Country · Oceania
Tuvalu
Tuvalu is a country in Polynesia. About 12 000 people live there, in an area of 26 square kilometres. Its capital city is Funafuti.
Picture credit: INABA Tomoaki (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Davidarfonjones (CC BY-SA 3.0) · lirneasia (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Tuvalu?
Tuvalu lies in Polynesia, on the continent of Oceania.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 891 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 24 km long.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is Tuvalu?
Tuvalu covers 26 square kilometres.
Luxembourg is about 99 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 191st largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 442.6 people on every square kilometre.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Tuvalu?
About 12 000 people live in Tuvalu.
That is the 193rd biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Tuvaluan.
They pay with the Australian dollar and Tuvaluan dollar.
On average, people born here can expect to live about 66 years.
The land of Tuvalu
Its coast runs for about 24 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 1 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Tuvalu different?
Websites from here often end in .tv.
Tuvalu and the rest of the world
Fewer than one person in every thousand on Earth lives in Tuvalu.
It takes up less than a hundredth of one per cent of all the land in the world.
Within Oceania the country ranks 13th of 14 by size, and 14th by population.
Nature and animals
The highest mountain in the country is the Unnamed rise on Niulakita, at 5 metres.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Tuvalu compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 360 485 times as big as Tuvalu: 9 372 610 km² against 26 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 9 342 times as big as Tuvalu: 242 900 km² against 26 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Tuvalu?
The capital of Tuvalu is Funafuti. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Tuvalu?
About 12 000 people live in Tuvalu, which makes it the 193rd most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Tuvalu?
Tuvalu covers 26 square kilometres, making it the 191st largest country in the world. Luxembourg is about 99 times bigger.
What is the highest mountain in Tuvalu?
The highest mountain in Tuvalu is the Unnamed rise on Niulakita, 5 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
Are there rivers in Tuvalu?
Tuvalu 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 Tuvalu in?
Tuvalu 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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