Niue

Official name: Niue

Capital city: Alofi

Internet country code: .nu

Flag description: Yellow with the flag of the United Kingdom in the upper hoist-side quadrant; the flag of the United Kingdom bears five yellow five-pointed stars - a large one on a blue disk in the center and a smaller one on each arm of the bold red cross

Geographical description: Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, east of Tonga

Total area: 100 sq. mi. (260 sq. km.)

Climate: Tropical; modified by southeast trade winds

Nationality: noun: Niuean(s); adjective: Niuean

Population: 1,492 (July 2007 CIA est.)

Ethnic groups: Niuen 78.2%, Pacific Islander 10.2%, Euro­pean 4.5%, mixed 3.9%, Asian 0.2%, unspecified 3%

Languages spoken: Niuean, a Polynesian language closely related to Tongan and Samoan; English

Religions: Ekalesia Niue (Niuean Church - a Protestant church closely related to the London Missionary Society) 61.1%, Latter-Day Saints 8.8%, Roman Catholic 7.2%, Jehovah’s Witnesses 2.4%, Seventh-Day Adventist 1.4%, other 8.4%, unspecified 8.7%, none 1.9%

(also Savage), an island in the southern Pacific, in Polynesia, belonging to New Zealand. Area, 259 sq km. Population, 5,000 (1970). The administrative center is Alofi. Niue is a coral island that was once an atoll; the depression in the center of the island is the relict of an ancient lagoon. The maximum elevation is 91 m. The economy is based on the production of copra and bananas and on handicrafts. The island was discovered in 1774 by J. Cook.