Country · Oceania
Tonga
Kingdom of Tonga
Tonga is a country in Polynesia. About 103 000 people live there, in an area of 747 square kilometres. Its capital city is Nuku'alofa.
Picture credit: chris fleizach (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Uhooep (CC BY-SA 4.0) · David Broad (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Tonga?
Tonga lies in Polynesia, on the continent of Oceania.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 2 226 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 419 km long.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is Tonga?
Tonga covers 747 square kilometres.
Luxembourg is about 3.5 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 174th largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 138.1 people on every square kilometre.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Tonga?
About 103 000 people live in Tonga.
That is the 181st biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Tongan.
They pay with the Tongan paʻanga (T$).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 68 years.
The land of Tonga
Its coast runs for about 419 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 21 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Tonga different?
Websites from here often end in .to.
Tonga and the rest of the world
Fewer than one person in every thousand on Earth lives in Tonga.
It takes up less than a hundredth of one per cent of all the land in the world.
Within Oceania the country ranks 9th of 14 by size, and 10th by population.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, one lives wild in Tonga: Humpback whale. The highest mountain in the country is the Unnamed Summit of Kao Island, at 1 030 metres. The largest lake in the country is Vai Lahi.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Tonga compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 12 547 times as big as Tonga: 9 372 610 km² against 747 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 325 times as big as Tonga: 242 900 km² against 747 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Tonga?
The capital of Tonga is Nuku'alofa. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Tonga?
About 103 000 people live in Tonga, which makes it the 181st most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Tonga?
Tonga covers 747 square kilometres, making it the 174th largest country in the world. Luxembourg is about 3.5 times bigger.
What is the highest mountain in Tonga?
The highest mountain in Tonga is the Unnamed Summit of Kao Island, 1 030 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the largest lake in Tonga?
The largest lake in Tonga is Vai Lahi. It covers about 14 km².
Are there rivers in Tonga?
Tonga has no permanent river. The ground is porous, so rain sinks straight in or runs to the sea in channels that stay dry most of the year. The water comes from rain tanks, wells or desalination plants.
Which continent is Tonga in?
Tonga is in Oceania, in the part called Polynesia.
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.
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