Country · Oceania
Palau
Republic of Palau
Palau is a country in Micronesia. Its capital city is Ngerulmud. About 18 thousand people live there, in an area of 459 square kilometres.
Picture credit: LuxTonnerre (CC BY 2.0) · Jenny (CC BY 2.0) · Babiesan (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Zykasaa (CC BY 4.0) · Ben Shoshana (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Palau?
Palau lies in Micronesia, on the continent of Oceania.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 835 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 1 519 km long.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is Palau?
Palau covers 459 square kilometres.
Luxembourg is about 5.6 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 179th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 39 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Palau?
About 18 thousand people live in Palau.
That is the 191st biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Palauan.
They pay with the United States dollar ($).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 69 years.
The land of Palau
Its coast runs for about 1 519 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 76 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Palau different?
Websites from here often end in .pw.
Palau and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0 live in Palau.
It takes up about 0 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Oceania it is the 11th largest of 14 countries, and the 12th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Palau?
The capital of Palau is Ngerulmud. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Palau?
About 18 thousand people live in Palau, which makes it the 191st most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Palau?
Palau covers 459 square kilometres, making it the 179th largest country in the world. Luxembourg is about 5.6 times bigger.
Which continent is Palau in?
Palau is in Oceania, in the part called Micronesia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
Last checked: · How these pages are made