Palau 🇵🇼

Quick facts

• Capital: Ngerulmud
• Continent: Oceania
• Population: 18,055
• Area: 459 km²
• Density: 39.3 people per km²
• Currency: USD
• Languages: Palauan, English
• ISO code: PW

Where Palau sits

Palau 🇵🇼 is one of 14 countries in Oceania, with its capital at Ngerulmud. It covers 459 square kilometres — 182nd in the world — and is home to about 18,055 people, 194th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji and Solomon Islands. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Palau compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Palau sits closest to Nauru and Tuvalu. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Seychelles and Andorra.

At 39.3 people per square kilometre it is about 1.5 times below the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by area than by population, so it is more spacious than its population alone suggests.

Palauan is listed as official in Palau alone. The USD is shared with 6 other countries, including Ecuador, El Salvador and Marshall Islands, and 3 others.

To see Palau next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Palau

Ngerulmud replaced Koror as the capital in 2006, so older answers may say Koror. For the flag, picture a full moon over the ocean, placed a little to one side.

The flag of Palau: light blue and yellow

🇵🇼 The flag is a light blue flag with a large yellow disc a little to the left of centre. The blue stands for the ocean and the yellow disc for the full moon, a symbol of peace, love and calm.

Region and neighbours

Palau is an island country in the western Pacific Ocean, in Micronesia, southeast of the Philippines. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Palau

1. In 2009 Palau created the world's first shark sanctuary, banning commercial shark fishing in its waters.
2. The Rock Islands Southern Lagoon is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
3. In Jellyfish Lake, millions of golden jellyfish swim across the water every day.

Sources: Wikipedia: Palau, Wikipedia: Flag of Palau, Wikipedia: Ngerulmud, Wikipedia: Rock Islands, Wikipedia: Jellyfish Lake, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Palau

• Oceania capitals quiz — match Palau to Ngerulmud
• Oceania flags quiz — spot the Palau flag among its neighbours
• Island nations quiz — Palau is an island country

Quizzes that include Palau

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Palau those are:

• Oceania map quiz — place it on a blank map
• Oceania flags quiz — identify its flag among its neighbours
• Oceania capitals quiz — match it to Ngerulmud
• Palau capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Palau
• Daily Map Challenge — five countries to find on a blank world map, the same five for everyone each day

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Palau

• Capital of Palau: Ngerulmud — the capital in detail, with size and density rankings
• All 14 countries of Oceania

Nearby countries

• Australia 🇦🇺 — capital Canberra
• Fiji 🇫🇯 — capital Suva
• Kiribati 🇰🇮 — capital Tarawa
• Marshall Islands 🇲🇭 — capital Majuro
• Micronesia 🇫🇲 — capital Palikir
• Nauru 🇳🇷 — capital Yaren
• New Zealand 🇳🇿 — capital Wellington
• Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 — capital Port Moresby
• Samoa 🇼🇸 — capital Apia
• Solomon Islands 🇸🇧 — capital Honiara
• Tonga 🇹🇴 — capital Nukuʻalofa
• Tuvalu 🇹🇻 — capital Funafuti

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Palau flag?

The flag of Palau is a light blue flag with a large yellow disc a little to the left of centre. The blue stands for the ocean and the yellow disc for the full moon, a symbol of peace, love and calm.

Which countries border Palau?

None. Palau is an island country in the western Pacific Ocean, in Micronesia, southeast of the Philippines, so it has no land borders with other countries.

How can I remember the capital of Palau?

Ngerulmud replaced Koror as the capital in 2006, so older answers may say Koror. For the flag, picture a full moon over the ocean, placed a little to one side.