Facts at a Glance

• Population as at 31 December 2004 stood at 840,201. Of this total 456,207 are Fijians; 320,659 are Indians and 63,335 are classed as Others¹.
  
• Suva is the country’s capital city and is one of two cities in Fiji.  The other city, Lautoka, is also located on the country’s main island of Viti Levu.
  
• Fiji lies in the heart of the Pacific Ocean and has an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) containing about 330 islands, of which a third are inhabited. 
  
• Fiji’s total land area is 18,333 square kilometers.  Viti Levu and Vanua Levu are its two main islands.  Other main islands are Taveuni, Kadavu, Gau and Koro. 
  
• 87.9 percent of Fiji's land is owned by indigenous Fijians; 3.91 percent is state land, and 7.94 per cent is classed as freehold land.  Only 16 per cent of Fiji's land is suitable for agriculture and this is found mainly along coastal plains, rivers, deltas and valleys².
  
• The main agricultural produce, and livestock are sugarcane, coconuts, cassava (tapioca), rice, sweet potatoes, bananas; cattle, pigs, horses, goats; fish
  
• Fiji's main domestic exports are Sugar, Gold, Garments, Fish, Molasses and Lumber and the main imports are Manufactured goods, Machinery and Transport Equipment, Chemicals and Foodstuff.
  
• Tourism, Mining, Manufacturing, Inforformation and Communication Technology (ICT), Value Adding in the Fisheries and Timber are dominated by foreign investors.
  
• Fiji's major trading parties are Australia, New Zealand, and the US with Pacific Island neighbours Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Vanuatu.
  
• Fiji's trade regime has 3 components: Bilateral Trade Agreements (BTAs), the Melanesian Spearhead Group Trade Agreement (MSGTA), the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) and the Pacific Agreement on Closer Link Relations (PACER) and the third component is the multilateral trading system.  On a regional level , SPARTECA offers duty free excess to the products of Forum Island countries to the markets of Australia and New Zealand subject to "Rules of Origin" regulations. The ACP-EU Cotonou Convention guarantees preferential access of Fiji's sugar through the Sugar Protocol for a set quota price above the world market price. 

¹ Bureau of Statistics, Fiji

² Fiji Today, Ministry of National Reconciliation, Information and Media Relations, 2002

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