Niue

Location:

Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Tonga

Border Countries:

Terrain:

steep limestone cliffs along coast, central plateau

Geography:

one of world's largest coral islands

Capital:

Alofi

About Niue

Niue's remoteness, as well as cultural and linguistic differences between its Polynesian inhabitants and those of the rest of the Cook Islands, have caused it to be separately administered. The population of the island continues to drop (from a peak of 5,200 in 1966 to an estimated 1,444 in 2008), with substantial emigration to New Zealand, 2,400 km to the southwest.

Population:

1,444 (July 2008 est.)

Language:

Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English

Religion:

Ekalesia Niue (Niuean Church - a Protestant church closely related to the London Missionary Society) 61.1%, Latter-Day Saints 8.8%, Roman Catholic 7.2%, Jehovah's Witnesses 2.4%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.4%, other 8.4%, unspecified 8.7%, none 1.9% (2001 census)

Phone Service:

domestic: single-line telephone system connects all villages on island

Currency:

New Zealand dollar (NZD)

Climate:

tropical; modified by southeast trade winds

Natural Hazards:

typhoons