Fījī), is an
island country in
Melanesia in the
South Pacific Ocean about 1,100
nautical miles (2,000
km; 1,300
mi) northeast of
New Zealand‘s
North Island. Its closest neighbours are
Vanuatu to the west,
New Caledonia to the southwest,
New Zealand‘s
Kermadec Islands to the southeast,
Tonga to the east, the
Samoas and
France‘s
Wallis and Futuna to the northeast, and
Tuvalu to the north.
Fiji is an
archipelago of more than 330 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500
islets, amounting to a total land area of about 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The farthest island is
Ono-i-Lau. The two major islands,
Viti Levu and
Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 860,000. The capital,
Suva on Viti Levu, serves as Fiji’s principal cruise port.
[11] About three-quarters of Fijians live on Viti Levu’s
coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres like
Nadi (tourism)
[11] or
Lautoka (
sugar cane industry). Viti Levu’s interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.
[12]
Fiji has one of the most developed economies in the Pacific due to an abundance of forest, mineral, and fish resources. Today, the main sources of
foreign exchange are its tourist industry and sugar exports.
[2] The country’s currency is the
Fijian dollar. Fiji’s local government, in the form of city and
town councils, is supervised by the Ministry of Local Government and Urban Development
