Country · Oceania
Samoa
Independent State of Samoa
Samoa is a country in Polynesia. Its capital city is Apia. About 196 thousand people live there, in an area of 2 842 square kilometres.
Picture credit: Stephen Glauser (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Rickard Törnblad (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Rickard Törnblad (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Michael Coghlan (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Michael Coghlan (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Samoa?
Samoa lies in Polynesia, on the continent of Oceania.
It sits in the southern half of the world, roughly 1 512 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 403 km long.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is Samoa?
Samoa covers 2 842 square kilometres.
Switzerland is about 15 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 166th largest.
Spread out evenly, that is roughly 69 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Samoa?
About 196 thousand people live in Samoa.
That is the 175th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Samoan.
They pay with the Samoan tālā (T).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 69 years.
The land of Samoa
Its coast runs for about 403 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 20 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Samoa different?
Websites from here often end in .ws.
Samoa and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about 0 live in Samoa.
It takes up about 0 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Oceania it is the 7th largest of 14 countries, and the 7th most populated.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Where this country lands in the record lists
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Samoa?
The capital of Samoa is Apia. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Samoa?
About 196 thousand people live in Samoa, which makes it the 175th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Samoa?
Samoa covers 2 842 square kilometres, making it the 166th largest country in the world. Switzerland is about 15 times bigger.
Which continent is Samoa in?
Samoa is in Oceania, in the part called Polynesia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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