Oceania
To which language should you translate to localize in Vanuatu?
LANGUAGE INSIGHT
Official language
Bislama (33.7%; 112k), English (2%; 6k), French (0.6%; 2k)
Actual languages
Bislama (33.7%; 112k), English (2%; 6k), French (0.6%; 2k), other (63.7%; 213k)
What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in Vanuatu
(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)
- 11/150 localize by translating into English
- 3/150 localize by translating into both English and French
- 1/150 localizes by translating into Bislama, English and French
- 1/150 localizes by translating into Bikol
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3M
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ABB
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Accenture
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Adidas
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Adobe
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Airbnb
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Aldi
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Amazon
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American Airlines
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American Express
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Apple
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Audi
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Autodesk
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Avis
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Bayer
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BMW
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Booking.com
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Bosch
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British Airways
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Bumble
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Burberry
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BYD
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Canon
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Capgemini
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Cartier
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Caterpillar
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Chevrolet
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Cisco Systems
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Citibank
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Coca-Cola
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Costco
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Dell
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Deloitte
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Delta
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DHL
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Disney+
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Dyson
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eBay
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Eli Lilly
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Emirates
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Ernst & Young
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Facebook
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FedEx
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Ford
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Four Seasons
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Fujifilm
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GE
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Gillette
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GoDaddy
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Google
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Gucci
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Haier
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Heineken
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Hermès
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Hertz
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Hilton
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Hisense
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Hitachi
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Honda
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Hotels.com
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HP
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HP Enterprise
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HSBC
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Huawei
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Hyatt
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Hyundai
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IBM
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IKEA
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Intel
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InterContinental Hotels
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J&J
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Jack Daniel's
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Jehovah’s Witnesses
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John Deere
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Kellogg's
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Kia
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KPMG
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L'Oréal
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Land Rover
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LEGO
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Lenovo
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Lexus
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LG
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Louis Vuitton
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Lululemon
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LUSH
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Marriott
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MasterCard
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McDonald's
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Mercedes-Benz
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Merck
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Microsoft
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Mitsubishi Electric
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Nestlé
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Netflix
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Nike
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Nikon
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Nintendo
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Nio
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Nissan
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NIVEA
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Oracle
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Pampers
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Panasonic
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PayPal
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Pepsi
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Pfizer
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Philips
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Pitney Bowes
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Porsche
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Procter & Gamble
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PWC
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Revolut
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Rolex
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Royal Caribbean
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Salesforce
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Samsung
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Sanofi
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SAP
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Sephora
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Shopify
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Siemens
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Sony
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Spotify
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Starbucks
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Steelcase
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Stripe
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Subaru
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Tesla
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
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Tiffany
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Tinder
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Toshiba
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Toyota
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TripAdvisor
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Uber
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United Airlines
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UPS
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Visa
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Volkswagen
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Volvo Cars
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Vrbo
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Walmart
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Western Union
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Wikipedia
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Wise
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WordPress
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Workday
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Xerox
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Xiaomi (Mi)
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Zara
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Zoom
If you need others information, below you can find a selection of economic/social/cultural data
Overview
Language
Official language
Bislama (33.7%), English (2%), French (0.6%)
Demography
Capital: Port Vila
Currency: Vanuatu Vatu
Population: 320k
Population density: 26/km2
Economy
GDP: 1.13 billion USD (2023)
GDP per capita: 3.367,09 USD ‎(2023) ‎
Exports: $205 Million (2022)
Statistics
Internet users: 69.9% penetration, 236.5 thousand
Unemployment rate: 5.1% (2023)
Urbanisation: 26% (2023)
Literacy: 89.1% (2021)
Conventions
Numbering system
Arabic numerals and comma as decimal separator
Date format: dd-mm-yyyy
Time: 24h time system
Country code: 00678
Language data sources: Worldatlas/Britannica//EF/Wikipedia; Demography data sources: IMF/Worldometers; Conventions data source: Wikipedia; Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal; Statistics data sources: Datareportal/WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF/Culturalatlas/Commisceoglobal/Worlddata.info
Facts and data
Economy
Imports
$395 million (2022). Refined Petroleum ($73.9M), Passenger and Cargo Ships ($19.9M), Poultry Meat ($9.55M), Broadcasting Equipment ($9.51M), and Delivery Trucks ($9.2M), importing mostly from China ($95.9M), Australia ($58.5M), Malaysia ($49M), New Zealand ($34.5M), and Fiji ($31.3M).
Ease of doing business
The ease of conducting business is medium (rated 61.1 out of 100) ranked 15th out of 25 East Asian and Pacific countries, ranked 107th out of 190 countries worldwide (2024, World Bank).
Exports
$205 million (2022). Non-fillet Frozen Fish ($152M), Perfume Plants ($18.7M), Fish Fillets ($10M), Copra ($8.91M), and Molluscs ($5.62M), exporting mostly to Thailand ($86.1M), Japan ($55.5M), South Korea ($14.1M), Philippines ($12.9M), and China ($10.1M).
Economic freedom
‘Moderately free’ (62.2 out of 100) ranked 12th out of 39 Asian-Pacific countries, ranked 65th out of 184 countries worldwide (2024, Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal).
Economy data sources: WTO/OEC/CIA/Esomar/Datareportal
Service Imports (2014)
Service Exports (2014)
Source: OEC
Trade balance of goods from 2013 to 2023
Source: Statista
Historical Data Trade Imports
The following section uses historical trade data imports from partners of Vanuatu.
Historical Data Trade Exports
The following section uses historical trade data exports from partners of Vanuatu.
Source: OEC
The Top Export Opportunities for Vanuatu by Relatedness
Relatedness measures the distance between a country's current exports and each product by showing only products that Vanuatu is not specialized in.
Vanuatu's Most Complex Exports
The Product Complexity Index (PCI) measures the knowledge intensity of a product by considering the knowledge intensity of its exporters.
Source: OEC
Vanuatu's Most Specialized Products
Specialization is measured using Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), an index that takes the ratio between Vanuatu observed and expected exports in each product.
Source: OEC
Market Growth Imports (2014)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start importing that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Market Growth Exports (2014)
This score represents the likelihood that the given country will start exporting that product in the next few years. It forecasts the opening of a new specific market.
Source: OEC
Foreign direct investment, net inflows (% of GDP)
Source: WorldBank
T-index
Reach most of the online purchasing power
T-Index ranks countries according to their potential for online sales. It estimates the market share of each country in relation to global e-commerce.
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Media language
French, English
Information channels
The single TV channel on Vanuatu was established with the help of Radio France Overseas (RFO) and broadcasts in French and English. Radio Vanuatu runs a shortwave and mediumwave (AM) service, as well as local commercial FM stations.
BBC World Service (99 MHz), Radio Australia, Radio France Internationale and China Radio International are available on FM.
There is a government newspaper, Vanuatu Weekly, and a handful of privately-owned papers.
The press
Vanuatu Weekly – state-owned
Nasara – private weekly
Vanuatu Daily Post – published Monday-Saturday
L’Hebdo Du Vanuatu – French-language, from publisher of Daily Post
The Vanuatu Independent – private weekly
Port Vila Presse – private weekly
Ni-Vanuatu – private weekly
Television
Television Blong Vanuatu – operated by state-owned Vanuatu Broadcasting and Television Corporation (VBTC)
Radio
Radio Vanuatu – operated by state-owned VBTC
Capital FM 107 – private, Port Vila
Laef FM – Christian, Port Vila
Media data source: BBC
Internet Data
Internet users
69.9% penetration, 236.5 thousand
Share of web traffic by device
82.33% mobile phones, 16.62% computers (laptops and desktops), 1.05% tablet devices.
Median speed of fixed Internet connection
12.35 mbps
Mobile connection as a percentage of total population: 77%
Percentage of mobile connections that are broadband (3G-5G): 94.6%
Most popular web search engines
Google (90.21%), Bing (8.02%), Yahoo! (0.9%), DuckDuckGo (0.28%), Baidu (0.21%), other (0.37%).
Most used social media
Facebook (99.64%), Pinterest (0.13%), Twitter (0.11%), Instagram (0.05%), YouTube (0.05%), Reddit (0.01%), LinkedIn (0.01%), other (0.2%).
Internet data sources: Datareportal/Statcounter
Social statistics
Life expectancy
70 years (2022)
CO2 emissions
0.71 metric tons per capita
Corruption perceptions Index
Vanuatu scored 48 out of 100, ranked 60th out 180 countries worldwide.
Current education expenditure
99.4% of total expenditure in public institutions
Current health expenditure
4.37% of GDP (2021)
Social statistics sources: WorldBank/UN/UNESCO/CEIC/IMF
The Data Factbook is a work in progress project. Our community is helping us to fill it up always with new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write your advices at imminent@translated.com
Country Curiosities
The word taboo originates from the Bislama word tabu in Vanuatu, meaning forbidden or sacred. In Polynesian culture, tapu referred to divine restrictions meant to protect health, life, and ancient wisdom. British explorer James Cook noted the practice in Tonga in 1777, and the term entered English. Today, “taboo” describes societal or cultural prohibitions, but its roots lie in respect, discipline, and sacred boundaries in Polynesian traditions.
Additionally…
- Vanuatu has 113 distinct languages, making it one of the world’s most culturally diverse nations.
- The country has three official languages: Bislama, French, and English.
- 62% of Vanuatu’s population is under 24, making it a young and vibrant country.
- Vanuatu is an archipelago of 83 islands, with 65 inhabited by its people.
- It was ranked the world’s “happiest place” on the Happy Planet Index twice in a row.
- Before independence in 1980, Vanuatu was jointly ruled by France and the UK as the New Hebrides.
- For a $130 investment, you can get Vanuatu citizenship and visa-free access to 130+ countries.
- The island of Pentecost’s land diving tradition inspired the modern bungee jumping craze.
- Vanuatu means “this land is forever” in its native languages.
- Vanuatu is one of the few nations without a standing army, focusing on peace and diplomacy.
The geographical distribution of languages that you will find in the maps published in this section is a work in progress. Our community is helping us to fill it up with always new and updated data. Your contribution is precious. If you want to help us, please write to imminent.factbook@translated.com
Photo credit: Aoraee, iStock