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| Country | Palau | | | Flag |  | | | Capital | name: Melekeok geographic coordinates: 7 29 N, 134 38 E time difference: UTC+9 (14 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) | | | Population | 20,842 (July 2007 est.) | | | GMT | +9 | | | Location | Oceania, group of islands in the North Pacific Ocean, southeast of the Philippines
see map | | | Area | total: 458 sq km land: 458 sq km water: 0 sq km | | | Ethnic groups | Palauan (Micronesian with Malayan and Melanesian admixtures) 69.9%, Filipino 15.3%, Chinese 4.9%, other Asian 2.4%, white 1.9%, Carolinian 1.4%, other Micronesian 1.1%, other or unspecified 3.2% (2000 census) | | | Religions | Roman Catholic 41.6%, Protestant 23.3%, Modekngei 8.8% (indigenous to Palau), Seventh-Day Adventist 5.3%, Jehovah's Witness 0.9%, Latter-Day Saints 0.6%, other 3.1%, unspecified or none 16.4% (2000 census) | | | Languages | Palauan 64.7% official in all islands except Sonsoral (Sonsoralese and English are official), Tobi (Tobi and English are official), and Angaur (Angaur, Japanese, and English are official), Filipino 13.5%, English 9.4%, Chinese 5.7%, Carolinian 1.5%, Japanese 1.5%, other Asian 2.3%, other languages 1.5% (2000 census) | | | Government type | constitutional government in free association with the US; the Compact of Free Association entered into force 1 October 1994 | | | National holiday | Constitution Day, 9 July (1979) | | | Constitution | 1 January 1981 | | | Legal system | based on Trust Territory laws, acts of the legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws | | | Background | After three decades as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific under US administration, this westernmost cluster of the Caroline Islands opted for independence in 1978 rather than join the Federated States of Micronesia. A Compact of Free Association with the US was approved in 1986, but not ratified until 1993. It entered into force the following year, when the islands gained independence. | | Internet country code | .pw | |
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