Solomon Islands

Map of Solomon Islands

Country Name	Solomon Islands
Capital: name	Honiara
Independence	7 July 1978 (from the UK)
National holiday	Independence Day, 7 July (1978)
Population	584,578 (July 2012 est.)
Sex ratio	1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.95 male(s)/female total population: 1.04 male(s)/female (2011 est.)
Nationality	Solomon Islander(s)
Religions	Protestant 73.7% (Church of Melanesia 32.8%, South Seas Evangelical 17%, Seventh-Day Adventist 11.2%, United Church 10.3%, Christian Fellowship Church 2.4%), Roman Catholic 19%, other Christian 4.4%, other 2.4%, unspecified 0.3%, none 0.2% (1999 census)
Languages	Melanesian pidgin (in much of the country is lingua franca), English (official but spoken by only 1%-2% of the population), 120 indigenous languages
Location	Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Papua New Guinea
Geographic coordinates	8 00 S, 159 00 E
Map references	Oceania
Area	total: 28,896 sq km land: 27,986 sq km water: 910 sq km
Area - comparative	slightly smaller than Maryland
Land boundaries	0 km
Coastline	5,313 km
Maritime claims	measured from claimed archipelagic baselines territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: 200 nm
Climate	tropical monsoon; few extremes of temperature and weather
Terrain	mostly rugged mountains with some low coral atolls
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Popomanaseu 2,310 m
Natural resources	fish, forests, gold, bauxite, phosphates, lead, zinc, nickel
Land use	arable land: 0.62% permanent crops: 2.04% other: 97.34% (2005)
Irrigated land	NA
Total renewable water resources	44.7 cu km (1987)
Natural hazards	typhoons, but rarely destructive; geologically active region with frequent earthquakes, tremors, and volcanic activity; tsunamis volcanism: Tinakula (elev. 851 m) has frequent eruption activity, while an eruption of Savo (elev. 485 m) could affect the capital Honiara on nearby Guadalcanal
Environment - current issues	deforestation; soil erosion; many of the surrounding coral reefs are dead or dying
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Environmental Modification, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note	strategic location on sea routes between the South Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Sea, and the Coral Sea; on 2 April 2007 an undersea earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale occurred 345 km WNW of the capital Honiara; the resulting tsunami devastated coastal areas of Western and Choiseul provinces with dozens of deaths and thousands dislocated; the provincial capital of Gizo was especially hard hit