Map of French Polynesia | Geography | People | Government | Economy | Energy | Communication
Military | Transportation | Transnational Issues | Year: Guide1989199019911992199319941995199619971998199920002001200220032004200520062007200820092010201120122013201420152016201720182019202020212022202320242025 | More stats

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Background: The French annexed various Polynesian island groups during the 19th century. In September 1995 France stirred up widespread protests by resuming nuclear testing on the Mururoa atoll after a three-year moratorium. The tests were halted in January 1996. In recent years French Polynesia's autonomy has been considerably expanded.


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Location: Oceania five archipelagoes (Archipel Des Tuamotu Iles Gambier Iles Marquises Iles Tubuai Society Islands) in the South Pacific Ocean about half way between South America and Australia

Geographic coordinates: 15 00 S 140 00 W

Map reference

Area
Rank: 175
Land: 3,827 km²
Water: 340 km²
Comparative: slightly less than one-third the size of Connecticut

Land boundaries: 0 km

Coastline: 2,525 km

Maritime claims
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate: tropical but moderate

Terrain: mixture of rugged high islands and low islands with reefs

Elevation
Extremes highest point: Mont Orohena 2,241 m

Natural resources: timber fish cobalt hydropower

Land use
Permanent crops: 6.28%
Other: 93.03% (2011)

Irrigated land: 10 km² (2003)

Major rivers

Major watersheds area km²

Total water withdrawal

Total renewable water resources

Natural hazards: occasional cyclonic storms in January

Geography
Note: includes five archipelagoes (four volcanic one coral); Makatea in French Polynesia is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Nauru


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Population: 277,293 (July 2013 est.)
Rank: 182
Growth rate: 1% (2013 est.)
Growth rate rank: 116
Below poverty line: 19.7% (2009)

Nationality
Adjective: French Polynesian

Ethnic groups: Polynesian 78% Chinese 12% local French 6% metropolitan French 4%

Languages: French (official) 61.1% Polynesian (official) 31.4% Asian languages 1.2% other 0.3% unspecified 6% (2002 census)

Religions: Protestant 54% Roman Catholic 30% other 10% no religion 6%

Demographic profile

Age structure
15-24 years: 17.1% (male 24,553/female 22,953)
25-54 years: 43.6% (male 62,080/female 58,903)
55-64 years: 8.2% (male 11,771/female 11,081)
65 years and over: 6.9% (male 9,299/female 9,820) (2013 est.)

Dependency ratios
Youth dependency ratio: 32.2 %
Elderly dependency ratio: 10.2 %
Potential support ratio: 9.8 (2013)

Median age
Male: 30.1 years
Female: 30.3 years (2013 est.)

Population growth rate: 1% (2013 est.)
Rank: 116

Birth rate: 15.7 births/1000 population (2013 est.)
Rank: 128

Death rate: 4.85 deaths/1000 population (2013 est.)
Rank: 193

Net migration rate: -0.91 migrant(s)/1000 population (2013 est.)
Rank: 147

Population distribution

Urbanization
Rate of urbanization: 1.3% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Major urban areas
Population: PAPEETE (capital) 133,000 (2009)

Environment
Current issues: NA

Air pollutants

Sex ratio
0-14 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.95 male(s)/female
Total population: 1.05 male(s)/female (2013 est.)

Mothers mean age at first birth

Maternal mortality ratio

Infant mortality rate
Rank: 181
Male: 5.36 deaths/1000 live births
Female: 4.26 deaths/1000 live births (2013 est.)

Life expectancy at birth
Rank: 75
Male: 74.37 years
Female: 78.93 years (2013 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.97 children born/woman (2013 est.)
Rank: 133

Contraceptive prevalence rate

Drinking water source:

Current health expenditure

Physicians density

Hospital bed density

Sanitation facility access:

Hiv/Aids
Adult prevalence rate: NA
People living with hivaids: NA
Deaths: NA

Major infectious diseases

Obesity adult prevalence rate

Alcohol consumption

Tobacco use

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

Education expenditures: NA

Literacy
Total population: 98%
Male: 98%
Female: 98% (1977 est.)

School life expectancy primary to tertiary education

Youth unemployment


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Country name
Conventional short form: French Polynesia
Local long form: Pays d'outre-mer de la Polynesie Francaise
Local short form: Polynesie Francaise
Former: French Colony of Oceania

Government type: parliamentary representative democratic French overseas collectivity

Capital
Geographic coordinates: 17 32 S 149 34 W
Time difference: UTC-10 (5 hours behind Washington DC during Standard Time)

Administrative divisions: none (overseas lands of France); there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US Government but there are five second order administrative units named Iles Australes Iles du Vent Iles Marquises Iles Sous le Vent Iles Tuamotu et Gambier

Dependent areas

Independence: none (overseas lands of France)

National holiday: Fete de la Federation 14 July (1789); note - the local holiday is Internal Autonomy Day 29 June (1880)

Constitution: 4 October 1958 (French Constitution)

Legal system: the laws of France where applicable apply

International law organization participation

Citizenship

Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal

Executive branch
Head of government: President of French Polynesia Gaston FLOSS (since 17 May 2013); President of the Assembly of French Polynesia Jacqui DROLLET (since 14 April 2011)
Cabinet: Council of Ministers; president submits a list of members of the Assembly for approval by them to serve as ministers
Elections: French president elected by popular vote for a five-year term; high commissioner appointed by the French president on the advice of the French Ministry of Interior; president of the French Polynesia government and the president of the Assembly of French Polynesia elected by the members of the assembly for five-year terms (no term limits)

Legislative branch: unicameral Assembly of French Polynesia or Assemblee de la Polynesia francaise (57 seats; members elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
Elections: last held on 21 April 2013 (first round) and 5 May 2013 (second round) (next to be held in 2018)
Election results: percent of vote by party - Popular Rally 45.1% Union for Democracy alliance 29.3% A Tia Porinetia 25.6% other 15.8%; seats by party - Popular Rally 38 Union for Democracy alliance 11 A Tia Porinetia 8

Judicial branch: note - appeals beyond the French Polynesia Court of Appeal are heard by the Court of Cassation (in Paris)
Judge selection and term of office: NA
Subordinate courts: Court of the First Instance or Tribunal de Premiere Instance; Court of Administrative Law or Tribunal Administratif

Political parties and leaders:

International organization participation: ITUC (NGOs) PIF (associate member) SPC UPU

Diplomatic representation
In the us: none (overseas lands of France)
From the us: none (overseas lands of France)

Flag description: two red horizontal bands encase a wide white band in a 1:2:1 ratio; centered on the white band is a disk with a blue and white wave pattern depicting the sea on the lower half and a gold and white ray pattern depicting the sun on the upper half; a Polynesian canoe rides on the wave pattern; the canoe has a crew of five represented by five stars that symbolize the five island groups; red and white are traditional Polynesian colors

National symbols: outrigger canoe

National anthem
Lyrics and music: Maeva BOUGES Irmine TEHEI Angele TEROROTUA Johanna NOUVEAU Patrick AMARU Louis MAMATUI and Jean-Pierre CELESTIN

National heritage


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Economy overview: Since 1962 when France stationed military personnel in the region French Polynesia has changed from a subsistence agricultural economy to one in which a high proportion of the work force is either employed by the military or supports the tourist industry. With the halt of French nuclear testing in 1996 the military contribution to the economy fell sharply. Tourism accounts for about one-fourth of GDP and is a primary source of hard currency earnings. Other sources of income are handicrafts public works projects aquaculture pearl farming and deep-sea commercial fishing. The small manufacturing sector primarily processes agricultural products. The territory benefits substantially from development agreements with France aimed principally at creating new businesses and strengthening social services.

Real gdp purchasing power parity:
Rank: 167

Real gdp growth rate: 2.7% (2005)
Rank: 186

Real gdp per capita: $18,000 (2004 est.)
Rank: 65

Gross national saving

Gdp composition by end use

Gdp composition by sector of origin
Industry: 20%
Services: 76.9% (2006)

Agriculture products: coconuts vanilla vegetables fruits coffee; poultry beef dairy products; fish

Industries: tourism pearls agricultural processing handicrafts phosphates

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Labor force: 116,000 (2007)
Rank: 181
By occupation industry: 19%
By occupation services: 68% (2002)

Unemployment rate: 11.7% (2005)
Rank: 123

Youth unemployment

Population below poverty line: 19.7% (2009)

Gini index

Household income or consumption by percentage share
Highest 10: NA%

Distribution of family income gini index

Budget
Expenditures: $644.1 million (1999)
Surplus or deficit: 3.9% of GDP (1999)
Surplus or deficit rank: 14

Taxes and other revenues: 15.3% of GDP (1999)
Rank: 191

Public debt

Revenue

Fiscal year: calendar year

Inflation rate consumer prices: 1.1% (2006 est.)
Rank: 16

Central bank discount rate

Commercial bank prime lending rate

Stock of narrow money

Stock of broad money

Stock of domestic credit

Market value of publicly traded shares: $N/A

Current account balance

Exports: $211 million (2005 est.)
Rank: 183
Commodities: cultured pearls coconut products mother-of-pearl vanilla shark meat

Imports: $1.706 billion (2005 est.)
Rank: 161
Commodities: fuels foodstuffs machinery and equipment

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold

Debt external: $N/A

Stock of direct foreign investment at home

Stock of direct foreign investment abroad

Exchange rates:


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Electricity
Production: 672 million kWh (2010 est.)
Production rank: 157
Consumption: 625 million kWh (2010 est.)
Consumption rank: 165
Exports: 0 kWh (2012 est.)
Exports rank: 198
Imports: 0 kWh (2012 est.)
Imports rank: 189
Installed generating capacity: 186,000 kW (2010 est.)
Installed generating capacity rank: 158
Generation sources fossil fuels: 74.7% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources fossil fuels rank: 101
Generation sources nuclear: 0% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources nuclear rank: 89
Generation sources hydroelectricity: 25.3% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources hydroelectricity rank: 84
Generation sources other renewable sources: 0% of total installed capacity (2010 est.)
Generation sources other renewable sources rank: 173

Coal

Petroleum
Petroleum total petroleum production: 0 bbl/day (2012 est.)
Petroleum total petroleum production rank: 171
Crude oil exports: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Crude oil exports rank: 115
Crude oil imports: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Crude oil imports rank: 187
Crude oil proven reserves: 0 bbl (1 January 2013 es)
Crude oil proven reserves rank: 133

Crude oil

Refined petroleum
Products production: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products production rank: 177
Products consumption: 8,000 bbl/day (2011 est.)
Products consumption rank: 158
Products exports: 0 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products exports rank: 176
Products imports: 7,190 bbl/day (2010 est.)
Products imports rank: 136

Natural gas
Production: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Production rank: 133
Consumption: 0 m³ (2010 est.)
Consumption rank: 145
Exports: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Exports rank: 102
Imports: 0 m³ (2011 est.)
Imports rank: 194
Proven reserves: 0 m³ (1 January 2013 es)
Proven reserves rank: 140

Carbon dioxide emissions
From consumption of energy: 1.22 million Mt (2011 est.)
From consumption of energy rank: 162

Energy consumption per capita


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Telephones
Main lines in use: 55,000 (2012)
Main lines in use rank: 162
Mobile cellular: 226,000 (2012)
Mobile cellular rank: 180

Telephone system
International: country code - 689; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean) (2011)

Broadcast media: the publicly owned French Overseas Network (RFO) which operates in France's overseas departments and territories broadcasts on 2 TV channels and 1 radio station; 1 government-owned TV station; a small number of privately owned radio stations (2008)

Internet
Country code: .pf
Hosts: 37,949 (2012)
Hosts rank: 103
Users: 120,000 (2009)
Users rank: 153

Broadband fixed subscriptions


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Military expenditures

Military and security forces

Military service age and obligation

Space program

Terrorist groups


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National air transport system

Civil aircraft registration country code prefix

Airports: 54 (2013)
Rank: 88
With paved runways over 3047 m: 2
With paved runways 15-24 to 2437 m: 5
With paved runways 914 to 1523 m: 33
With paved runways under 914 m: 5 (2013)
With unpaved runways 914 to 1523 m: 4
With unpaved runways: 5 (2013)

Heliports: 1 (2013)

Pipelines

Railways

Roadways
Rank: 171
Paved: 1735 km
Unpaved: 855 km (1999)

Waterways

Merchant marine
Rank: 105

Ports and terminals


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Disputes international: none

Refugees and internally displaced persons

Illicit drugs