Solomon Islands 🇸🇧

Quick facts

• Capital: Honiara
• Continent: Oceania
• Population: 724,273
• Area: 28,896 km²
• Density: 25.1 people per km²
• Currency: SBD
• Languages: English
• ISO code: SB

Where Solomon Islands sits

Solomon Islands 🇸🇧 is one of 14 countries in Oceania, with its capital at Honiara. It covers 28,896 square kilometres — 140th in the world — and is home to about 724,273 people, 164th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji and Vanuatu. 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 Solomon Islands compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Solomon Islands sits closest to Bhutan and Luxembourg. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Albania and Equatorial Guinea.

At 25.1 people per square kilometre it is about 2.4 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.

English is an official language in 58 countries here, among them Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas and Barbados, and 53 others. The SBD is used by Solomon Islands and no one else.

To see Solomon Islands 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 Solomon Islands

Honiara, the capital, is on the island of Guadalcanal. For the flag: sea (blue) and land (green), split by a stripe of sunshine.

The flag of Solomon Islands: blue, green, yellow and white

🇸🇧 The flag is divided diagonally by a thin yellow stripe, with a blue triangle and five white stars in the top-left and a green triangle in the bottom-right. Blue stands for the ocean, green for the land, yellow for sunshine, and the five stars originally for the main island groups.

Region and neighbours

Solomon Islands is an island country in the South Pacific, in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Solomon Islands

1. The country is made up of six main islands and hundreds of smaller ones.
2. East Rennell, the largest raised coral atoll in the world, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
3. Marovo Lagoon is the largest lagoon in the world enclosed by a double barrier reef.

Sources: Wikipedia: Solomon Islands, Wikipedia: Flag of Solomon Islands, Wikipedia: Honiara, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Solomon Islands

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

Quizzes that include Solomon Islands

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Solomon Islands 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 Honiara
• Solomon Islands capital quiz — five quick questions starting with Solomon Islands
• 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 Solomon Islands

• Capital of Solomon Islands: Honiara — 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
• Palau 🇵🇼 — capital Ngerulmud
• Papua New Guinea 🇵🇬 — capital Port Moresby
• Samoa 🇼🇸 — capital Apia
• Tonga 🇹🇴 — capital Nukuʻalofa
• Tuvalu 🇹🇻 — capital Funafuti

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Solomon Islands flag?

The flag of Solomon Islands is divided diagonally by a thin yellow stripe, with a blue triangle and five white stars in the top-left and a green triangle in the bottom-right. Blue stands for the ocean, green for the land, yellow for sunshine, and the five stars originally for the main island groups.

Which countries border Solomon Islands?

None. Solomon Islands is an island country in the South Pacific, in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, so it has no land borders with other countries.

How can I remember the capital of Solomon Islands?

Honiara, the capital, is on the island of Guadalcanal. For the flag: sea (blue) and land (green), split by a stripe of sunshine.