Samoa is in the Oceania region between Hawaii and New Zealand. It maintains an almost central position in Polynesia. In land area, Samoa with its 403km coastline is only slightly smaller than Rhode Island. It is a group of 9 volcanic islands, five of them uninhabited, with the two main ones, Savaii and Upolu making up more than 99% of the total area. Three quarters of the people live on Upolu where the capital, Apia, is located. The islands are mountainous inland and most of the people reside on the narrow coastal plains. The last volcanic eruption was of Mount Silisili in 1911, which is still considered potentially active. Natural resources include hardwood forests, fish and hydropower. Environmental risks vary from natural: cyclones, earthquakes, tsunami, invasive species, plant disease and soil erosion, to economic: deforestation and overfishing.

Economically, Samoa is dependent on aid, remittances, agriculture, fishing and small-scale manufacturing. Two thirds of the labour force is in the agricultural sector, which produces 90% of Samoa’s exports. Main exports are coconut cream coconut oil and copra. Tourism is an expanding market, with the service sector a large part of the economy. Environmental risks affect both the agricultural sector and tourism greatly. While the agricultural sector employs a large amount of people, most employment is in the informal sector: subsistence agriculture and low-level commercial enterprises. Only 14% of people are formally employed. The economy is also supported by production of electrical wiring harnesses for motor vehicles that are exported to Australia.

The official name of the island group is the Independent State of Samoa (Malo Sa’oloto Tuto’atasi o Samoa), changed from Western Samoa in 1997, but more commonly referred to as Samoa. The name Samoa derives from the word Sa, or sacred and moa, centre, and fully means the ‘sacred centre of the universe’.

The largest part of the population are Samoan with the rest made up of Euronesian (European and Polynesian mix), European, Chinese and other Pacific people. Samoans are the second largest Polynesian group after Māori. Most of the population lives in villages close to the shore, with only 23% in urban areas. 150,000 Samoans live abroad, mainly in New Zealand, the US and American Samoa. Over half the Samoans who live in New Zealand were born there. The population is 98.9% Christian with the focus being on the extended family, or aiga. An elected chief, or matai, is head of the extended aiga; the matai alone are allowed to run in elections for 47 of the 49 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Samoan, believed to be the oldest form of Polynesian speech, is the official language, but English is also widely spoken throughout Samoa.

Television and radio stations are both government and privately run, and there is a private press. There are also television and radio broadcasts of several stations from American Samoa. The first independent television channel started in 2006. Samoan television and radio stations are:

Television

TV1 – Samoa Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) - state run, commercial
TV3 – privately run
Vaiala Beach Television (VBTV) – privately run

Radio

Magik FM – popular music
Talofa FM – Samoan language and music
KLite FM – easy listening
Samoa Broadcasting Corporation – state run, commercial, AM & FM