
- .to
- Climate
- tropical; modified by trade winds; warm season (December to May), cool season (May to December)
- Terrain
- mostly flat islands with limestone bedrock formed from uplifted coral formation; others have limestone overlying volcanic rock
- Natural Resources
- arable land, fish
- Major Exports
- refined petroleum, gold, processed fruits and nuts, cassava, fish (2023)
Source: CIA World Factbook (public domain)
Overview
The first humans arrived in Tonga around 1000 B.C. The islands’ politics were highly centralized under the Tu’i Tonga, or Tongan king, by A.D. 950, and by 1200, the Tu’i Tonga had expanded his influence throughout Polynesia and into Melanesia and Micronesia.