Solomon Islands
Name
| Official name | Solomon Islands — no "the" in the Constitution or the government's style, "the Solomon Islands" in common use; Solomon Aelan in Pijin |
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| Former names | The British Solomon Islands Protectorate (BSIP), declared over the southern islands in June 1893 by Captain Gibson of HMS Curacoa and extended to the northern islands Germany ceded in 1899 and 1900; the "Solomon Islands" without "British" from 1975 and the self-governing Solomon Islands of 2 January 1976 to 7 July 1978; the Islas Salomón of Mendaña of 1568; the "Solomons" of the war; Bougainville and Buka, geographically of the chain, in Papua New Guinea by the line of 1899 |
| Demonym | Solomon Islander |
| Meaning of the name | For King Solomon's gold — Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, who reached Santa Isabel from Peru on 7 February 1568 and spent six months among the islands, named them Islas Salomón in the belief or the salesmanship that they were the Ophir of the Bible from which Solomon's fleets fetched their gold; the gold of Guadalcanal was real, at Gold Ridge, but four centuries late; the islands' own names — Guadalcanal for a Spanish town of Pedro de Ortega, Santa Isabel for the feast day, Malaita, Makira, Choiseul for the French minister of Bougainville's voyage of 1768, New Georgia of Shortland's of 1788; "the Happy Isles" of the tourist board; "Hapi Aelan" |
| Motto | "To Lead is to Serve" — on the coat of arms of 1978 |
Quick facts
| Capital | Honiara — on the north coast of Guadalcanal, the capital since 1952 in place of Tulagi; 129,569 at the census of 2019 and about 150,000 with the settlements since; the name from the Ghari "naho ni ara," "facing the east wind" |
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| Largest towns | Honiara; Auki of Malaita, about 8,000, the second town; Gizo of the Western Province and the dive boats, about 7,000; Noro of the tuna cannery on New Georgia; Munda of the wartime airstrip and the international runway of 2019; Kirakira of Makira; Buala of Isabel; Tulagi of the old capital and the Japanese base; Lata of Temotu; Taro of Choiseul; Tigoa of Rennell and Bellona; the villages of the rest — three-quarters of the people |
| Official language | English — the language of the Constitution, the courts, Parliament and the schools, spoken well by a few percent; Solomon Islands Pijin, the English-based creole of the plantations and the mission ships, the language of the whole country, of the radio and the market, the mother tongue of Honiara's young; about 70 living languages of the Austronesian family — Kwara'ae and To'abaita of Malaita, Roviana and Marovo of the west, Ghari and Talise of Guadalcanal, Cheke Holo and Bughotu of Isabel, Arosi and Kahua of Makira, the Polynesian of Rennell-Bellona, Tikopia, Anuta, Sikaiana and Ontong Java — and the Papuan languages of Savo, Vella Lavella, Rendova and the Santa Cruz group; the Gilbertese of the resettled; the Chinese of the traders |
| Currency | Solomon Islands dollar — SBD, SI$; 100 cents; the Central Bank of Solomon Islands; about 8.4 to the U.S. dollar; the Australian dollar it replaced at par in 1977 |
| Time zone | UTC+11; no summer time |
| Calling code | +677 |
| Internet domain | .sb |
| ISO 3166 codes | SB · SLB · 090 |
| Vehicle registration code | SOL |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug types I and G |
| Independence | 7 July 1978, from the United Kingdom — the Duke of Gloucester for the queen at the flag-raising in Honiara, Sir Peter Kenilorea the first prime minister, the Solomon Islands Independence Order of 1978 and the Constitution; self-government on 2 January 1976 under Chief Minister Solomon Mamaloni; the Legislative Assembly of 1974, the Governing Council of 1970 and the Legislative Council of 1960; the protectorate of 1893 |
| National days | 7 July, Independence Day, the parade at Lawson Tama; the public holidays of New Year's Day, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Monday, Whit Monday, the King's Birthday in June, Independence Day, Christmas and the National Day of Thanksgiving of 26 December; the provincial second-appointed days of each province — Malaita's 15 August, Guadalcanal's 1 August, the Western Province's 7 December and the rest |
| Constitution | 7 July 1978 — the Solomon Islands Independence Order 1978 of the Westminster settlement, negotiated at the London conference of 1977: the monarch as head of state, the governor-general elected by Parliament for five years, the prime minister elected by the members by secret ballot and removed by a vote of no confidence, the cabinet of up to a third of the House, the unicameral National Parliament of 50 elected for four years by first past the post, the Ombudsman, the Leadership Code, the provincial governments of the Act of 1997, the customary land that cannot be sold to outsiders; amended 30-odd times — the provinces of 1981, the Leadership Code of 1999, the Political Parties Integrity Act of 2014, the extension of Parliament's term in 2022 to hold the Pacific Games before the election, the federal constitution of the draft of 2004 to 2014 never adopted; the Constitutional Reform of a federal state the Malaita and Western provinces still ask for |
| Population | About 829,000 (2025 est.) — 828,857 by the encyclopedias' count; 720,956 at the census of 2019; 515,870 (2009); 409,042 (1999); growing about 2% a year |
| Area | 28,896 km² (11,157 sq mi) by the state and the encyclopedias, 28,400 km² (10,965 sq mi) by the Factbook — 28,000 km² of it land and about 900 of water; about 139th of the world; 992 islands by the common count, 147 of them inhabited, in the exclusive economic zone of 1,589,477 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A field divided by a thin yellow diagonal from the lower hoist to the upper fly into a blue triangle above and a green triangle below, with five white five-pointed stars in an X in the upper hoist, in the proportion 1:2 — the blue for the water, the rivers, the rain and the ocean, the green for the land, the trees and the crops, the yellow for the sunshine, and the five stars for the five districts of the protectorate at the time of the design, kept as the number of provinces grew to nine; adopted on 18 November 1977 by the Legislative Assembly on the eve of independence from the designs of a competition, and raised at midnight on 7 July 1978 as the Union Jack came down; the flag of the protectorate the British Blue Ensign with the badge of the tortoise and later the arms of 1956.Flag of Solomon Islands |
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| Coat of arms | The arms of 1978 by the common description — a shield of blue over green bearing a golden eagle for Malaita, two turtles for the Western district, a frigatebird for the eastern islands and the spears, bow, arrows and shield of the Central district and Guadalcanal, the emblems of the districts of the protectorate's arms of 1956 kept; supported by a saltwater crocodile and a shark, the animals of the coast and the custom; the crest of a war canoe and a rising sun on a helmet; the scroll "To Lead is to Serve"; on the currency, the passports and the seal |
| National anthem | "God Save Our Solomon Islands" — the words and music of Panapasa Balekana, the Fijian-born teacher, and his wife Matila Balekana, the winners of the competition of 1977, adopted at independence in 1978; "God save our Solomon Islands from shore to shore, bless all her people and her lands"; "God Save the King" the royal anthem |
| National motto | "To Lead is to Serve" |
| National colors | Blue, green and yellow — the flag's |
| National bird and animal | None designated — the Solomons sea eagle (Haliaeetus sanfordi) of the arms and the coins, the frigatebird of the Western Province's flag and the war canoes, the crocodile and the shark of the supporters, the dolphins of Malaita's teeth money, the coconut crab, the giant rats and monkey-faced bats of Guadalcanal, the 170 birds of which 70 are found nowhere else, the Rennell shrikebill and the white-eye of the raised atoll; the shark the ancestor of the Langalanga and the Isabel people's custom; widely cited |
| National flower | None designated — the hibiscus of the villages and the frangipani of the leis, the orchids of the rainforest; the coconut palm of everything; widely cited |
| National dish | None designated — the "motu" of the earth oven of the feasts: the sweet potato (kumara), the cassava, the taro and the yam with the fish and the pig in the coconut cream, the "poi" cassava pudding of Guadalcanal, the "tapioca and slippery cabbage," the reef fish and the tuna of Noro, the ngali nuts of Isabel, the betel nut of every mouth, the "Solbrew" beer of Honiara of 1993 and the kava the Vanuatu neighbors drink more of; the taiyo tinned tuna of the cannery; widely cited |
| National sport | Football and its cousins — the futsal team, the "Kurukuru," Oceania's champions of 2008 to 2019 and the FIFA Futsal World Cups of 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2021, the beach soccer "Bilikiki" of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cups of 2006 to 2013, the Lawson Tama stadium of Honiara, the Solomon Warriors of the Oceania club championship, the qualifying run to the World Cup play-off of 2006 that lost to Australia; the Pacific Games hosted for the first time in Honiara on 19 November to 2 December 2023 in the stadium China built, the country's largest event; rugby league and union, netball, volleyball of the islands, the canoe racing; the weightlifters and the boxers of the Games; no Olympic medal; none designated; widely cited |
| Heritage listings | East Rennell (1998), the southern third of Rennell island with Lake Tegano, the largest raised coral atoll of the world and the first natural World Heritage site listed under customary ownership, on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2013 over the logging and the mining; nothing on the intangible list; the Marovo–Tetepare complex on the tentative list since 2008; the shell money of Langalanga, the "custom" of the chiefs and the compensation, the panpipes of Malaita of the "Are'are and the Narasirato band, the war canoes (tomoko) of the Western Province, the kastom houses and the skull shrines of Roviana, the dance of the Bellona and Tikopia |
| Symbol status | The flag by the Act of 1977, the arms and the anthem by the independence settlement of 1978; the bird, the flower, the dish and the sport widely cited, none designated |
Geography
| Location | Melanesia, in the southwest Pacific, between 5 and 13 degrees south and 155 and 170 degrees east — the double chain of islands running 1,500 km from the Shortlands off Bougainville in the northwest to the Santa Cruz group and Tikopia toward Vanuatu in the southeast, Papua New Guinea to the west, Vanuatu to the southeast, Australia 1,900 km to the southwest across the Coral Sea, Nauru and Kiribati to the north; Honiara 9°26′S 159°57′E; the Slot (New Georgia Sound) between the chains that the Tokyo Express ran down in 1942; on the Pacific Ring of Fire where the Australian and Pacific plates meet |
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| Land borders | None — an island state; the maritime boundaries with Papua New Guinea (the treaty of 1989 across the Bougainville Strait, Bougainville itself in PNG by the Anglo-German line of 1899), with Vanuatu (agreed 2016) and with Australia (1988); the exclusive economic zone of 1.59 million km², among the tuna grounds of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement |
| Coastline | 5,313 km (3,301 mi) — the reefs and lagoons of the Western Province, the Marovo Lagoon of 700 km² behind the double barrier reef of Vangunu and Nggatokae, the Roviana and Vonavona lagoons, the Iron Bottom Sound of the wrecks off Honiara, the weather coast of southern Guadalcanal, the mangroves of the Langalanga and Lau lagoons of Malaita of the artificial islands built on the reef, the atolls of Ontong Java (the Lord Howe atoll of 1,400 km² of lagoon), Sikaiana and Rennell and Bellona's raised coral, the Arnavon islands of the hawksbill turtles, the Tetepare island of the conservation, the surf of Isabel; the rising sea that has taken five islands of the Isabel reefs since the 1940s by the study of 2016 |
| Highest point | Mount Popomanaseu, 2,335 m (7,661 ft) by the older figure and 2,332 m by the newer, in the Kavo Range of southern Guadalcanal, the highest of the insular Pacific outside New Guinea and Hawaii; Mount Makarakomburu 2,310 m beside it; Kolombangara's crater rim of Mount Veve at 1,768 m, the near-perfect cone; the ridges of Malaita and Isabel; the rain of the Kavo Range the heaviest of the islands |
| Lowest point | The Pacific Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | Unrecorded — the mountains of the six big islands against the atolls at sea level |
| Rivers | Short and steep — the Lungga of Guadalcanal of the wartime crossings and the Honiara water, the Mataniko of the town and the flood of April 2014, the Tina of the hydropower dam of 2028, the Tenaru and the Ilu (Alligator Creek) of the battle of August 1942, the Wairaha and the Fiu of Malaita, the Kolombangara rivers, the Marovo streams; the rivers of Guadalcanal's plains of the palm oil; the floods of the wet season |
| Lakes | Lake Tegano (Te Nggano) of East Rennell, 155 km², 29 km long, the largest lake of the insular Pacific and the former lagoon of the raised atoll, brackish, of the sea snakes and the endemic birds, on the World Heritage list; the hot springs of Savo; the swamps of Guadalcanal's weather coast; the lagoons of the reefs |
| Terrain | Volcanic mountains of the six big islands rising steeply from the sea — Guadalcanal of 5,302 km² of the Kavo Range and the plains of the north where Honiara and the oil palms lie; Malaita of 4,307 km² of the ridges and the lagoons; Santa Isabel, the longest island of 4,136 km² and 200 km; Makira (San Cristobal) of 3,190 km²; Choiseul of 2,971 km²; New Georgia of 2,037 km² with Kolombangara, Vangunu, Rendova, Vella Lavella and the Marovo islands of the Western Province; the Russell Islands of the plantations; the Florida Islands of Tulagi; the Shortlands; the Santa Cruz group of Nendö, Vanikoro of La Pérouse's wreck of 1788 and Utupua 400 km to the east with Tinakula; the Polynesian outliers of Rennell and Bellona's raised coral, Tikopia, Anuta, Sikaiana and Ontong Java; the coral reefs of every coast; the rainforest of 80% of the land the loggers cut |
| Climate | Tropical oceanic — 25 to 32°C the year round, the humidity high; the wet season of the northwest monsoon of November to April with 3,000 mm and more of rain, the drier southeast trades of May to October; the weather coast of Guadalcanal of 8,000 mm; the cyclone season of November to April — Namu of 19 May 1986 of some 100 dead and the Guadalcanal floods, Zoe of 2002 that flattened Tikopia and Anuta, Harold of April 2020 whose ferry deaths of 27 on the MV Taimareho were the storm's toll, Maila of April 2026 at Category 4; the El Niño droughts and the La Niña floods; the King tides of the atolls |
| Natural hazards | The earthquakes and tsunamis of the plate boundary — the Gizo earthquake of 2 April 2007 of magnitude 8.1 and the tsunami of 52 dead in the Western and Choiseul provinces that lifted Ranongga island three meters, the Santa Cruz earthquake of 6 February 2013 of magnitude 8.0 and the tsunami of Lata of 10 dead, the quakes of 2010, 2016 and 22 November 2022 of magnitude 7.0 off Guadalcanal; the volcanoes of Tinakula, Savo of the last eruption of the 1840s, Kavachi that breaks the surface off Vangunu and Simbo; the cyclones and the floods — the Honiara flash floods of 3 April 2014 of 22 dead; the landslides; the malaria of every island, the highest outside Africa in its day, the elimination road map to 2038 of August 2026; the rising sea of the atolls and the Isabel islets; the logging that bares the hills; the dengue; the crocodiles of the lagoons |
| Natural resources | Timber of the rainforest — the round logs the exporters ship to China at rates three to four times the sustainable, the country's first export for 30 years; the tuna of the exclusive economic zone of the purse seiners and the Noro cannery of Soltuna, the licenses of the Vessel Day Scheme; gold of Gold Ridge in Guadalcanal, mined in 1998 to 2000 and 2011 to 2014 and restarted by its Chinese owners in the 2020s, and of the alluvial diggers; nickel of Santa Isabel of the Kolosori and Jejevo mines shipping since 2021 and of San Jorge; bauxite of Rennell, the shipments of 2015 to 2021 that spoiled the World Heritage island; the phosphate of Bellona; the lead and zinc; the copra and the cocoa of the villages; the palm oil of the Guadalcanal Plains; the hydropower of the Tina River; the reefs and the beaches of the divers; the wrecks of Iron Bottom Sound; the coconut of everything |
| Land use | Forest about 78% — the lowland rainforest cut at the fastest rate of the Pacific, the logging concessions of the customary landowners and the Malaysian companies, the plantations of the Kolombangara Forest Products; agricultural land about 4% — the gardens of sweet potato, cassava, taro and yam of the shifting cultivation, the coconut groves of the copra, the cocoa of Malaita and Guadalcanal, the oil palm of the Guadalcanal Plains of GPPOL of 6,000 hectares; the customary land of 87% of the country that cannot be sold; the alienated land of the plantations of the Levers and the war; the "wantok" of the land |
| National parks | Few by law — the Arnavon Community Marine Park of 2017, the first national park by the Protected Areas Act of 2010, of the hawksbill turtles between Isabel and Choiseul; East Rennell of the World Heritage list; the Tetepare island of the descendants' association, the largest uninhabited island of the South Pacific; the Kolombangara crater of the community conservation; the Marovo Lagoon's community areas; the Queen Elizabeth Park of the Honiara hills of 1954 built over; none on the Ramsar list; the Coral Triangle Initiative of 2009 of the six countries of the reefs; the crocodile the protected animal |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 1 — East Rennell (1998), 37,000 hectares of the southern third of Rennell island, 86 km by 15, the largest raised coral atoll of the world, with Lake Tegano, the forest of the endemic species, the first natural site inscribed under customary ownership; on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2013 for the logging and the bauxite mining of the western Rennell and the invasive rats; the Marovo–Tetepare complex on the tentative list; nothing on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 9 provinces and the Honiara City Council of the capital territory — Central (Tulagi), Choiseul (Taro), Guadalcanal (Honiara), Isabel (Buala), Makira-Ulawa (Kirakira), Malaita (Auki), Rennell and Bellona (Tigoa), Temotu (Lata) and Western (Gizo) — each with an elected assembly and a premier under the Provincial Government Act of 1997, elected for four years, eight of them on the day of the national election of 17 April 2024 for the first time; Malaita of about 173,000 the most populous province, Guadalcanal of about 155,000 with Honiara's 130,000 beside it, the Western of about 95,000; the 50 constituencies of Parliament; the wards; the chiefs of the custom |
People
| Population | About 829,000 (2025 est.); 720,956 (census of 2019); 515,870 (2009); 409,042 (1999); 285,176 (1986); 160,998 (1970); about 100,000 at the protectorate's founding of 1893 after the blackbirding and the epidemics |
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| Population density | About 29 per km² (75 per sq mi) — Honiara at 6,000, Malaita at 40, the Western Province at 17, Rennell and Bellona at 6; three-quarters of the people in villages on the coast |
| Population growth | About 2% a year — 30 births per thousand against 5 deaths, among the fastest of the Pacific, a population that doubled since 1986; the drift to Honiara and the Guadalcanal Plains that the "tensions" of 1998 fought over; the emigration small — the seasonal workers of Australia's PALM and New Zealand's RSE schemes, some 7,000 a year, the largest movement abroad |
| Median age | About 21 years — 33% under 15, 4.5% aged 65 and over |
| Life expectancy | About 71 years — 69 for men and 73 for women; the infant mortality of about 16 per thousand; the malaria, the diabetes of the tinned food and the tuberculosis |
| Fertility rate | About 3.8 births per woman — from the 6 of the 1970s |
| Urban population | About 25% — Honiara and the provincial towns, the fastest-growing capital of the Pacific |
| Adult literacy | About 77% by the government's count and lower by the surveys of the villages — the schools of the churches, the free basic education the Wale government promises to fund with the Australian treaty of 2026 |
| Ethnic groups | Melanesian 95.3% — the peoples of the six big islands, of some 70 languages and the "wantok" of each, the Malaitans of the largest island and the largest share, the Guadalcanal people whose quarrel with the Malaitan settlers of the capital and the plains became the "tensions" of 1998 to 2003, the Western Province people of the Roviana and Marovo, the Isabel, Makira and Choiseul peoples, the Bougainvilleans of the Shortlands; Polynesian 3.1% — the outliers of Rennell and Bellona, Tikopia and Anuta of Raymond Firth's anthropology, Sikaiana, Ontong Java and the Reef Islands of the Santa Cruz group; Micronesian 1.2% — the Gilbertese (i-Kiribati) the British resettled from the Phoenix Islands to Wagina and Gizo in the 1950s and 1960s; other 0.4% — the Chinese of the trade since the 1920s of the Chinatowns burned in 2006 and 2021, the Europeans of the missions and the planters, the Fijians and the Filipinos of the fishing and the logging |
| Languages | English official; Pijin the lingua franca of everyone and the first language of the towns; about 70 living languages of the 74 counted — the Oceanic Austronesian of the big islands (Kwara'ae of Malaita with some 30,000 speakers the largest, To'abaita, Lau, 'Are'are, Roviana of the old church language, Marovo, Ghari, Cheke Holo, Arosi, Bughotu), the Polynesian of the outliers (Rennellese, Tikopia, Sikaiana, Ontong Java), the Papuan of Savo, Bilua of Vella Lavella, Touo of Rendova, Lavukaleve of the Russells and the Santa Cruz languages once thought Papuan and now counted Oceanic; the Gilbertese of Wagina; the most languages per head of any country but Vanuatu; the churches' Bibles in a dozen of them |
| Religion | Christian about 97% — the Anglican Church of Melanesia 32% by the census of 2009, the church of Bishop Patteson of 1861 and the Melanesian Brotherhood, whose seven brothers the Guadalcanal militants killed in 2003; Roman Catholic 20%, of the Marist missions of 1898 and the Archdiocese of Honiara; the South Sea Evangelical Church 17%, of the Queensland Kanaka mission of 1904 and the Malaita of the Maasina Rule; Seventh-day Adventist 12%, of the Western Province and the vegetarian villages; the United Church of 10%, the Methodists of the Roviana lagoon of 1902; the Christian Fellowship Church of 2.5%, the breakaway of Holy Mama of 1960 on New Georgia; the Baha'i, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Pentecostals of the new missions; the "kastom" of the ancestors and the sharks beneath the whole; the Sunday and the Sabbath both kept |
| Human Development Index | 0.584 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 156th of 193 |
| Housing and living | The leaf houses of the villages and the settlements of Honiara of the squatters on the hills, the town where half the country's cash economy lives; the customary land of the "wantok" that every family has a garden on; the minimum wage of about SI$8 an hour, the wages of the public service the government cannot lift; the poverty of about a quarter by the national line; the remittances of the seasonal workers of Australia and New Zealand; the diesel electricity of Solomon Power at among the highest prices of the world, to be eased by the Tina River hydro of 2028; the mobile phones of Our Telekom and bmobile of two-thirds of the people since the Coral Sea Cable of 2019 brought the internet; the betel nut of every corner; the Honiara traffic of the second-hand Japanese cars |
| Learning and letters | The Solomon Islands National University (SINU) of 2013, from the College of Higher Education of 1984, at Kukum and Panatina, and the University of the South Pacific's campus of Honiara; the church schools of the Anglicans, the Catholics, the SDA and the SSEC that taught the nation; the King George VI School of 1958; the Woodford International School; the writers — Sir Solomon Mamaloni, the prime minister of three terms, of the politics, Julian Maka'a, Celo Kulagoe, John Saunana of "The Alternative," the first Solomon novel of 1980, the poet Jully Makini; the Solomon Star of 1982 and the Island Sun; the SIBC radio of 1976 that reaches the islands; the anthropology of Raymond Firth's "We, the Tikopia" of 1936; the 1942 of James Michener's "Tales of the South Pacific" and of "The Thin Red Line"; the panpipes of Narasirato; the carvers of the nguzunguzu canoe prows of the Western Province; the shell money makers of Langalanga |
| Sport | The Pacific Games of 2023, hosted for the first time on 19 November to 2 December in the stadium China built and the pools and courts Australia, Japan, Indonesia and others funded, 24 nations in Honiara; football of the Solomon Warriors, the Kurukuru futsal team of the four World Cups and the Bilikiki beach soccer team of the World Cups of 2006 to 2013; rugby league of the Pacific Cup; the boxers, the weightlifters and the judoka of the Games medals; the Oceania Games; the canoe races of the Western Province; the "Solomon Islands Football Federation" of the Oceania cup runs; no Olympic medal since the first Games of 1984; the surfers of Isabel |
| Diaspora | Small — the seasonal workers of Australia's Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme and New Zealand's Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, some 7,000 a year, the largest number abroad; the students and the nurses of Fiji, Papua New Guinea and Australia; the communities of Brisbane, Sydney, Auckland and Port Moresby; the descendants of the blackbirded laborers of Queensland of 1870 to 1904 among the South Sea Islanders of Australia, the "Kanakas" of the sugar; the Bougainvilleans and the Solomon Islanders of the Shortlands who cross the strait both ways; the Gilbertese of Wagina who came the other way |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy under the Constitution of 1978 — the King of Solomon Islands as head of state, represented by the Governor-General whom Parliament elects for five years; the Prime Minister elected by the members by secret ballot after each election and removable by a vote of no confidence — the "grand coalition" politics of independents and small parties in which the members who elect a prime minister can unmake him, and have, in 1981, 1986, 1994, 2000, 2006, 2007, 2011, 2017 and 2026; the cabinet of ministers of up to a third of the House; the unicameral National Parliament of 50; the High Court and the Court of Appeal; the nine provinces and the city; the customary chiefs and the churches beneath the state; the "constituency development funds" of the members, the Australian treaty's SI$5 million a seat of 2026 among them, the money of the politics; the corruption the Leadership Code commission fights; "free" by Freedom House |
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| Head of state | King Charles III, since 8 September 2022, as King of Solomon Islands, one of his 15 realms, represented by the Governor-General; the republic the constitutional review of 2004 to 2014 proposed and no government has moved; the Duke of Gloucester of the independence of 1978, the queen's visits of 1974 and 1982; the King's Birthday holiday of June |
| Governor-General | Sir David Tiva Kapu, since 7 July 2024 — the Anglican priest of the Church of Melanesia, elected by Parliament in May 2024 and sworn in on the 46th Independence Day, knighted; the eighth governor-general after Sir David Vunagi (2019–24), the Anglican archbishop, Sir Frank Kabui (2009–19), Sir Nathaniel Waena (2004–09), Sir John Lapli (1999–2004), Sir Moses Pitakaka (1994–99), Sir George Lepping (1988–94) and Sir Baddeley Devesi (1978–88), the first; the powers of the Crown — the assent, the dissolution on the prime minister's advice, the appointment of the prime minister the House elects |
| Prime Minister | Matthew Cooper Wale (Solomon Islands Democratic Party — SIDP), since 15 May 2026 — elected by the National Parliament by 26 votes to 22 over Peter Shanel Agovaka, the foreign minister who had walked out on Manele, after the no-confidence vote of 7 May 2026 that removed Jeremiah Manele by 26 to 22; born 13 June 1968 at Ambu village on Malaita, the accountant and businessman of Honiara, the member for Aoke/Langalanga since 27 March 2008, the minister of education of the Sikua government of 2008 to 2010, the Leader of the Opposition from 17 May 2019 to 15 May 2026 — the seven years of the fights against Manasseh Sogavare, the court challenge to Sogavare's election of 2019, the opposition to the switch to China of 2019 and the security agreement of 2022 he called secret and dangerous, the motion of 6 December 2021 after the riots that failed; the loser of the ballots of 2019 (to Sogavare) and of 2 May 2024 (18 to Manele's 31); the CBE of 2025; the "Solomon Islands Democratic Party" of 2005 and its 11 seats of 2024; the "change is coming" of his first speech, the free education, the hospital and the public service wages of his priorities, the review of the China agreement announced in June 2026, the "reset" with Australia of his first trip abroad in June and the treaty agreed in principle on 7 September 2026, the shiprider agreement with the United States of 31 July 2026, the visits to New Zealand, Japan and Papua New Guinea; the motion against him of 29 August 2026 withdrawn on 6 September; Manele's and Sogavare's camp's case of a "power grab" and his of a corrupt and indecisive government removed — both stated (LAW 2) |
| Cabinet | Sworn in by the Governor-General on 18 May 2026 — Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Service Francis Sade; Finance and Treasury Gordon Darcy Lilo, prime minister of 2011 to 2014, the mover of the motions of 2024 and 2025; Foreign Affairs and External Trade Rick Houenipwela, the former central bank governor and prime minister of 2017 to 2019; National Planning and Development Coordination Peter Kenilorea Jr., the son of the first prime minister and the United Party's leader; Home Affairs Manasseh Maelanga, the former deputy prime minister; Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs John Maneniaru; Forestry and Research Makario Tagini; Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification Derrick Manuari; Environment and Climate Change Wayne Ghemu; Police, National Security and Correctional Services John Tuhaika Jr.; Health and Medical Services Morris Toiraena; Fisheries and Marine Resources Polycarp Paea; Provincial Government Alfred Lazarus Rinah; Rural Development Daniel Waneoroa; Traditional Governance George Temahua; Lands, Housing and Survey Oliver Salopuka; Education and Human Resources Stephen Kumi; Infrastructure Development Ricky Fuo'o; Commerce, Industry and Labor Harry Kuma; Communication and Aviation Frederick Kologeto; Justice and Legal Affairs Clezy Rore; Agriculture and Livestock Franklyn Derek Wasi; Culture and Tourism James Bonunga; the coalition of the Democratic Party, the United Party, the People First Party and the independents and the defectors of March 2026; the opposition of Manele's OUR Party and Sogavare |
| The change of 2026 | The fall of the Government for National Unity and Transformation of Jeremiah Manele, the OUR Party prime minister elected on 2 May 2024 by 31 votes to Wale's 18 — the motions of Gordon Darcy Lilo of December 2024 and of 28 April 2025, after the resignation of Deputy Prime Minister Bradley Tovosia, both withdrawn for want of numbers; the walkout of 16 March 2026 of 12 ministers and 7 backbenchers, Peter Shanel Agovaka the foreign minister among them, over the "weak and indecisive leadership," the tax exemptions and the ministers' demands for agriculture funds the movers alleged and Manele denied, the reshuffle of March 2026 in which he insisted there was "no crisis," the Court of Appeal's order that Parliament meet by 7 May, the vote of 7 May 2026 of 26 to 22 that removed him, the week of the campaign for the succession with a thousand police on the streets of Honiara for the memory of 2006 and 2021, and the ballot of 15 May 2026 that chose Wale over Agovaka by 26 to 22; "a simple power grab" in the account of the observers the ABC quoted and the corruption of the government in the movers' — both stated (LAW 2); Manele the leader of the OUR Party and of the opposition since |
| The 2024 election | The general election of 17 April 2024, delayed from 2023 by the constitutional amendment of 2022 to make room for the Pacific Games — 50 seats by first past the post: the OUR Party of Manasseh Sogavare 15, the Democratic Party of Wale 11, the United Party of Peter Kenilorea Jr. 6, the People First Party 3, the Kadere Party 1, the SIPRA 1, Umi for Change 1, the Democratic Alliance 1, the independents 11; 334 candidates of whom 21 women, 3 women elected; turnout 82.5%; the provincial assemblies of eight provinces and the Honiara City Council elected the same day for the first time; Sogavare, prime minister four times, stood aside and Manele of the OUR Party took the ballot of 2 May 2024 by 31 to 18 with the Kadere and People First parties and the independents of the GNUT; the elections before — 2019 (Sogavare, 24 April, over Wale's court challenge), 2014 (Sogavare), 2010 (Danny Philip, then Lilo), 2006 (Snyder Rini, the riots, Sogavare), 2001 (Kemakeza), 1997 (Ulufa'alu), 1993 (Hilly), 1989 (Mamaloni), 1984 (Kenilorea), 1980 (Kenilorea) and 1976 |
| National Parliament | The National Parliament of Solomon Islands — unicameral, 50 members elected for four years from single-member constituencies by first past the post, in the Parliament House of 1993 on Vavaya Ridge in Honiara built by the United States, the "Solomon Islands Parliament House" of the bee-hive dome and the murals; the Speaker Patteson Oti, the former foreign minister and ambassador, since 2019 and re-elected on 16 May 2024; the parties of 2024 — OUR 15, Democratic 11, United 6, People First 3, Kadere 1, SIPRA 1, Umi for Change 1, Democratic Alliance 1, independents 11 — reshuffled by the walkout of March 2026 into the Wale coalition of 26 and the Manele opposition of 22; the three women members of 2024, the most ever; the Political Parties Integrity Act of 2014 that failed to stop the "grasshopper" defections; the constituency development funds of SI$7 million a seat the members spend, the largest item of the politics; the Pacific Games of 2023 the term was stretched for; the motion against Wale lodged on 29 August 2026 by a member of the opposition and withdrawn on 6 September, Parliament adjourned on 7 September; the extension of Parliament's term the amendment of 2022 allowed once |
| The next election | The general election due in 2028, four years from April 2024; the governor-general's term to July 2029; the provincial elections of 2028 with the national by the law of 2023; the coalition of 26 of 50 that any motion can test — the three motions of 2024 to 2026 against Manele and the one of 2026 against Wale the pattern (LAW 2) |
| The parties | The Solomon Islands Democratic Party (SIDP) of 2005, of Wale, the party of the Malaita and the town, 11 seats in 2024 and the government of 2026; the Ownership, Unity and Responsibility Party (OUR Party) of Manasseh Sogavare of 2019, the party of the switch to China of 2019 and the security agreement of 2022, of the governments of 2019 to 2026, 15 seats in 2024, in opposition under Manele since May 2026; the United Party of Peter Kenilorea Jr., the party of the first prime minister of 1978 revived, 6 seats; the People First Party of 2015, the Kadere Party of 2014 of the Rennell and Bellona and Temotu members, the Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement (SIPRA), Umi for Change (U4C), the Democratic Alliance Party; the independents of a fifth of the House, the kingmakers; the parties of the past — the People's Alliance Party of Mamaloni, the Solomon Islands Liberal Party of Ulufa'alu, the National Party, the Coalition of 2006 to 2007, the Reform Democratic Party of Danny Philip — the "grand coalitions" of every government since 1978; the Political Parties Commission of 2014 |
| Legal system | English common law of the protectorate with the customary law of the islands recognized by the Constitution — the High Court of Honiara under the Chief Justice, the Court of Appeal that sits twice a year with judges from Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, the Magistrates' Courts, the Local Courts and the Customary Land Appeal Courts of the chiefs; the Public Solicitor; the death penalty abolished for murder in 1966 and for all crimes in 1978; the customary land of 87% of the country that cannot be alienated and the "compensation" of the custom; the "tensions" of 1998 to 2003 and their justice — the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2009 to 2012 whose report of 2013 the governments sat on until 2018, the trials of the militants of the Regional Assistance Mission of 2003 to 2017 that arrested 6,300 and jailed the Malaita Eagle Force's Harold Keke for the murder of Father Augustine Geve, the amnesty of 2000; the Honiara riots of 18 April 2006 that burned Chinatown after Snyder Rini's election and of 24 to 26 November 2021 against Sogavare and the China switch that burned Chinatown again, four dead, the Australian, Papua New Guinean and Fijian police of the regional assistance of 2021; the Chinese police liaison team of 2022; the corruption of the logging licenses the courts and the Ombudsman chase; the Family Protection Act of 2014; homosexuality criminal by the Penal Code of the colony, unenforced; the "Solomon Islands Truth" of the reconciliation ceremonies of the chiefs |
| Defense | No armed forces — the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) of about 1,500 officers under the Commissioner, the Police Response Team and the Maritime Unit of the two Guardian-class patrol boats Australia gave in 2019 and 2023 and the Australian-built police station and the "Honiara riots" gear; the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) of 24 July 2003 to 30 June 2017, the Australian-led force of 2,200 soldiers and police of 15 Pacific countries that ended the "tensions," disarmed the militants and rebuilt the police, the largest venture of the region; the security treaty with Australia of 2017 and the police partnership of December 2024 of A$190 million over four years for the Police Response Team and the new academy; the security agreement with China of March and April 2022 that Sogavare signed and kept secret, the Chinese police trainers in Honiara since 2022 and the "Chinese base" the region feared and the government denied — under review by the Wale government since June 2026 (LAW 2); the shiprider agreement with the United States of 31 July 2026 for the Coast Guard's patrols of the tuna grounds; the Pacific Policing Initiative of 2024; the treaty with Australia agreed in principle on 7 September 2026 of the security, the visas and the A$980 million; the Defence Force the constitution never created; the Guadalcanal battlefields of the American, Japanese and Allied dead of 1942 and 1943, some 7,000 Americans and 30,000 Japanese |
| Foreign policy | "Friends to all, enemies to none" — the phrase of every government and the tug of the great powers of the 2020s: Australia, the largest donor, the police partner of RAMSI and the treaty of 2026 of the A$980 million over the coming years, the seasonal workers and the "reset" of the Wale government; China since 16 September 2019, when Sogavare's government switched from Taiwan after 36 years, the security agreement of 2022, the stadium of the Pacific Games, the Huawei towers, the police and the loans, the "comprehensive strategic partnership" of 2023 — the review of 2026; Taiwan of the 1983 to 2019 recognition the opposition of Malaita's Premier Daniel Suidani kept alive to 2023; the United States of the embassy reopened in Honiara on 2 February 2023 after 30 years, the shiprider pact of 2026 and the Guadalcanal memory; New Zealand; Japan of the aid and the tuna; Papua New Guinea of the Bougainville strait and the Melanesian Spearhead Group of 1988; Vanuatu and Fiji; the Pacific Islands Forum of 1971 whose 54th leaders' meeting Honiara hosted on 8 to 12 September 2025 without the dialogue partners, China, the United States and Taiwan among them, at Manele's decision, and whose 55th at Palau in September 2026 Wale attended; the Parties to the Nauru Agreement of the tuna; the Commonwealth; the climate diplomacy of the sinking islands; the Ocean of Peace declaration of 2025 |
| United Nations | Member since 19 September 1978; the police officers sent to the UN missions; the Least Developed Country due to graduate on 13 December 2027 by the General Assembly's resolution of 2018 and the extension of 2023; the World Heritage of East Rennell and its danger listing of 2013; the Pacific Small Island Developing States group; the climate votes; the Human Rights Council reviews; the UNICEF and WHO of the malaria and the measles; the UN Development Programme's office of Honiara |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth (1978); the Pacific Islands Forum (1978); the Melanesian Spearhead Group (1988, a founder); the Parties to the Nauru Agreement (1982); the Pacific Community (SPC); the Forum Fisheries Agency, headquartered in Honiara since 1979; the World Trade Organization (26 July 1996); the IMF and the World Bank (1978); the Asian Development Bank (1973); the African, Caribbean and Pacific group and the Samoa Agreement with the Union; the Alliance of Small Island States; the Coral Triangle Initiative (2009); the International Olympic Committee (1983); Interpol; the Pacific Policing Initiative (2024) |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$1.7 billion (2025, IMF World Economic Outlook of April 2026); about US$1.8 billion forecast for 2026; about US$1.6 billion in 2024 — among the 15 smallest economies of the world |
|---|---|
| GDP per capita | About US$2,100 (2025); about US$2,300 forecast for 2026 — among the lowest of the Pacific and of the world's 20 lowest by the IMF's count |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$2,600 (2025); the GDP at purchasing power about US$2.1 billion |
| GDP growth | 3.0% in 2024, 2.7% in 2025 and 2.8% forecast for 2026 by the IMF, on the fishing, the logging's slow decline, the Pacific Games spending of 2023 and the aid; inflation about 4% on the imported fuel and rice; the current account deficit the aid and the fishing fees cover; the public debt low, about 20% of GDP, the loans of China and the Asian Development Bank in it; the exchange rate managed; the "logging cliff" of the forests running out that every plan warns of |
| Economy by sector | Agriculture, forestry and fishing about 35% of GDP and three-quarters of the jobs — the subsistence gardens and the coconuts of the villages, the round logs, the tuna, the copra, the cocoa and the palm oil; industry about 10% — the Noro cannery, the palm oil mill, the Solbrew brewery, the sawmills, the gold and nickel mines, the building of Honiara; services about 55% — the government, the trade of the Chinese stores, the telecoms, the banks, the shipping, the tourism of the divers and the war-history visitors; the aid of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Taiwan of the past, the Union, the World Bank and the ADB at a quarter of the budget; the informal economy of most of the people |
| Currency | Solomon Islands dollar (SBD) — about 8.4 to the U.S. dollar and 5.5 to the Australian; the Central Bank of Solomon Islands of 1983 and its basket peg; the shell money beside it |
| The forests and the logs | Round logs the first export for three decades — some 2 to 3 million cubic meters a year to China at three to four times the sustainable cut by the government's own and the World Bank's counts, the licenses of the Malaysian and Chinese companies on the customary land of Guadalcanal, Malaita, Isabel, Choiseul, the Western Province and Rennell, the royalties to the chiefs and the landowners and the corruption of the ministries the Ombudsman and the courts have chased since the 1990s, the "logging cliff" when the accessible forest is gone, forecast for the 2020s and 2030s; the plantations of Kolombangara Forest Products of the Union's and the state's hand; the sawn timber the plans want in place of the logs; the carbon and the conservation of the Tetepare and Arnavon models |
| The sea and the mines | Tuna — the purse seiners of the exclusive economic zone under the Parties to the Nauru Agreement's Vessel Day Scheme whose fees earn the state some SI$300 to 400 million a year, the Soltuna cannery of Noro of the "Solomon Blue" and "Taiyo" tins of the National Fisheries Developments fleet of 1,500 jobs, the Bina Harbour tuna port of Malaita of the plans of 2020 to 2030, the pole-and-line of the old Japanese venture of 1971; the reef fish, the bêche-de-mer and the shark fins of the Chinese trade; gold — the Gold Ridge mine of Guadalcanal of 1998 to 2000 (shut by the tensions), of 2011 to 2014 (shut by the floods of 2014 and the tailings dam) and of the restart of the 2020s under the Wanguo/Chinese owners with the landowners of Gold Ridge Community Investments, the alluvial diggers of the rivers; nickel — the Kolosori and Jejevo mines of Isabel of the Chinese Win Win and the Australian Pacific Nickel shipping ore since 2021 and the San Jorge deposit of the Sumitomo dispute; bauxite of Rennell of the shipments of 2015 to 2021 that the World Heritage committee condemned; the seabed minerals of the plans |
| The farms | The gardens of the sweet potato, the cassava, the taro, the yam, the banana and the "slippery cabbage" of every village on the shifting plots; the coconut of the copra of the 1900s plantations and the villages, the coconut oil; the cocoa of Malaita, Guadalcanal and Makira of some 5,000 tons a year of the smallholders; the oil palm of the Guadalcanal Plains Oil Palm Limited (GPPOL) of New Britain Palm Oil of 6,000 hectares restarted in 2005 after the tensions; the pigs of the feasts and the chickens; the betel nut and the kava of the cash crops; the rice the country imports; the honey of the Western Province; the ngali nuts; the timber of the villages |
| Energy | Diesel generators of Solomon Power (SIEA) for Honiara and the provincial centers, among the most expensive electricity of the world at SI$5 to 6 a unit, some 20% of the people connected; the Tina River hydropower project of 15 MW on Guadalcanal — the dam and the tunnel of the Korean and Chinese contractors financed by the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Green Climate Fund, Korea and the Abu Dhabi Fund, 23% built in January 2025 and due to be commissioned in early 2028 for some 70% of Honiara's power — the country's largest project; the solar of the villages and the Australian and New Zealand-funded provincial solar; the kerosene and the firewood of the kitchens; the Honiara fuel imports of the budget's largest item; the net-zero pledge of 2050 |
| Trade | Exports of about US$500 million a year — round logs to China about half or more, tuna and fish of Noro to Europe, Japan and Thailand, palm oil, cocoa, copra and coconut oil, nickel ore, gold, bauxite of the past, the bêche-de-mer; China the first buyer by far, Italy of the tuna, Malaysia, India, Thailand, Australia, Japan; imports of about US$600 million — the fuel, the rice, the machinery, the vehicles, the tinned food and the building materials from Singapore, China, Australia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand; the deficit the fishing fees, the aid and the remittances cover; the MSG free trade area and the PACER Plus of 2020 with Australia and New Zealand |
| Tourism | About 30,000 visitors a year before the pandemic, the fewest of the region's states, and recovering — the divers of the Western Province's wrecks and reefs of Gizo, Munda and the Marovo Lagoon, the war-history visitors of Guadalcanal's battlefields, the Iron Bottom Sound and the JFK island of Kasolo, the surfers of Isabel and Makira, the birdwatchers of Rennell and Kolombangara, the Australians, Americans, New Zealanders and Papua New Guineans; the hotels of Honiara — the Mendana of 1960s, the Heritage Park, the Coral Sea Resort — and the lodges of the lagoons; the Uepi and Fatboys resorts; the Munda international runway of 2019 the United States funded for the direct Brisbane flights; "Solomon Islands — Seek the Unexplored" of the tourist board; the Pacific Games of 2023 that filled the beds |
| Public finances | The budget of some SI$5 billion (about US$600 million) a year of the government — the fishing fees, the customs, the income and goods taxes and the logging duties on one side, the aid of Australia, the ADB, the World Bank, Japan, China and the Union on the other at a quarter to a third; the constituency development funds of the members the largest political item; the deficits of the Pacific Games years and the Chinese loans for the stadium roads; the public debt about 20% of GDP, low by the region's measure; the wages of the public service the Wale government promised to raise and the free education it promised to fund with the treaty money of 2026 — SI$820 million for the schools; the Central Bank's reserves of some US$700 million of the fishing fees, a year of imports; the tax exemptions of the loggers the courts and the motions of 2026 fought over; the LDC graduation of 13 December 2027 that ends the trade preferences |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income (World Bank); least developed country (UN), to graduate on 13 December 2027; a small island developing state |
Transport & infrastructure
| Airports | Honiara International Airport (HIR) at Henderson Field, 11 km east of the town — the airstrip the Japanese began and the Americans finished in August 1942 and fought the Guadalcanal campaign for, named for the Marine flier Lofton Henderson of Midway, the terminal rebuilt by Japan in 2020 and the runway extended; about 400,000 passengers a year; Solomon Airlines, the flag carrier of 1962 as Megapode Airways, with its one Airbus A320 to Brisbane, Nadi, Port Vila and Port Moresby, and the Twin Otters and Dash 8 to the 20-odd provincial strips; Fiji Airways and Air Niugini the foreign carriers; Munda Airport (MUA) on New Georgia, the second international runway of 2019 of the American-funded upgrade and the Brisbane flights; Gizo's Nusatupe strip on its islet, Seghe of the Marovo, Kirakira, Santa Cruz (Lata), Auki's Gwaunaru'u, Fera of Isabel, Choiseul Bay, Rennell, Bellona, the grass strips of the war |
|---|---|
| Ports | Honiara — Point Cruz, the port of the container ships of the Swire and Neptune lines from Brisbane, Singapore and Port Moresby, the inter-island ferries and the Central Market's produce boats, run by the Solomon Islands Ports Authority; Noro of the tuna cannery and the purse seiners, the second port; Gizo of the Western Province; Tulagi of the old capital and the fishing base; the Bina Harbour tuna port of Malaita of the plans; the wharves of every provincial town the passenger ships of the Pelican Express, the Fair Glory and the Isabella call at; the MV Taimareho of the 27 dead of April 2020 the tragedy of the inter-island passage; the canoes of the lagoons |
| Railways | None — never built; the wartime tramways of the plantations and the airfields gone |
| Roads | About 1,400 km (870 mi), some 35 km of them sealed — the Kukum Highway of Honiara from White River to Henderson and the Guadalcanal Plains, rebuilt by the Asian Development Bank and Australia since 2023 with the new bridges, the Honiara traffic of the second-hand Japanese cars; the Guadalcanal ring road to the weather coast of the plans; the Malaita north and south roads of Auki, the Munda–Noro road, the Gizo, Kirakira, Buala and Lata roads; the logging tracks of the concessions; the left-hand driving; the buses and the taxis of Honiara; the walking tracks of the mountains; the four-wheel drives of the wet season |
| City transport | Honiara — the minibuses of the Kukum Highway, the taxis, the trucks of the market, the walking of the ridges; the ferries of Point Cruz to Tulagi, Auki and the Western Province; the outboard "OBM" canoes of every island; the Solomon Airlines Twin Otters to the strips |
| Utilities | Solomon Power (SIEA) of the diesel and the Tina River hydro of 2028; Solomon Water (SIWA) of Honiara's Kongulai spring and the town supply and the tanks and wells of the villages; Our Telekom and Bmobile of the mobiles, the Coral Sea Cable of 2019 from Sydney to Honiara Australia paid for in place of Huawei, the domestic cable to Auki, Noro and Taro of 2020, the Starlink dishes of the resorts and the provinces since 2024; the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation; the National Referral Hospital of Honiara and the provincial hospitals of Kilu'ufi, Gizo and Kirakira; the septic tanks and the sea of the sanitation; the Honiara landfill of Ranadi |
| The country | Guadalcanal — the battlefields of Henderson Field, Bloody Ridge, the Tenaru and Mount Austen, the American and Japanese memorials, the Vilu war museum of the aircraft, the Bonegi wrecks of the beach dives, the Tenaru falls, the Gold Ridge mine; the Marovo Lagoon and the Uepi resort, the Roviana of Munda and the Skull Island, Gizo and the Kennedy Island of the PT-109, Kolombangara's crater, the Vonavona; Malaita's Langalanga artificial islands and shell money, the Lau lagoon, the "Are'are panpipes; Tulagi and the Florida Islands of the war; Savo's megapodes and hot springs; Rennell's Lake Tegano; Tikopia and Anuta of the Polynesians; the Arnavon turtles; the Santa Cruz of the red-feather money and Vanikoro of La Pérouse; the Honiara market and the Chinatown rebuilt; the Pacific Games stadium |
History in dates
| c. 30,000 BC | The first people on Buka and the Solomons |
|---|---|
| c. 1200 BC | The Lapita pottery people of the Reef Islands |
| 1568 | Mendaña reaches Santa Isabel, 7 February — the Islas Salomón |
| 1595 | Mendaña's colony at Santa Cruz fails; he dies, 18 October |
| 1767 | Carteret finds the islands again |
| 1768 | Bougainville names Choiseul |
| 1788 | La Pérouse wrecked at Vanikoro; Shortland names New Georgia |
| 1845 | The Marist mission at Santa Isabel; Bishop Epalle killed |
| 1861 | Bishop Patteson's Melanesian Mission |
| 1870s–1904 | The blackbirding to Queensland and Fiji |
| 1871 | Bishop Patteson killed at Nukapu, 20 September |
| 1893 | The British protectorate declared, June |
| 1896 | Woodford the first Resident Commissioner, at Tulagi |
| 1899 | Germany cedes the northern islands |
| 1905 | Levers' plantations |
| 1927 | The Malaita massacre — Bell killed, 4 October |
| 1942 | The Japanese take Tulagi, 3 May; the Americans land on Guadalcanal, 7 August; Savo Island, 9 August |
| 1943 | Guadalcanal secured, 9 February; PT-109, 2 August; New Georgia and Vella Lavella |
| 1944 | Maasina Rule begins on Malaita |
| 1952 | The capital moves to Honiara |
| 1960 | The Legislative Council |
| 1970 | The Governing Council |
| 1974 | The Legislative Assembly — Mamaloni chief minister |
| 1976 | Self-government, 2 January |
| 1977 | The flag, 18 November; the dollar |
| 1978 | Independence, 7 July — Kenilorea; the UN, 19 September |
| 1983 | Taiwan recognized; the central bank |
| 1986 | Cyclone Namu, 19 May |
| 1988 | The Melanesian Spearhead Group |
| 1993 | Parliament House opens |
| 1998 | The "tensions" begin on Guadalcanal; Gold Ridge mine |
| 1999 | The Honiara Peace Accord, 28 June |
| 2000 | The coup of the Malaita Eagle Force, 5 June; Townsville, 15 October |
| 2003 | RAMSI lands, 24 July; Keke surrenders, 13 August |
| 2006 | The Honiara riots, 18 April |
| 2007 | The Gizo earthquake and tsunami, 2 April |
| 2013 | The Santa Cruz tsunami, 6 February; East Rennell in danger |
| 2014 | The Honiara floods, 3 April; Gold Ridge shut |
| 2017 | RAMSI ends, 30 June |
| 2019 | Sogavare elected, 24 April; the switch to China, 16 September |
| 2021 | The Honiara riots, 24–26 November |
| 2022 | The China security agreement, April; the election delayed |
| 2023 | The U.S. embassy reopens, 2 February; the Pacific Games, 19 November – 2 December |
| 2024 | The election, 17 April; Manele, 2 May; Kapu governor-general, 7 July; the Australia police deal, December |
| 2025 | The Forum at Honiara, 8–12 September |
| 2026 | The walkout, 16 March; Cyclone Maila, 1 April; Manele falls, 7 May; Wale elected, 15 May; the cabinet, 18 May; the shiprider pact, 31 July; the motion withdrawn, 6 September; the Australian treaty agreed, 7 September |
Records & firsts
| The largest raised coral atoll in the world | Rennell, 86 by 15 km |
|---|---|
| The largest lake of the insular Pacific | Lake Tegano, 155 km² |
| Among the largest saltwater lagoons | The Marovo Lagoon |
| The highest peak of the insular Pacific outside New Guinea and Hawaii | Popomanaseu, 2,335 m |
| The first natural World Heritage site under customary ownership | East Rennell, 1998 |
| One of the most active submarine volcanoes | Kavachi |
| The Iron Bottom Sound | Some 50 ships sunk, 1942–43 |
| PT-109 | Kennedy's rescue, August 1943 |
| Among the most languages per head | About 70 for 830,000 |
| The largest regional intervention of the Pacific | RAMSI, 2003–17 |
| The first Pacific Games hosted | Honiara, 2023 |
| The Kurukuru's Futsal World Cups | 2008, 2012, 2016, 2021 |
| The Bilikiki's Beach Soccer World Cups | 2006 to 2013 |
| Among the fastest logging rates | 3 to 4 times the sustainable cut |
| The 992 islands | 147 inhabited |
| The Forum Fisheries Agency's home | Honiara, since 1979 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Solomon Islands?
Solomon Islands — without "the," by the Constitution of 1978 and the style the government keeps, though the world says "the Solomon Islands" — the name of the state that became independent from Britain on 7 July 1978, after the British Solomon Islands Protectorate of 1893 to 1975 and the self-governing Solomon Islands of 1976 to 1978. The name is Spanish: Álvaro de Mendaña, sailing from Peru, reached Santa Isabel on 7 February 1568 and called the group the Islas Salomón in the hope, or the boast, that they held the gold of King Solomon's Ophir; the islands then vanished from the charts for two centuries until Carteret and Bougainville found them again in the 1760s. Solomon Islanders call the country "the Happy Isles" and "Solo" in Pijin; the six big islands — Choiseul, Santa Isabel, Malaita, Guadalcanal, Makira and New Georgia — and the 990 smaller ones lie in a double chain east of Papua New Guinea across the Slot of the Second World War.
What is the capital of Solomon Islands?
Honiara — the town on the north coast of Guadalcanal that grew from the American base of the Guadalcanal campaign of 1942 and 1943 and became the capital in 1952, when the British moved the protectorate's headquarters from Tulagi, the little island capital the Japanese had wrecked; 129,569 people at the census of 2019 and more since, a fifth of the nation, on the Kukum Highway from Point Cruz harbor to Henderson Field, the wartime airstrip that is the international airport; Parliament House of 1993 on Vavaya Ridge, a gift of the United States, Government House, the Central Market of the produce boats, the Chinatown burned in the riots of 2006 and 2021, the national stadium of the Pacific Games of 2023 built by China, the Mataniko and Lungga rivers, the memorials of the Americans on Skyline Ridge and of the Japanese at Mount Austen. Auki of Malaita, Gizo of the Western Province, Noro of the tuna cannery, Munda, Kirakira, Buala, Tulagi, Lata and Taro are the provincial towns, none of more than a few thousand.
How big is Solomon Islands, and how many people live there?
About 28,900 km² of land — 28,896 km² (11,157 sq mi) by the state's count and 28,400 km² by the Factbook's — the size of Belgium or of Massachusetts, spread over some 992 islands in a double chain 1,500 km long east of Papua New Guinea in the southwest Pacific, with an exclusive economic zone of 1.59 million km²; Guadalcanal of 5,300 km² and Malaita of 4,300 km² the largest, Santa Isabel, Makira, Choiseul and New Georgia the other big four, 5,313 km of coast around them. The census of 2019 counted 720,956 people and the estimate for 2025 is about 829,000, growing about 2% a year on a fertility rate of about four children a woman, the median age about 21; about 29 to the square kilometer and three-quarters in the villages; 95% Melanesian, 3% Polynesian on the outliers of Rennell, Bellona, Tikopia, Anuta, Sikaiana and Ontong Java, 1% Micronesian of the Gilbertese resettled in the 1950s and 1960s, with the Chinese traders and the Europeans; some 70 languages, Pijin the common tongue and English the official one; 97% Christian, the Anglican Church of Melanesia the largest.
What are the highest and lowest points of Solomon Islands?
Mount Popomanaseu, 2,335 m (7,661 ft) — 2,332 m by the newer survey — in the Kavo Range of southern Guadalcanal, the highest peak of the whole insular Pacific outside New Guinea and Hawaii, long confused with its neighbor Mount Makarakomburu of 2,310 m; the rainforest of the Guadalcanal weather coast below it, the wettest place of the islands. The lowest point is the Pacific Ocean, on 5,313 km of coast — the Iron Bottom Sound off Honiara of the 50 ships sunk in 1942, the Slot between the two chains, the Marovo Lagoon of the Western Province behind its double barrier reef, among the largest saltwater lagoons of the world, the Roviana and Vonavona lagoons of Munda, the atolls of Ontong Java and Sikaiana, the raised coral of Rennell with Lake Tegano, the largest lake of the insular Pacific, and the volcanoes — Tinakula of the Santa Cruz group that smokes above the sea, Savo that last erupted in the 1840s and Kavachi, the submarine volcano off Vangunu that builds and loses an island every few years.
What currency does Solomon Islands use?
The Solomon Islands dollar (ISO code SBD, SI$), of 100 cents, issued by the Central Bank of Solomon Islands — the currency of 1977 that replaced the Australian dollar at par on the eve of independence, floated and devalued through the 1980s and 1990s and managed against a basket by the central bank since, at about 8.4 to the U.S. dollar and 5.5 to the Australian; the notes carry the coat of arms of the shark and the crocodile, the shell money of Malaita, the war canoes and the scenes of the islands. The Australian dollar and the U.S. dollar are taken by the hotels and the loggers; the shell money of Malaita, the tafuliae strings of Langalanga, still pays the bride price and the compensation of the custom; the mobile money of the banks reaches the provinces the branches do not. Clocks keep UTC+11, the time of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, all year; the country drives on the left, on the 1,400 km of roads of which the Honiara–Henderson highway is the best.
Who governs Solomon Islands?
A constitutional monarchy in the Westminster pattern under the Constitution of 7 July 1978: King Charles III is head of state, represented by a governor-general the Parliament elects for five years, and the prime minister the 50 members elect by secret ballot heads the government, removable by a vote of no confidence — the instrument of Solomon Islands politics, which has changed prime ministers between elections more often than at them. On 26 September 2026 the governor-general is Sir David Tiva Kapu, since 7 July 2024, and the prime minister is Matthew Wale of the Democratic Party, the member for Aoke/Langalanga on Malaita and the leader of the opposition for seven years, elected by 26 votes to 22 over Peter Shanel Agovaka on 15 May 2026 after the no-confidence vote of 7 May 2026 that removed Jeremiah Manele of the OUR Party by the same count, when a dozen of Manele's ministers had walked out in March; his cabinet of 18 May 2026 has Francis Sade as deputy, the former prime minister Gordon Darcy Lilo at finance, the former prime minister Rick Houenipwela at foreign affairs and Peter Kenilorea Jr. at planning; a motion against Wale in turn was lodged on 29 August and withdrawn on 6 September 2026, the day before the treaty with Australia was agreed in principle. The next general election is due in 2028.
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