Palau
Name
| Official name | Republic of Palau — Beluu er a Belau |
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| Former names | The Palau District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (1947–81) and the Republic under the trusteeship (1981–94); the South Seas Mandate of Japan (1914–45), Koror its capital; German Palau of the Caroline Islands (1899–1914); the Spanish Carolines (1885–99); the Pelew Islands of the English after the Antelope; the Palaos of the Spanish |
| Demonym | Palauan |
| Meaning of the name | Belau — the islanders' own name, from beluu, "village" or "country," by the usual reading, or from the giant Uab of the legend whose burned body became the islands; Palau the Spanish Palaos and the English Pelew, the foreigners' spellings of Belau |
| Motto | None official — "Rainbow's End" the tourism slogan, "Pristine Paradise Palau" the brand |
Quick facts
| Capital | Ngerulmud — in Melekeok state on Babeldaob, the seat of government since 7 October 2006, a few hundred people; the least populous capital in the world; Koror the capital until 2006 and the only town |
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| Largest cities | Koror, about 11,000, two-thirds of the country, the commercial capital of the hotels and the harbor; Airai of the airport across the bridge, about 2,500; Melekeok of the capitol; Ngaraard, Ngeremlengui, Aimeliik, Ngchesar, Ngiwal of Babeldaob's villages; Peleliu and Angaur of the war; Kayangel of the atoll; Sonsorol and Hatohobei of the far south, a few dozen each |
| Official languages | Palauan — Belau — the Austronesian language of the islands with its Japanese loanwords of the mandate, spoken by 80%; English, the language of the government, the schools and the business; Japanese official in Angaur state, the only place outside Japan; Sonsorolese and Tobian official in the Southwest Islands; Filipino, Chinese and Bengali of the workers |
| Currency | United States dollar — USD, $; since 1947; no currency of Palau's own and no central bank |
| Time zone | Palau Time, UTC+9; no summer time |
| Calling code | +680 |
| Internet domain | .pw |
| ISO 3166 codes | PW · PLW · 585 |
| Vehicle registration code | PAL |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 120 V, 60 Hz; plug types A and B |
| Independence | 1 October 1994, from the United States trusteeship, the last of the eleven UN trust territories, in free association with the United States under the Compact of Free Association approved by the eighth vote of 9 November 1993; the Constitution in force 1 January 1981 with Haruo Remeliik as the first president; the United Nations 15 December 1994 |
| National days | 1 October, Independence Day; 9 July, Constitution Day, for the referendum of 1979; 1 June, President's Day; 24 October, United Nations Day; 5 May, Senior Citizens Day; 14 March, Youth Day; 1 September, Labor Day; the American Thanksgiving of the fourth Thursday of November and the Family Day after it; 25 December; 1 January |
| Constitution | 1 January 1981 — the Constitution of the Republic of Palau, adopted by the referendum of 9 July 1979 with 92% and again on 9 July 1980 after the courts struck the first vote, the first constitution in the world to declare its territory nuclear-free, the clause that forbade the storage and testing of nuclear weapons without a 75% vote and blocked the American Compact through seven referendums of 1983–90 until the amendment of 1992 lowered the bar and the eighth vote of 1993 passed it; the president and vice president elected directly for four years and two terms, the National Congress of the Senate and the House of Delegates, the Council of Chiefs, the sixteen states with their own constitutions; amended by the referendum of 2008 for the term limits, the citizens abroad and the vice president on the ticket; the "Bul" of the custom in the law |
| Population | 17,614 at the census of 2020, from 17,661 in 2015; about 17,600 (2026 est.) — the second-smallest of the UN's members after Tuvalu and Nauru |
| Area | 459 km² (177 sq mi) — land 459 km²; Babeldaob 331 km², Koror 18, Peleliu 13, Angaur 8; the exclusive economic zone about 600,000 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A light blue field with a golden-yellow disc set slightly toward the hoist — the full moon over the Pacific, the moon of the islanders' calendar under which the fishing, the planting, the harvests and the feasts are timed, the symbol of peace, love and tranquility, the blue the ocean and the passage from the foreign rule to the self-government; designed by Blau Skebong, chosen from the entries of 1980 and raised on 1 January 1981 with the Constitution, the resemblance to the Japanese sun the Palauans deny — the blue the difference.Flag of Palau |
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| National seal | A Bai, the traditional meeting house of the chiefs with its painted gable of the storyboards, on a ring of the words "Official Seal, Republic of Palau" and the Palauan "Olbiil era Kelulau," the house of whispered decisions, the name of the National Congress; adopted 1981 with the Constitution; the seal of the Congress itself the Bai too |
| National anthem | "Belau rekid" ("Our Palau") — the words of a committee of the elders and the music of Ymesei O. Ezekiel, adopted 1980 on the eve of the Constitution, "Palau is coming forth with strength and power, by her old ways abides still every hour"; the four verses of the clans and the sea |
| National motto | None official |
| National colors | Blue and yellow |
| National animal | None declared — the Palau fruit dove, the biib, the bird of the coins and the emblem of the islands, the Palau fantail, the megapode of the mounds, the 12 endemic birds; the dugong of the lagoon, the last of Micronesia; the saltwater crocodile of the mangroves; the golden jellyfish of the lake; the manta and the sharks of the Blue Corner; the giant clams of the farms; widely cited |
| National tree | None declared — the taro, the kukau, the root of the women's gardens and the ceremonies; the betel nut palm of the chew; the tomano and the ironwood of the Bai; widely cited |
| National dish | Taro of the swamp gardens in every form, the kukau boiled and the taro-leaf soup; the fish of the reef, the tinola of the Filipino cooks become Palauan; the fruit bat soup of the old days; the ulkoy fritters; the coconut crab, the land crab, the mangrove clam; the tapioca, the breadfruit; the betel nut with lime and pepper leaf of every conversation; widely cited |
| National sport | Baseball, the game the Japanese left in the 1920s and the islanders kept, the Palau Major League of the states' teams, the field of Koror; the Pacific Mini Games hosted at Koror on 29 June – 9 July 2025; the swimming and the canoeing of the Olympians since Sydney 2000 without a medal; the spearfishing and the outrigger canoe; the Micronesian Games; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag and the seal by the laws of 1981; the anthem by the law of 1980; the animals, plants, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Oceania, in Micronesia — the western end of the Caroline Islands in the Philippine Sea, 800 km east of Mindanao, 1,300 km southwest of Guam, 3,200 km south of Tokyo; the Southwest Islands 600 km toward Indonesia; the Palau Trench of 8,000 m to the east |
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| Land borders | None — the maritime boundaries with Indonesia, the Philippines and the Federated States of Micronesia; the exclusive economic zone of about 600,000 km², the sanctuary of 80% of it |
| Coastline | 1,519 km (944 mi) — the barrier reef around Babeldaob, Koror and the Rock Islands enclosing a lagoon of 1,200 km², the mangroves of Babeldaob's shore, the beaches of Peleliu and Kayangel, the cliffs of the Rock Islands, the German Channel cut by the Germans for the phosphate ships of 1908; the 340 islands, eight inhabited; the reef of 1,500 fish species, 700 corals and the seven giant clams |
| Highest point | Mount Ngerchelchuus, 242 m (794 ft), on Babeldaob |
| Lowest point | The Pacific Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | Low — Babeldaob's hills of 100 to 200 m, the rest at the sea |
| Rivers | The short streams of Babeldaob — the Ngerdorch, the longest, the Ngermeskang, the Diongradid of the Ngardmau falls, 37 m, the largest waterfall of Micronesia; the mangrove creeks; the springs of the limestone islands; the rain of 3,800 mm the water of the rest |
| Lakes | Ngardok on Babeldaob, 4.9 km², the largest natural freshwater lake of Micronesia, the Ramsar site of the crocodiles; the Jellyfish Lake — Ongeim'l Tketau — on Eil Malk of the Rock Islands, the marine lake of the millions of golden jellyfish that lost their sting for want of predators, the snorkelers' lake, emptied of jellyfish by the drought of 2016 and refilled; the 50 marine lakes of the Rock Islands, the most of any place on earth; the Ngerikiil reservoir of Koror's water |
| Terrain | Babeldaob, the volcanic island of the hills, the jungle, the savanna, the mangroves and the villages, with the Compact Road around it; Koror, Malakal and Arakabesan of the town on their limestone; the Rock Islands, the Chelbacheb, the 300 uplifted reef islets of the Southern Lagoon shaped like mushrooms by the sea and the snails; Peleliu and Angaur of the flat coral and the war's caves; Kayangel, the one atoll of the main group; the Southwest Islands of the sand cays; the reef and the lagoon; the drowned reef of the Velasco Bank |
| Climate | Tropical maritime — hot and wet all year at 27 to 28°C, the rain of about 3,800 mm with the wetter season of June to October, the humidity of 80%, the typhoons rare at 7° north and the two of the 2010s the exceptions; the El Niño droughts of 1998 and 2016 that dried the reservoirs; the warming sea that bleached the reef in 1998 and 2010 and recovered |
| Natural hazards | Typhoons — Bopha of 2 December 2012 that passed over Kayangel and the north with the reef flattened, Haiyan of 7 November 2013 that took Kayangel's houses, the storms of 2021; the droughts of El Niño, the water rationed in 2016; the sea's rise on the low islands and the taro swamps salted; the earthquakes of the Philippine plate; the coral bleaching; the collapse of the Koror–Babeldaob bridge of 26 September 1996 with two dead, the Japanese-built replacement of 2002; the crown-of-thorns starfish on the reef; the meth of the streets the government calls the crisis |
| Natural resources | The reef and the lagoon, the tourists' and the fishers' — the tuna of the exclusive zone licensed to the Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean fleets under the Nauru Agreement, the reef fish of the market; the forests of Babeldaob, 87% of the land the most forested share of any country by some counts; the phosphate of Angaur mined by the Germans and the Japanese and gone; the sand and the coral; the deep-sea minerals of the seabed of the future plans; the scenery of the dive sites, Blue Corner, the German Channel, the wrecks of the Japanese fleet of 1944 |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 11%, the taro gardens and the coconuts; forest about 88%; the built land of Koror and the villages |
| Protected areas | The Palau National Marine Sanctuary of the act of 28 October 2015 in force 1 January 2020, 80% of the exclusive economic zone, 475,000 km², closed to all fishing and the remaining fifth for the domestic fleet, among the largest protected areas of the world and the first of its kind; the shark sanctuary of 25 September 2009, the world's first, over the whole zone; the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon of the World Heritage; the Ngerukewid islands reserve of 1956, the "Seventy Islands," closed to all; Lake Ngardok; the Ngardmau; the Protected Areas Network of 2003 of the states' own reserves, 40 of them; the "Bul" of the traditional closures |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 1 — the Rock Islands Southern Lagoon (2012), the 445 islets of the mixed cultural and natural site, the marine lakes, the reefs, the caves of the villagers of 3,000 years and the abandoned villages of the 1600s; the Bai of the chiefs and the storyboards, the ngasech first-birth ceremony and the Yapese stone money quarries of the Rock Islands on the tentative list; no element on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 16 states — Aimeliik, Airai, Angaur, Hatohobei, Kayangel, Koror, Melekeok, Ngaraard, Ngarchelong, Ngardmau, Ngatpang, Ngchesar, Ngeremlengui, Ngiwal, Peleliu and Sonsorol — each with its own constitution, governor and legislature, the most states per head of any country with one for every 1,100 people, ten of them on Babeldaob; Koror with 11,000 and Hatohobei with 25; the traditional chiefs of each state on the Council of Chiefs; the hamlets and the clans beneath |
People
| Population | 17,614 (census of 2020); about 17,600 (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 38 per km² (99 per sq mi) — Koror at 600, the states of Babeldaob at 10, the Southwest Islands at a few |
| Population growth | About 0% — the births above the deaths and the emigration to Guam, Hawaii and the American mainland of the Compact's open door taking the difference, the 8,000 Palauans in the United States; the count of 2020 down from 2015 |
| Median age | About 39 years — the young gone abroad |
| Life expectancy | About 74 years |
| Fertility rate | About 2.2 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 80% — Koror and Airai |
| Adult literacy | About 97% |
| Ethnic groups | Palauan about 70%, the Micronesian people of the clans with the Malay, Melanesian and Polynesian strands of the settlement of 3,000 years and the Japanese, Filipino and American of the century; Carolinian about 1%, the Southwest Islanders of the Sonsorol and Hatohobei of the Chuukic speech; Asian about 26% — Filipino about 15% of the workers of the hotels, the shops and the homes since the 1980s, Chinese, Bangladeshi, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese; other about 3%, the Americans and the Micronesians (census of 2020); the matrilineal clans of the ten ranked houses of each village, the women who hold the land and choose the chiefs |
| Languages | Palauan by 80%, the Western Malayo-Polynesian language of the islands, the Japanese loanwords of the mandate for the machines, the school and the money, the "chinchin" of the coins, the English of the rest; English by nearly all as the second language and by the young as the first; Japanese by the elders of Angaur and Koror of the 1930s; Sonsorolese and Tobian of the far south of a few hundred speakers, the Chuukic cousins; Filipino by 15%; Chinese, Bengali, Korean of the workers |
| Religion | Roman Catholic 46.9%, the Spanish and German missions and the Jesuits of the mandate; Protestant 30.9%, the Evangelical Church of 26.4% of the German Liebenzell mission of 1929, the Seventh-day Adventists of 5%, the Assemblies of God; Modekngei 5.1%, the religion of Palau's own, founded by Temedad of Ngaraard in 1914 as a blend of the old gods and the Christian, banned by the Japanese and the leader jailed, the Ibobang village its seat; Muslim 4.9%, the Bangladeshis; the Baha'is, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses; the old faith of the ancestors under all of it (census of 2020) |
| Human Development Index | 0.797 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; about 67th of 193 |
| The clans and the custom | The matrilineal society of the Palauans — the clans, the kebliil, of the mother's line, the land and the titles passed through the women, the ten ranked clans of each village and the chief, the rubak, chosen by the senior women, the Ibedul of Koror and the Reklai of Melekeok the two paramount chiefs of the old rival confederations, the Council of Chiefs of the Constitution; the ngasech, the first-birth ceremony of the young mother oiled and painted before the clan; the "Bul," the taboo the chiefs set on a reef or a season that the modern conservation law adopted; the Bai of the men and the storyboards of the legends carved for the tourists; the betel nut; the money of the yellow and green beads, the udoud, of the old exchanges still paid at the funerals and the births; the customs the Compact money and the emigration erode; the Palau Pledge of 2017 stamped in every visitor's passport, "I take this pledge as your guest, to preserve and protect your beautiful and unique island home" |
| Sport | Baseball of the Japanese legacy and the state teams; the swimmers and the weightlifters of the Olympics since 2000 and the Pacific Games; the Pacific Mini Games of 29 June – 9 July 2025 at Koror with 24 nations, the second time the country hosted after 2005; the canoe racing and the spearfishing of the villages; the diving of the visitors; the Micronesian Games; the Palau national football team of the Micronesian tournaments |
| Diaspora | About 8,000 Palauans in the United States, Guam and the Northern Marianas — the students, the soldiers of the American forces in which the islanders enlist at among the highest rates of any people, the nurses and the families of Hawaii, Oregon and Washington; the free movement of the Compact; the Palauans of Japan of the mixed families; the remittances small, the visits at the funerals |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic in free association with the United States under the Constitution of 1981 — the president elected directly for four years and two terms as head of state and government, the vice president on the ticket since 2008 with a ministry of his own, the cabinet of eight ministers; the National Congress of two houses; the Supreme Court; the sixteen states; the Council of Chiefs of the custom; no political parties; the United States responsible for the defense and holding the "right of strategic denial" under the Compact; "free" by Freedom House; the Palauan democracy of the families and the clans, the Remengesaus and the Whippses |
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| President | Surangel Whipps Jr. (independent), since 21 January 2021 — the tenth president; born 9 August 1968 at Baltimore, Maryland, to a Palauan father, Surangel Whipps Sr., the founder of the Surangel and Sons company, the Rekemesik of Ngatpang and the president of the Senate, who died in April 2026 at 86, and an American mother, the graduate of Andrews University and the UCLA business school, the Seventh-day Adventist, the businessman of the family's supermarket, hardware and hotel group, the senator of 2009–16, the loser of the election of 2016 to his brother-in-law Tommy Remengesau Jr. by 255 votes, the winner of 3 November 2020 with 56.7% over Raynold Oilouch and of 5 November 2024 with 57.74% and 5,626 votes over Remengesau's 42.11%, the first election of Remengesau's life that he lost; the president of the Compact review, the Taiwan tie kept, "respect our sovereignty and our decision to choose who our friends are," his word to Beijing in December 2024, the American radar and the Marines welcomed, the climate voice of the COPs and the Our Ocean conferences, the meth crisis and the deportees; his second and last term to January 2029 |
| Vice President | Raynold Oilouch (independent), since 16 January 2025 — the vice president of 19 January 2017 to 21 January 2021 under Remengesau and again, the ninth and eleventh holder of the office, elected 5 November 2024 with 70.25% and 6,726 votes over the vice president Uduch Sengebau Senior; born about 1965 at Ngerulmud, the graduate of the Canberra College of Advanced Education, the minister of justice of 2017–21, the loser to Whipps of 2020; the vice president who holds a ministry by the custom |
| The 2024 election | Held 5 November 2024 with the American election's day, the president by the two-round system, the vice president separately and the Congress: Whipps 57.74% and 5,626 votes to Remengesau's 42.11% and 4,103, the incumbent's re-election and the former president's first defeat in six campaigns; Oilouch 70.25% for vice president over Sengebau Senior's 29.55%; the Senate of 15, enlarged from 13 by the reapportionment, elected at large with fifteen votes for every voter, Hokkons Baules its president, the House of 16 of the states; the turnout of about 70% of the 16,000 registered, the voters of the diaspora by the mail; the Compact, the Chinese pressure, the tourism and the meth the issues |
| Parliament | The National Congress — Olbiil era Kelulau, "the house of whispered decisions" — of two houses: the Senate of 15 elected for four years by the whole country at large by block vote, its president Hokkons Baules, the senator of Ngatpang sanctioned by the United States Treasury on 10 February 2026 under the Global Magnitsky program for corruption and "support for Chinese interests," the Chinese investors' friend of the reports, the first sitting official of an American ally so named; the House of Delegates of 16, one for each state elected for four years, its Speaker Sabino Anastacio; the capitol of Ngerulmud of 2006; the Congress that ratified the Compact review in July 2023 and resisted the deportees of 2025 |
| The next election | The general election of 3 November 2028 for the president, the vice president and the Congress, the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November of the American calendar; the states' elections by their own schedules |
| The Compact | The Compact of Free Association with the United States of 1 October 1994 — the sovereignty of Palau with the defense and the security the responsibility of the United States, which holds the "right of strategic denial" to keep any other power's forces out and the right to build bases, the Palauans free to live and work in the United States and to serve in its forces, the money of US$450 million of the first fifteen years and the trust fund; the review of 2010 signed and unfunded for eight years; the Compact Review Agreement of 22 May 2023 signed at Washington, ratified by the Congress of Palau in July 2023 and funded by the U.S. Congress only in the defense bill of 9 March 2024 after "we were told to be patient," US$889 million over the twenty years to 2044, the budget support, the trust fund and the postal, the weather and the aviation services; the Tactical Mobile Over-the-Horizon Radar of the U.S. Air Force on Babeldaob and Angaur of about US$118 million building since 2023 to watch the western Pacific, the airfields of Peleliu and Angaur repaired for the Marines' and the Army's exercises, the HIMARS and the Marines of the "Koa Moana" rotations, the coast guard's Palau boat; the agreement of 24 December 2025 to take 75 migrants deported from the United States for US$7.5 million after the Senate had refused the first request of July; "the only country in the world" of Whipps' description whose president can visit Washington and Taipei in the same week |
| Taiwan and China | The diplomatic tie with Taiwan since 29 December 1999, one of the twelve allies Taipei keeps and one of three in the Pacific with the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, the loan of the capitol, the aid, the scholarships and the president Lai Ching-te's visit of 5 December 2024; the Chinese pressure — the tour groups of the boom of 2015 that made China half the visitors and the ban of November 2017 that cut them by two-thirds when Palau would not switch, "our GDP dropped by over 30%, in the U.S. that would be more severe than the Great Depression," Whipps; the cyberattack of March 2024 that stole 20,000 government documents laid at Beijing's door, the research vessels in the exclusive zone of November 2024, the offers Whipps described in 2025 of the hotels filled and a call center worth US$20 million a year for the switch, refused; the Chinese investors of the hotels and the land leases the Senate president was sanctioned for; "if you want to be a partner with Palau, a friend of Palau, you don't do it by force" |
| The Forum and the region | The 55th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting hosted at Koror on 30 August – 4 September 2026, the Forum of the eighteen with Whipps as its chair for the year, the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency and the Nauru Agreement of the tuna; the Micronesian bloc of the five with the Marshalls, the Federated States, Nauru and Kiribati that walked out of the Forum in 2021 over the secretary-general and came back in 2022; the Japan of the mandate, the emperor's visit of April 2015 to Peleliu, the aid of the bridge, the terminal and the water; the Philippines of the workers and the fisheries memorandum of 15 March 2025; Australia of the patrol boat; the Compact states of the Marshall Islands and Micronesia as the sisters |
| Legal system | Common law of the American model with the customary law of the clans and the chiefs — the Supreme Court of the trial and appellate divisions under Chief Justice Oldiais Ngiraikelau since 2019, the Court of Common Pleas, the Land Court of the clan titles, the states' courts; no death penalty; the Constitution's nuclear ban and its Bul; the Compact's American courts for the citizens abroad; the marijuana and the meth of the drug laws, the crisis of the crystal meth of the 2020s the president declared; the Global Magnitsky sanctions on the Senate president of 2026; the reef-toxic sunscreen banned from 1 January 2020, the first country to do it |
| Local government | 16 states with elected governors and legislatures under their own constitutions, the smallest states of a few dozen voters with their own governments, the Koror State Government the largest with the Rock Islands' permits and the money; the hamlets and the clans; the Council of Chiefs of the sixteen paramount chiefs advising the president; the Ibedul of Koror and the Reklai of Melekeok |
| Defense | None of Palau's own — the United States responsible by the Compact, the Palau Division of Marine Law Enforcement of the patrol boat PSS Remeliik II given by Australia in 2020 and the two others, the police of 200; the American forces of the radar, the Marines' rotations of "Koa Moana" and the Army's "Task Force Oceania," the airfields of Peleliu and Angaur, the U.S. Coast Guard's shiprider agreement; the Palauans in the American army and navy at a rate among the world's highest, the dead of Iraq and Afghanistan; the war of 1944 — Peleliu of 15 September to 27 November 1944 with about 1,800 Americans and 10,000 Japanese dead in the caves and Angaur of the same weeks, the bloodiest battle for its size of the Pacific, the wrecks of the lagoon of the Japanese fleet of March 1944 |
| Foreign policy | The United States of the Compact and Taiwan of the tie the two pillars — the votes with Washington and Taipei at the United Nations, the recognition of Israel's Jerusalem, the climate of the small islands and the "1.5 to stay alive"; Japan of the mandate's memory and the aid; the Philippines of the workers; the Pacific Islands Forum of the region; China refused; the Uyghurs of Guantánamo of 2009, the six the country took for the Americans; the migrants of 2025; the president's voice at the ocean conferences, "the ocean is our life" |
| United Nations | Member since 15 December 1994, the 185th; the last trust territory; the votes with the United States and Israel; the Small Island Developing States and the ocean resolutions; the Our Ocean Conference hosted at Koror on 13–14 April 2022, the first in a small island state; the UNESCO site of 2012 |
| Other memberships | The Pacific Islands Forum (1995), its chair in 2026; the Pacific Community; the Nauru Agreement of the tuna; the Alliance of Small Island States; the Asian Development Bank; the IMF and the World Bank (1997); the Compact with the United States (1994); the Micronesian Presidents' Summit; not the Commonwealth, not the WTO |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$350 million (2025, IMF) — among the five smallest economies of the world |
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| GDP per capita | About US$19,700 (2025) — the highest of the Pacific island states after the territories |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$18,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4% in 2025 and 3.3% expected in 2026 by the IMF as the tourists return toward the 90,000 of 2019 from the nothing of the pandemic years; inflation about 3%; the dollar; the fiscal year of October; the Compact money the floor |
| Economy by sector | Services about 80%, the tourism, the government of a third of the jobs and the trade; industry about 15%, the construction of the American projects; agriculture and fishing about 5% |
| Currency | United States dollar (USD) |
| Tourism | The economy — about 60,000 visitors in 2025 against the 169,000 of 2015 at the Chinese peak and the 90,000 of 2019 before the pandemic, the Taiwanese of the China Airlines flights, the Japanese and the Koreans, the Americans of the diving; the Rock Islands, the Jellyfish Lake, the Blue Corner and the German Channel of the divers' rankings, the wrecks, the Milky Way; the Palau Royal Resort and the Pacific Resort of the Japanese, the hotels of the Taiwanese and the Chinese investors; the Pristine Paradise Environmental Fee of US$100 at the airport and the Palau Pledge of 2017 in the passport; about 40% of GDP at the peak; the Chinese ban of 2017 the lesson of the "one partner" |
| Fishing and the sanctuary | The tuna of the exclusive zone, the licenses of the Japanese, Taiwanese and Korean longliners under the Nauru Agreement's vessel days, about US$7 million a year until the sanctuary closed 80% of the zone on 1 January 2020 and cut the fleets to the fifth of the domestic zone, the pelagic fishery for the local market the plan; the reef fish of the market and the giant clams of the Palau Mariculture; the sanctuary's cost the argument of the Senate of 2025 for its amendment; the shark tourism worth more than the shark fins, the study of 2011 that made the case |
| The Compact money | US$889 million over 2024–44 of the review agreement of 2023, the direct assistance of the budget, the trust fund of about US$800 million whose earnings pay the government after the direct money ends, the federal programs of the postal service, the weather service and the airports; the American money about a third of the budget and the Taiwanese aid the second, the Japanese the third; the budget of about US$140 million; the public debt of about US$200 million, near 60% of GDP, from the Asian Development Bank's pandemic loans; the unemployment low, the wages low, the foreign workers a third of the people |
| Farming and the rest | The taro of the women's swamp gardens, the cassava, the coconuts, the betel nut, the bananas and the papaya of the subsistence; the pigs and the chickens; the craft of the storyboards and the woven; the small construction, the boat building, the government; the phosphate of Angaur gone by 1955 |
| Energy | Electricity from the diesel of the Palau Public Utilities Corporation and the solar of the Ngatpang solar farm of 2022 with its batteries, the largest of the Pacific islands when built, for a fifth of the power, the target of 45% renewable by 2025 missed and kept; the fuel by ship; the desalination of Koror's dry years |
| Public finances | The budget of about US$140 million, the Compact and the taxes, the Palau Goods and Services Tax of 10% introduced in January 2023 in place of the old gross receipts tax; the debt of about US$200 million; the Compact Trust Fund; the Civil Service Pension Plan and the Social Security of the underfunding; the fee of the visitors; the ADB |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank) by a margin the tourists decide, upper-middle in the pandemic years |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airport | Roman Tmetuchl International Airport at Airai on Babeldaob, the terminal of 2022 built with Japan's money, the runway of 2,195 m, the flights of United to Guam and Manila, China Airlines to Taipei, the Japanese and Korean charters of the seasons, Nauru Airlines; the airstrips of Peleliu and Angaur of the war repaired by the Americans |
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| Airline | No national carrier — Belau Air of the island hops, the Palau Pacific Airways of the Taiwanese charters that ended in 2015; United Airlines the lifeline of the Guam flights; the helicopters of the tours |
| Port | Malakal Harbor at Koror, the commercial port of the container ships from Guam and Manila, the fuel and the fishing fleet; the marina of the dive boats; the state docks of the villages; the cruise ships few; the American coast guard cutters |
| Railways | None — the Japanese narrow-gauge lines of the phosphate of Angaur and the bauxite of Babeldaob of the 1930s gone with the war |
| Roads | About 125 km (78 mi), most of it paved — the Compact Road of 85 km around Babeldaob built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and opened in 2007, the road that opened the villages; the Japan–Palau Friendship Bridge of 2002 between Koror and Babeldaob, 413 m, in place of the Korean-built bridge that collapsed on 26 September 1996; the roads of Koror and the causeways to Malakal and Arakabesan; the driving on the right; the cars of the Japanese second hand |
| The lagoon | The boats of the Rock Islands tours from Koror, the permits of Koror State, the German Channel and the Blue Corner of the dive boats, the kayaks of the marine lakes; the state boats to Kayangel, Peleliu and Angaur; the field trip ship to the Southwest Islands of the months; the outrigger canoes of the past |
History in dates
| c. 1000 BC | The first settlers of the Rock Islands and Babeldaob |
|---|---|
| c. 500 | The Yapese quarry their stone money in the Rock Islands |
| 1543 | Ruy López de Villalobos sights the islands |
| 1710 | The Spanish of the Santísima Trinidad — the first landing |
| 1783 | The Antelope wrecks, 10 August — Captain Wilson; Prince Lee Boo to London, dies 1784 |
| 1885 | Spain's claim upheld by Pope Leo XIII against Germany |
| 1899 | Sold to Germany with the Carolines, 12 February |
| 1914 | Japan takes the islands, October; Modekngei founded by Temedad |
| 1920 | The League mandate — Koror the capital of the Nan'yō, 1922 |
| 1944 | Peleliu, 15 September – 27 November — 1,800 Americans and 10,000 Japanese dead |
| 1947 | The Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, 18 July |
| 1979 | The nuclear-free Constitution approved, 9 July |
| 1981 | Self-government, 1 January — Remeliik |
| 1985 | President Remeliik assassinated, 30 June |
| 1988 | President Salii dies, 20 August |
| 1993 | The eighth Compact vote passes, 9 November |
| 1994 | Independence, 1 October; the United Nations, 15 December |
| 1996 | The Koror–Babeldaob bridge collapses, 26 September |
| 1999 | Taiwan recognized, 29 December |
| 2006 | Ngerulmud the capital, 7 October |
| 2009 | The shark sanctuary, 25 September — the first; the Uyghurs of Guantánamo, November |
| 2012 | The Rock Islands on the World Heritage list, 29 June; Bopha, 2 December |
| 2015 | The Marine Sanctuary Act, 28 October; the emperor at Peleliu, April |
| 2017 | China cuts the tour groups, November; the Palau Pledge, December |
| 2020 | The sanctuary and the sunscreen ban, 1 January; Whipps elected, 3 November |
| 2021 | Whipps sworn, 21 January |
| 2022 | The Our Ocean Conference, 13–14 April; the new terminal |
| 2023 | The Compact Review Agreement, 22 May |
| 2024 | The U.S. Congress funds it, 9 March; the cyberattack, March; Whipps re-elected, 5 November; Lai's visit, 5 December |
| 2025 | The second term, 16 January; the Mini Games, 29 June – 9 July; the deportee agreement, 24 December |
| 2026 | Baules sanctioned, 10 February; Whipps Sr. dies, April; the Forum at Koror, 30 August – 4 September |
Records & firsts
| The first nuclear-free constitution | 9 July 1979 |
|---|---|
| The first shark sanctuary | 25 September 2009 |
| The first ban on reef-toxic sunscreen | 1 January 2020 |
| The first passport pledge | The Palau Pledge, 2017 |
| The least populous capital | Ngerulmud, a few hundred |
| The most states per head | 16 for 17,600 |
| The last UN trust territory | To 1 October 1994 |
| The most marine lakes | About 50 |
| The largest waterfall of Micronesia | Ngardmau, 37 m |
| The largest freshwater lake of Micronesia | Ngardok, 4.9 km² |
| Among the most forested countries | About 88% |
| A referendum held eight times | The Compact, 1983–93 |
| A Senate president sanctioned by an ally | 10 February 2026 |
| Japanese official outside Japan | Angaur state |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Palau?
The Republic of Palau — Beluu er a Belau in Palauan — the last of the United Nations trust territories to become a state, independent on 1 October 1994 in free association with the United States after the Compact that the islanders had to vote on eight times, because the nuclear-free constitution they adopted in 1979, the first in the world, forbade the American warships and the Compact required them. The name is Belau, the islanders' own, which the Spanish wrote Palaos and the English Pelew after the wreck of the Antelope of 1783 that carried Prince Lee Boo to London; the story of the Palauan name is the island that rose from the giant Uab, whose body broke into the archipelago when the villagers burned him.
What is the capital of Palau?
Ngerulmud — the capitol complex on a hill in Melekeok state on the big island of Babeldaob, built with a Taiwanese loan on the model of the U.S. Capitol and made the seat of government on 7 October 2006, the least populous capital in the world with a few hundred people around the domes of the Congress, the Supreme Court and the President's office in a clearing of the jungle. Koror, across the Japan–Palau Friendship Bridge on its own island, was the capital until 2006 and remains the only town, with about 11,000 people, two-thirds of the country, its hotels, its harbor of Malakal, its Bai meeting house, its storyboard carvers and its aquarium; the airport lies at Airai across the bridge, and the fourteen other states are villages of a few hundred, Hatohobei of the far south with about 25.
How big is Palau, and how many people live there?
About 459 km² (177 sq mi) — two and a half times the size of Washington, D.C. — 340 islands in a chain of 150 km at the western end of the Caroline Islands, 800 km east of the Philippines and 1,300 km southwest of Guam, of which eight are inhabited: Babeldaob, the second-largest island of Micronesia after Guam with 331 km² and a fifth of the people, Koror, Peleliu and Angaur of the war, Kayangel atoll of the north, and the three specks of the Southwest Islands 600 km away, Sonsorol, Pulo Anna and Hatohobei; the exclusive economic zone of 600,000 km² is 1,300 times the land. The census of 2020 counted 17,614 people and the count for 2026 is about the same, the Palauans leaving for Guam, Hawaii and the mainland on the Compact's open door as fast as the Filipino and Bangladeshi workers come, about 70 percent Palauan and a quarter Asian, the second-smallest population of any UN member after Tuvalu and Nauru.
What are the highest and lowest points of Palau?
Mount Ngerchelchuus, 242 m (794 ft), on the volcanic island of Babeldaob, the only real height of the country, where the Ngardmau waterfall, the largest of Micronesia, falls through the jungle; and the Pacific, from which the Rock Islands rise — the Chelbacheb, the 300 mushroom-shaped islets of limestone undercut by the sea in the Southern Lagoon of Koror, with their Jellyfish Lake of the millions of stingless golden jellyfish, the German Channel, the Blue Corner of the divers and the Milky Way of the white mud, a World Heritage site since 2012. Lake Ngardok on Babeldaob, 4.9 km², is the largest natural freshwater lake of Micronesia, and the country's waters, 80 percent of them closed to fishing since 2020 as the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, hold 1,500 species of fish and the world's first shark sanctuary of 2009.
What currency does Palau use?
The United States dollar (ISO code USD, $), the country's money since the American trusteeship of 1947 and by the Compact since — Palau has never issued a currency of its own and has no central bank, its banking done by the Bank of Guam and the Bank of Hawaii and its own Bank of Palau, the yen of the Japanese years and the German mark before it; the Palau Pristine Paradise Environmental Fee of US$100 is paid by every visitor at the airport. Clocks keep Palau Time, UTC+9, the same as Tokyo, all year; Palau drives on the right, on the 85 km of the Compact Road around Babeldaob.
Who governs Palau?
President Surangel Whipps Jr., the Baltimore-born businessman of the family's Surangel and Sons stores and brother-in-law of the man he beat, head of state and government since 21 January 2021 and re-elected on 5 November 2024 with 58 percent over the four-time president Tommy Remengesau Jr., the first election Remengesau ever lost, sworn for his second and last term on 16 January 2025 with Raynold Oilouch, the vice president of 2017–21, back in the office — a president elected directly by the 15,000 voters of a republic modeled on the American, with a Senate of 15 and a House of Delegates of 16, one for each state, and no parties; the Council of Chiefs of the sixteen paramount chiefs, the Ibedul of Koror first among them, advising on the custom. Whipps has kept the tie to Taiwan against China's offers and its pressure on the tourists, welcomed the American radar and the Marines under the renewed Compact, hosted the Pacific Islands Forum in September 2026, and seen Washington sanction his own Senate president in February 2026 for corruption and "support for Chinese interests." The next election is due on 3 November 2028.
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