| |  |  |
|   | Country (long form)
none | Capital
Funafuti | Total Area
10.04 sq mi
26.00 sq km
(0.1 times the size of Washington, DC) | Population
10,838 (July 2000 est.) | Estimated Population in 2050
20,018 | Languages
Tuvaluan, English | Literacy
N/A% total, N/A% male, N/A% female | Religions
Church of Tuvalu (Congregationalist) 97%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.4%, Baha'i 1%, other 0.6% | Life Expectancy
64.21 male, 68.53 female (2000 est.) | Government Type
constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy | Currency
1 Tuvaluan dollar ($T) or 1 Australian dollar ($A) = 100 cents | GDP (per capita)
$800 (1995 est.) | Labor Force (by occupation)
people make a living mainly through exploitation of the sea, reefs, and atolls and from wages sent home by those working abroad (mostly workers in the phosphate industry and sailors) | Industry
fishing, tourism, copra | Agriculture
coconuts; fish | Arable Land
0% | Exports
copra | Imports
food, animals, mineral fuels, machinery, manufactured goods | Natural Resources
fish | Current Environmental Issues
since there are no streams or rivers and groundwater is not potable, most water needs must be met by catchment systems with storage facilities (the Japanese Government has built one desalination plant and plans to build one other); beachhead erosion because of the use of sand for building materials; excessive clearance of forest undergrowth for use as fuel; damage to coral reefs from the spread of the Crown of Thorns starfish; Tuvalu is very concerned about global increases in greenhouse gas emissions and their effect on rising sea levels, which threaten the country's underground water table | Telephones (main lines in use)
400 (1994) | Telephones (mobile cellular)
0 (1994) | Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
1 (1999) | | (U.S. Government sources) | | |
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