At One Place

Palau

Palau
Capital Ngerulmud
459 km² · 17,663 people (2025) · United States dollar

About 340 islands, most of them the Rock Islands — forested limestone mushrooms undercut at the waterline. Jellyfish Lake holds millions of golden jellyfish that have lost most of their sting after being cut off from the sea. In 2015 Palau closed eighty percent of its waters to commercial fishing, one of the largest marine sanctuaries in the world.

The facts

Capital
Ngerulmud
Largest city
Koror
Area
459 km² — 177 sq mi
Population
17,663 (2025)
Density
38.5 people per km²
Currency
United States dollar (USD, $)
Official languages
English, Palauan
Time zone
UTC+09:00
Calling code
+680
Drives on the
right
ISO codes
PW · PLW
Continent
Oceania

How it compares

By area
185 of 200
By population
197 of 200

Population is the only figure on this page that dates — it is a 2025 estimate and will drift. Area, capital, currency, languages, calling code and driving side change rarely or never.

Countries of a similar size

Country Area (km²) Population
Saint Lucia 616 180,149
Andorra 468 82,904
Palau ← 459 17,663
Seychelles 455 122,730
Antigua and Barbuda 443 94,209

Common questions

What is the capital of Palau?
Ngerulmud
What currency does Palau use?
The United States dollar (USD).
How big is Palau?
459 km², or 177 square miles — 185 of 200 by area.
Which side of the road does Palau drive on?
The right.

Related pages

Sources

  1. The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (Public domain (US Government))
  2. World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (CC BY 4.0)

How these figures are compiled and checked