Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Climate: tropical; monsoonal; rainy season (November to February)

_#_Terrain: sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center

_#_Natural resources: phosphates

_#_Land use: arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland 0%; other 100%

_#_Environment: only 53 km south of Equator

_#_Note: Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean—the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia

_*People #_Population: 9,333 (July 1991), growth rate 1.4% (1991)

_#_Birth rate: 19 births/1,000 population (1991)

_#_Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1991)