Overview
Palau is an independent sovereign state located in Oceania, specifically within the Micronesia subregion. It covers approximately 459 km² and is home to an estimated 16,733 people. The country has coastline along international waters, which has shaped its trade routes, climate, cuisine, and cultural exchanges with the rest of the world. Its capital is Ngerulmud, which serves as the political and (in most cases) economic centre of the country, hosting the seat of government and the principal international airport.
This profile pulls together the structured facts that most readers want at a glance — capital, currency, languages, borders — and links onward to the maps and neighbouring countries you are likely to need next. Every figure on this page is rendered server-side from a single dataset, so what you see here matches the regional indexes, statistics rankings, and continental hubs elsewhere on MapVista.
For travellers, students, journalists, and the merely curious, the goal is simple: a single readable page per country that answers the questions you actually asked, without redirecting you to a sign-up screen or a paywall. Citizens of Palau are commonly described as Palauan, a demonym you will encounter in news coverage and academic writing alike.
Geography & borders
Palau is a microstate, covering approximately 459 km² of land in Oceania (specifically the Micronesia subregion). The country has coastline along international waters, which has shaped its trade routes, climate, and cultural exchanges with the rest of the world. Its approximate geographic centre lies at 7.50° N, 134.50° E, placing it in the northern hemisphere on a line with several other Micronesia nations. Palau has no land borders and is reached entirely by sea or air, a status it shares with the world's other island nations and isolated peninsulas.
No land borders are recorded — this is typical of island nations, archipelagos, and microstates that lack land neighbours, with the open ocean serving as the country's only frontier.
Live map
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People, demographics & density
With an estimated 16,733 residents, Palau is one of the smallest populations of any sovereign state. That works out to roughly 36.5 people per square kilometre, a moderate density with substantial open countryside between population centres. The capital, Ngerulmud, anchors the country's political and often economic life and is usually the first city most international visitors encounter. Citizens of Palau are commonly described as Palauan.
Compared with the global mean of roughly 60 people per square kilometre, Palau's figure of 36.5 people / km² places it around the global average — a comfortable mix of urban centres and open countryside.
Languages, currency & culture
Culturally, English and Palauan share official status in Palau, while United States dollar (USD) is the official currency. Like every country in the catalogue, the linguistic situation on the ground is often more layered than the official picture, with regional languages, immigrant communities, and minority tongues woven through everyday life.
Official and recognised languages
- EnglishISO 639 code: eng
- PalauanISO 639 code: pau
Official currencies
- United States dollarISO 4217: USD · $
Language and currency data are drawn from open sources and reflect the official position rather than the full sociolinguistic picture on the ground. Many countries recognise minority and regional languages in addition to the official ones listed here, and some use multiple currencies in practice — particularly in border regions and tourist economies.
Practical information
Palau operates on a single time zone, UTC+09:00, and uses the country-code top-level domain .pw online. Vehicles drive on the right-hand side of the road. Palau is a recognised member state of the United Nations.
- Time zonesUTC+09:00
- Top-level domain.pw
- Driving sideRight
- UN memberYes
- LandlockedNo
- IndependentYes
- DemonymPalauan
Maps & downloads
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About this profile
This page is one of 250 country profiles on MapVista. The structured facts are sourced from open datasets that aggregate official records — see our methodology for the full list of sources and how we handle disputes, succession, and edge cases. The narrative paragraphs are written to give context to the numbers, but the figures themselves are not invented; if a value is missing it is shown as a dash rather than a guess.
If you spot an out-of-date figure or a misclassification, please reach us via the contact page. We refresh the underlying dataset regularly and corrections are applied at the next rebuild.