Samoa
Independent State of SamoaMalo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Samoa
parliamentary republic
Samoa as the 2022 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 147 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.
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Introduction
1 fieldBackground
The first Austronesian settlers arrived in Samoa around 1000 B.C., and early Samoans traded and intermarried with Fijian and Tongan nobility. The fa’amatai system of titles and nobility developed, which dominates Samoan politics to this day; all but two seats in the legislature are reserved for matai, or heads of families. Dutch explorer Jacob ROGGEVEEN was the first European to spot the islands in 1722. Christian missionaries arrived in the 1830s, converting most of the population.
In the 1850s, Apia became a center for Pacific trading and hosted an American commercial agent and British and German consuls. In 1892, American traders convinced the Samoan king to align his country’s date with the US, moving to the east of the International Date Line.
Following the death of the Samoan king in 1841, rival families competed for his titles, devolving into civil war in 1886 with factions getting support from either Germany, the UK, or the US. All three countries sent warships to Apia in 1889, presaging a larger war, but a cyclone destroyed the ships and Malietoa LAUPEPA was installed as king. Upon LAUPEPA’s death in 1898, a second civil war over succession broke out.
The war ended in 1899 and the Western powers abolished the monarchy, giving the western Samoan islands to Germany and the eastern Samoan islands to the US. The UK abandoned claims in Samoa and received former German territory in the Solomon Islands.
The Mau, a non-violent popular movement to advocate for Samoan independence, formed in 1908. New Zealand annexed Samoa in 1914 after the outbreak of World War I. Opposition to New Zealand’s rule quickly grew. In 1918, a New Zealand ship introduced the Spanish flu, infecting 90% of the population and killing more than 20%. In 1929, New Zealand police shot into a crowd of peaceful protestors, killing 11, in an event known as Black Sunday.
In 1962, Samoa became the first Polynesian nation to reestablish its independence as Western Samoa but dropped the “Western” from its name in 1997. The Human Rights Protection Party has dominated politics since 1982, especially under Prime Minister Sailele TUILAEPA, who has been in power since 1998.
In the late 2000s, Samoa began making efforts to align more closely with Australia and New Zealand. In 2009, Samoa changed its driving orientation to the left side of the road, in line with other Commonwealth countries. In 2011, Samoa jumped forward one day - skipping December 30 - by moving to the west side of the International Date Line so that it was one hour ahead of New Zealand and three hours ahead of the east coast of Australia, rather than 23 and 21 hours behind, respectively.
Geography
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand
17 fieldsLand useshare of 2,831 sq km
Location
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand
Terrain
two main islands (Savaii, Upolu) and several smaller islands and uninhabited islets; narrow coastal plain with volcanic, rugged mountains in interior
Natural hazards
occasional cyclones; active volcanism; volcanism: Savai'I Island (1,858 m), which last erupted in 1911, is historically active
People and Society
35 fieldsAge structuremale left, female right · (2020 est.)
Per 1,000 population(2022 est.)
Male · female
Ethnic groups(2011 est.)
Religions(2016 est.)
Languages
Samoan (Polynesian) (official) 91.1%, Samoan/English 6.7%, English (official) 0.5%, other 0.2%, unspecified 1.6% (2006 est.)
Sex ratio
- at birth:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- 0-14 years:
- 1.07 male(s)/female
- 15-24 years:
- 1.06 male(s)/female
- 25-54 years:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- 55-64 years:
- 1.05 male(s)/female
- 65 years and over:
- 0.61 male(s)/female
- total population:
- 1.03 male(s)/female (2022 est.)
Major infectious diseases
- degree of risk:
- high (2020)
- food or waterborne diseases:
- bacterial diarrhea
- vectorborne diseases:
- malaria
Alcohol consumption per capita
- total:
- 2.18 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
- beer:
- 2.01 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
- wine:
- 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
- spirits:
- 0.17 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
- other alcohols:
- 0 liters of pure alcohol (2019 est.)
Child marriage
- women married by age 15:
- 0.9%
- women married by age 18:
- 7.4%
- men married by age 18:
- 2% (2020 est.)
Environment
11 fieldsLand use(2018 est.)
Environment - international agreements
- party to:
- Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Climate Change-Paris Agreement, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
- signed, but not ratified:
- none of the selected agreements
Air pollutants
- particulate matter emissions:
- 10.56 micrograms per cubic meter (2016 est.)
- carbon dioxide emissions:
- 0.25 megatons (2016 est.)
- methane emissions:
- 0.27 megatons (2020 est.)
Urbanization
- urban population:
- 17.5% of total population (2023)
- rate of urbanization:
- -0.03% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
Major infectious diseases
- degree of risk:
- high (2020)
- food or waterborne diseases:
- bacterial diarrhea
- vectorborne diseases:
- malaria
Waste and recycling
- municipal solid waste generated annually:
- 27,399 tons (2011 est.)
- municipal solid waste recycled annually:
- 9,864 tons (2013 est.)
- percent of municipal solid waste recycled:
- 36% (2013 est.)
Government
Parliamentary republic; TUIMALEALI'IFANO Va’aletoa Sualauvi II (since 21 July 2017); Prime Minister FIAME Naomi Mata’afa (since 24 May 2021)
21 fieldsPresidential electionpercent of vote
Legislative Assembly or Fonopercent of vote
Composition: men 47, women 6, percent of women 11.3%
Country name
- conventional long form:
- Independent State of Samoa
- conventional short form:
- Samoa
- local long form:
- Malo Sa'oloto Tuto'atasi o Samoa
- local short form:
- Samoa
- former:
- Western Samoa
- etymology:
- the meaning of Samoa is disputed;
- some modern explanations are that the "sa" connotes "sacred" and "moa" indicates "center," so the name can mean "Holy Center";
- alternatively, some assertions state that it can mean "place of the sacred moa bird" of Polynesian mythology;
- the name, however, may go back to Proto-Polynesian (PPn) times (before 1000 B.C.);
- a plausible PPn reconstruction has the first syllable as "sa'a" meaning "tribe or people" and "moa" meaning "deep sea or ocean" to convey the meaning "people of the deep sea"
Capital
- name:
- Apia
- geographic coordinates:
- 13 49 S, 171 46 W
- time difference:
- UTC+13 (18 hours ahead of Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
- etymology:
- name derives from the native village around which the capital was constructed in the 1850s; the village still exists within the larger modern capital
Administrative divisions
11 districts; A'ana, Aiga-i-le-Tai, Atua, Fa'asaleleaga, Gaga'emauga, Gagaifomauga, Palauli, Satupa'itea, Tuamasaga, Va'a-o-Fonoti, Vaisigano
National holiday
- Independence Day Celebration, 1 June (1962);
- note - 1 January 1962 is the date of independence from the New Zealand-administered UN trusteeship, but it is observed in June
Constitution
- history:
- several previous (preindependence); latest 1 January 1962
- amendments:
- proposed as an act by the Legislative Assembly;
- passage requires at least two-thirds majority vote by the Assembly membership in the third reading - provided at least 90 days have elapsed since the second reading, and assent of the chief of state;
- passage of amendments affecting constitutional articles on customary land or constitutional amendment procedures also requires at least two-thirds majority approval in a referendum;
- amended several times, last in 2020
Legal system
mixed legal system of English common law and customary law; judicial review of legislative acts with respect to fundamental rights of the citizen
International law organization participation
has not submitted an ICJ jurisdiction declaration; accepts ICCt jurisdiction
Citizenship
- citizenship by birth:
- no
- citizenship by descent only:
- at least one parent must be a citizen of Samoa
- dual citizenship recognized:
- no
- residency requirement for naturalization:
- 5 years
Executive branch
- chief of state:
- TUIMALEALI'IFANO Va’aletoa Sualauvi II (since 21 July 2017)
- head of government:
- Prime Minister FIAME Naomi Mata’afa (since 24 May 2021)
- cabinet:
- Cabinet appointed by the chief of state on the prime minister's advice
- elections/appointments:
- chief of state indirectly elected by the Legislative Assembly to serve a 5-year term (2-term limit);
- election last held on 23 August 2022 (next to be held in 2027);
- following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party is usually appointed prime minister by the chief of state, approved by the Legislative Assembly
- election results:
- TUIMALEALI'IFANO Va’aletoa Sualauvi unanimously reelected by the Legislative Assembly on 23 August 2022
Legislative branch
- description:
- unicameral Legislative Assembly or Fono (53 seats for 2021-2026 term);
- members from 51 single-seat constituencies directly elected by simple majority vote, with a minimum 10% representation of women in the Assembly required;
- members serve 5-year terms)
- elections:
- election last held on 9 April 2021 (next election to be held in 2026)
- election results:
- percent of vote by party - HRPP 55%, FAST 37%, TSP 3%, independents 5%;
- seats by party – FAST 30, HRPP 22, independents 1;
- composition - men 47, women 6, percent of women 11.3%
note: on 29 November 2021, the Election Commissioner added two women seats to parliament, bringing the HRPP’s total from 20 to 22 seats
Judicial branch
- highest court(s):
- Court of Appeal (consists of the chief justice and 2 Supreme Court judges and meets once or twice a year);
- Supreme Court (consists of the chief justice and several judges)
- judge selection and term of office:
- chief justice appointed by the chief of state upon the advice of the prime minister;
- other Supreme Court judges appointed by the Judicial Service Commission, a 3-member body chaired by the chief justice and includes the attorney general and an appointee of the Minister of Justice;
- judges normally serve until retirement at age 68
- subordinate courts:
- District Court;
- Magistrates' Courts;
- Land and Titles Courts;
- village fono or village chief councils
Political parties and leaders
- Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi or FAST [FIAME Naomi Mata'afa]
- Human Rights Protection Party or HRPP [TUILA'EPA Sailele Malielegaoi]
- Tautua Samoa Party or TSP [Afualo Wood Uti SALELE]
International organization participation
ACP, ADB, AOSIS, C, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IPU, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), MIGA, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca, SPC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Pa’olelei LUTERU (since 7 July 2021)
- chancery:
- 685 Third Avenue, 44th Street, 11th Floor, Suite 1102, New York, NY 10017
- telephone:
- [1] (212) 599-6196
- FAX:
- [1] (212) 599-0797
- email address and website:
- [email protected]; https://www.un.int/samoa/samoa/embassy-independent-state-samoa-united-states-america
- consulate(s) general:
- Pago Pago (American Samoa)
Diplomatic representation from the US
- chief of mission:
- the US Ambassador to New Zealand is accredited to Samoa
- embassy:
- 5th Floor, Accident Corporation Building, Matafele Apia
- mailing address:
- 4400 Apia Place, Washington DC 20521-4400
- telephone:
- [685] 21-436
- FAX:
- [685] 22-030
- email address and website:
- [email protected]; https://ws.usembassy.gov/
Flag description
- red with a blue rectangle in the upper hoist-side quadrant bearing five white, five-pointed stars representing the Southern Cross constellation;
- red stands for courage, blue represents freedom, and white signifies purity
note: similar to the flag of Taiwan
National symbol(s)
Southern Cross constellation (five, five-pointed stars); national colors: red, white, blue
National anthem
- name:
- "O le Fu'a o le Sa'olotoga o Samoa" (The Banner of Freedom)
- lyrics/music:
- Sauni Liga KURESA
note: adopted 1962; also known as "Samoa Tula'i" (Samoa Arise)
Economy
The economy of Samoa has traditionally been dependent on development aid, family remittances from overseas, tourism, agriculture, and fishing.
33 fieldsGDP - composition, by sector of origin(2017 est.)
Trading partnersexports left, imports right
By end use% of GDP · (2015 est.)
Budget(2017 est.)
Economic overview
The economy of Samoa has traditionally been dependent on development aid, family remittances from overseas, tourism, agriculture, and fishing. It has a nominal GDP of $844 million. Agriculture, including fishing, furnishes 90% of exports, featuring fish, coconut oil, nonu products, and taro.
The manufacturing sector mainly processes agricultural products. Industry accounts for nearly 22% of GDP while employing less than 6% of the work force. The service sector accounts for nearly two-thirds of GDP and employs approximately 50% of the labor force. Tourism is an expanding sector accounting for 25% of GDP; 132,000 tourists visited the islands in 2013.
The country is vulnerable to devastating storms. In September 2009, an earthquake and the resulting tsunami severely damaged Samoa and nearby American Samoa, disrupting transportation and power generation, and resulting in about 200 deaths. In December 2012, extensive flooding and wind damage from Tropical Cyclone Evan killed four people, displaced over 6,000, and damaged or destroyed an estimated 1,500 homes on Samoa's Upolu Island.
The Samoan Government has called for deregulation of the country's financial sector, encouragement of investment, and continued fiscal discipline, while at the same time protecting the environment. Foreign reserves are relatively healthy and inflation is low, but external debt is approximately 45% of GDP. Samoa became the 155th member of the WTO in May 2012, and graduated from least developed country status in January 2014.
Agricultural products
coconuts, taro, bananas, yams, tropical fruit, pineapples, mangoes/guavas, papayas, roots/tubers nes, pork
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold
$133 million (31 December 2017 est.) · $122.5 million (31 December 2015 est.)
Exchange rates
tala (SAT) per US dollar - 2.54712 (2020 est.) · 2.65534 (2019 est.) · 2.57069 (2018 est.) · 2.5609 (2014 est.) · 2.3318 (2013 est.)
Energy
11 fieldsElectrification% of population · (2020)
Installed generating capacity, 50,000 kW(2020 est.)
Coal
- production:
- 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
- consumption:
- 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
- exports:
- 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
- imports:
- 0 metric tons (2020 est.)
- proven reserves:
- 0 metric tons (2019 est.)
Petroleum
- total petroleum production:
- 0 bbl/day (2021 est.)
- refined petroleum consumption:
- 2,500 bbl/day (2019 est.)
- crude oil and lease condensate exports:
- 0 bbl/day (2018 est.)
- crude oil and lease condensate imports:
- 0 bbl/day (2018 est.)
- crude oil estimated reserves:
- 0 barrels (2021 est.)
Natural gas
- production:
- 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
- consumption:
- 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
- exports:
- 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
- imports:
- 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
- proven reserves:
- 0 cubic meters (2021 est.)
Carbon dioxide emissions
355,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
- from coal and metallurgical coke:
- 0 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
- from petroleum and other liquids:
- 355,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
- from consumed natural gas:
- 0 metric tonnes of CO2 (2019 est.)
Communications
7 fieldsPer 100 inhabitants(2019–20 est.)
Telecommunication systems
- general assessment:
- Samoa was one of the first Pacific Island countries to establish a regulatory infrastructure and to liberalize its telecom market;
- the advent of competition in the mobile market saw prices fall by around 50% and network coverage increase to more than 90% of the population;
- Samoa also boasts one of the highest rates of mobile phone coverage in the Pacific region;
- the growth of fixed-line internet has been impeded by factors including the high costs for bandwidth, under investment in fixed-line infrastructure;
- Samoa’s telecoms sector has been inhibited by a lack of international connectivity;
- Samoa has had access to the Samoa-America-Samoa (SAS) cable laid in 2009, this cable has insufficient capacity to meet the country’s future bandwidth needs;
- this issue was addressed with two new submarine cables that became available in 2018 and 2019;
- combined with the Samoa National Broadband Highway (SNBH), have improved internet data rates and reliability, and have helped to reduce the high costs previously associated with internet access in Samoa;
- in April 2022, the Samoan government announced its decision to take over control of the Samoa Submarine Cable Company, looking to the cable to generate additional revenue for the state (2022)
- domestic:
- fixed-line roughly 3 per 100 and mobile-cellular teledensity nearly 35 telephones per 100 persons (2020)
- international:
- country code - 685;
- landing points for the Tui-Samo, Manatua, SAS, and Southern Cross NEXT submarine cables providing connectivity to Samoa, Fiji, Wallis & Futuna, Cook Islands, Niue, French Polynesia, American Samoa, Australia, New Zealand, Kiribati, Los Angeles (US), and Tokelau;
- satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean) (2019)
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced a downturn, particularly in mobile device production;
progress toward 5G implementation has resumed, as well as upgrades to infrastructure; consumer spending on telecom services has increased due to the surge in demand for capacity and bandwidth; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home is still evident, and the spike in this area has seen growth opportunities for development of new tools and increased services
Broadcast media
- state-owned TV station privatized in 2008;
- 4 privately owned television broadcast stations;
- about a half-dozen privately owned radio stations and one state-owned radio station;
- TV and radio broadcasts of several stations from American Samoa are available (2019)
Transportation
8 fieldsMerchant marine, 12 ships by typeone square, one ship · (2021)
Airports by runway lengthpaved only
Airports by runway lengthunpaved only
National air transport system
- number of registered air carriers:
- 1 (2020); inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 4
- annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:
- 137,770 (2018)
Military and Security
No regular military forces; Samoa Police Force (Ministry of Police, Prisons, and Correction Services) (2022)
2 fieldsMilitary and security forces
no regular military forces; Samoa Police Force (Ministry of Police, Prisons, and Correction Services) (2022)
Military - note
informal defense ties exist with NZ, which is required to consider any Samoan request for assistance under the 1962 Treaty of Friendship
Samoa has a "shiprider" agreement with the US, which allows local maritime law enforcement officers to embark on US Coast Guard (USCG) and US Navy (USN) vessels, including to board and search vessels suspected of violating laws or regulations within Somoa's designated exclusive economic zone (EEZ) or on the high seas;
"shiprider" agreements also enable USCG personnel and USN vessels with embarked USCG law enforcement personnel to work with host nations to protect critical regional resources (2022)
Transnational Issues
1 fieldCite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Samoa.” The World Factbook 2022. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/samoa/2022.