| Introduction | The Tongan archipelago is comprised of 176 islands, 36 of which are inhabited. The islands lie south of Samoa, and to the east of Fiji, in the South Pacific Ocean. Tonga - unique among Pacific nations - never completely lost its indigenous governance. The archipelagos of "The Friendly Islands" were united into a Polynesian kingdom in 1845. Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 and a British protectorate in 1900; it withdrew from the protectorate and joined the Commonwealth of Nations in 1970. Tonga remains the only monarchy in the Pacific. |
| Population | Population: 104,000 (2010) Population growth rate: 0.5% Life expectancy: 72 years |
| Geography | Tonga is located in Oceania region. It is and archipelago of 169 islands (36 inhabited) in the South Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way from Hawaii to New Zealand. The Tonga Islands experience volcanic activity; Fonualei has shown frequent activity in recent years, while Niuafo'ou, which last erupted in 1985, has forced evacuations. Other historically active volcanoes include Late and Tofua. |
| Religion | Free Wesleyan Church 37.3%, Roman Catholic 15.6%, Latter Day Saint 16.8%, Free church of Tonga 11.4%, Church of Tonga 7.1%, Tokaikolo 2.5%, Anglican Church 0.8%, Seventh Day Adventist 2.2%, Assembly of God 2.3%, Constitutional Church of Tonga 0.9%, Gospel 0.2%, Bahai Faith 0.7%, Hindus 0.1%, Buddhist 0.1%, Other 0.2% (2006 census). |
| Government | Government type: Constitutional monarchy Chief of State: HM King George Tupou V (since 2 September 2009) Head of Government: Prime Minister Lord Tu'ivakano (since December 2010) Assembly: In the Legislative Assembly (Fale Alea), 9 members are elected by hereditary state rulers to serve 3-year terms and 17 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 3-year terms. The King is hereditary (For more information visit the World Leaders website ) Elections: The Prime Minister is appointed by the monarch. Election last held 25 November 2010. |
| Economics | GDP(purchasing power parity) US$299 Million Many Togan families are dependent for food security on what they can produce on their farmland, and limited access to such land is an increasing problem. An estimated 4% of the population live on less than US$ 1.00 per day and about 6.7% of households live below the food poverty line. People who live on the outer islands, where access to education and health care is poor, transport costs are high and income opportunities few, have higher rates of hardship. The standard of living has improved dramatically over the last 50 years and there is now little absolute poverty. The country is placed 99th in the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index ranking (HDI), the highest ranking of any Pacific island state, reflecting the comparatively high GDP per capita of US$ 2 319 (2006), high life expectancy and near-universal literacy. |
| Health | The steep increase in the burden of noncommunicable disease (NCD) is worrying and is the most important current health problem. Obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases have increased to levels of epidemic proportion and prevalence rates now surpass those of most industrialized countries. Tonga developed a multisectoral national strategy to prevent and control NCD in 2003. There are multiple reasons for the rapidly growing NCD burden, of which the most important include increasing rates of overweight and obesity, reduced physical activity, smoking, and, to some extent, the ageing of the population. Economic development, motorization, improved access to processed imported food and the adoption of 'western' dishes with high fat and high sugar contents have had a strong negative impact on people's health. Millennium Development Goals indicators. Life expectancy at birth for males is 69.1 and females 74.7 years (2010). Total expenditure on health per capita $289 USD. Total expenditure on health as a percentage of GDP is 5.4% (2006) Source: World Health Organisation. Data on HIV rates in Tonga is not available. |
| Legislation | http://www.paclii.org/databases.html#TO |
| Related Websites | The World Factbook - Tonga UNICEF - Tonga World Health Organization - Tonga |