Demographics of Palau

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Palau, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

About 70% of the Palauan population lives in the city of Koror on Koror Island. Koror is the former capital and the present capital is Ngerulmud, in Melekeok State on the bigger but less developed island of Babeldaob—the second-largest island in Micronesia after Guam.

Vital statistics[]

Births and deaths^[1]

Year	Population	Live births	Deaths	Natural increase	Crude birth rate	Crude death rate	Rate of natural increase	TFR
1990	15,122	326	117	209	21.6	7.7	13.9	2.79
1991	15,575	347	102	245	22.4	6.5	15.9
1992	15,969	377	116	261	23.6	7.3	16.3
1993	16,361	355	116	239	21.7	7.1	14.6
1994	16,744	373	129	244	22.3	7.7	14.6
1995	17,225	399	110	289	23.2	6.4	16.8	2.33
1996	17,600	355	144	211	20.2	8.2	12.0
1997	18,061	330	121	209	18.3	6.7	11.6
1998	18,494	280	125	155	15.1	6.8	8.3
1999	18,882	250	131	119	13.2	6.9	6.3
2000	19,129	278	125	153	14.5	6.5	8.0	1.83
2001	19,626	300	138	162	15.3	7.0	8.3
2002	19,976	259	134	125	13.0	6.7	6.3
2003	20,304	312	136	176	15.4	6.7	8.7
2004	20,610	259	142	117	12.6	6.9	5.7
2005	19,907	279	134	145	14.0	6.7	7.3	2.02
2006	21,669	259	144	115	12.0	7.2	4.8
2007	20,227	279	152	127	13.8	7.5	6.3
2008	20,389	295	170	125	14.5	8.4	6.1
2009	20,552	273	174	99	13.3	8.5	4.8
2010	20,717	247	168	79	11.9	8.1	3.8
2011	20,882	247	173	74	11.8	8.3	3.5
2012	17,501	268	164	104	15.3	9.4	5.9	2.23
2013	17,554	229	192	37	13.0	10.9	2.1
2014	17,607	241	167	74	13.7	9.5	4.2
2015	17,661	242	136	106	13.7	7.7	6.0	2.21
2016	17,715	212	175	37	12.0	9.9	2.1
2017	17,769	221	183	38	12.4	10.3	2.1
2018	18,302	256	143	113	14.0	7.8	6.2
2019	18,851	212	192	20	11.2	10.2	1.0
2020	19,417	213	148	65	11.0	7.6	3.4

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics[]

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook (2020 est), unless otherwise indicated.^[2]

Population[]

• 21,685 (July 2020 est.)

Age structure[]

• 0–14 years: 18.68% (male 2,090 /female 1,961)
• 15–24 years: 15.86% (male 1,723 /female 1,716)
• 25–54 years: 45.33% (male 6,026 /female 3,804)
• 55–64 years: 10.68% (male 853 /female 1,463)
• 65 years and over: 9.45% (male 501 /female 1,548) (2020 est.)

Population growth rate[]

• 0.39% (2020 est.)

Birth rate[]

• 11.3 births/1,000 population (2020 est.)

Death rate[]

• 8.3 deaths/1,000 population (2020 est.)

Net migration rate[]

• 0.9 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2020 est.)

Sex ratio[]

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female

• 0–14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
• 15–24 years: 1 male(s)/female
• 25–54 years: 1.58 male(s)/female
• 55–64 years: 0.58 male(s)/female
• 65 years and over: 0.32 male(s)/female
• Total population: 1.07 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

Infant mortality rate[]

• Total: 9.8 deaths/1,000 live births
• Male: 11.2 deaths/1,000 live births
• Female: 8.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2020 est.)

Life expectancy at birth[]

• Total population: 74.1 years
• Male: 70.9 years
• Female: 77.5 years (2020 est.)

Total fertility rate[]

• 1.7 children born/woman (2020 est.)

Nationality[]

• Palauans (noun)
• Palauan (adjective)

Ethnic groups[]

• Palauan (Micronesian with Malayan and Melanesian admixtures) 73%
• Carolinian 2%
• Asian 21.7%
• White 1.2%,
• Other 2.1% (2020 est.)

Religions[]

• Roman Catholic 45.3%
• Protestant 34.9% (includes Protestant (general) 26.4%)
• Seventh-day Adventist 6.9%,
• Other Protestant 1.6%
• Modekngei 5.7% (indigenous to Palau)
• Islam (Muslims) 3%
• Mormonism 1.5%
• Other 9.7%

(2015 est.)^[3]

Languages[]

• Palauan (official on most islands) 65.2%
• Other Micronesian 1.9%
• English (official) 19.1%
• Filipino 9.9%
• Chinese 1.2%
• Other 2.8% (2015 est.)

Literacy[]

Definition: age 15 and over can read and write

• Total population: 96.6%
• Male: 96.8%
• Female: 96.3% (2015 est.)

References[]