Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Micronesia, part of the Oceania region in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba of Kiribati about 300 km (190 mi) to the east.
History of Nauru, is about Nauru, an island country in the Pacific Ocean. Human activity is thought to have begun roughly 3,000 years ago when clans settled the island. A people and culture developed on the island, the Nauru which had 12 tribes. At the end of the 1700s, a British ship came, and this was the first known contact with the outside world. The British ship called it "pleasant island" and it was a friendly greeting; the British sailed on. Thirty years later, in 1830, an escaped Irish convict took over the island and was finally evicted in 1841. There were scattered interactions with passing vessels and trade. In the mid-to-late 19th century, a devastating civil war started, which took the lives of many Nauru. This war was ended when Germany annexed the island in 1888, and negotiations ended the fighting. In the 1900s, phosphate mining started, and the Germans built some modern facilities on the island. German control ended at the end of World War I, and it was passed to Australia as protectorate. This continued until WW2, when the Empire of Japan invaded the island. Although it was occupied for a few years, many Nauru died at this time, and much of the population was deported from the island and/or used for slave labor. With the surrender of Japan, the Nauru were returned to the island, and it was put under Australian administration again, under the condition it would become independent. This happened in 1968, and Nauru has been a stable democracy since that time. In the last three decades of the 20th century, Nauru had enormous per capita wealth from the phosphate mining, to the point they were some of the richest people on the planet. However, when this ended and the investments were depleted, it has had a harder time, and international aid is important in the 21st century.
The demographics of Nauru, an island country in the Pacific Ocean, are known through national censuses, which have been analysed by various statistical bureaus since the 1920s. The Nauru Bureau of Statistics have conducted this task since 1977—the first census since Nauru gained independence in 1968. The most recent census of Nauru was on 30 October 2021, when population had reached 11,680 people. The population density is 554 inhabitants per square kilometre, and the overall life expectancy is 63.9 years. The population rose steadily from the 1960s until 2006 when the Government of Nauru repatriated thousands of Tuvaluan and I-Kiribati workers from the country. Since 1992, Nauru's birth rate has exceeded its death rate; the natural growth rate is positive. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15–59-year-old segment (57%). The median age of the population is 21.6, and the estimated gender ratio of the population is 101.8 males per 100 females.
The politics of Nauru take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nauru is the head of government of the executive branch. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the parliament. The Judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
The economy of Nauru is tiny, based on a population in 2019 of only 11,550 people. The economy has historically been based on phosphate mining. With primary phosphate reserves exhausted by the end of the 2010s, Nauru has sought to diversify its sources of income. In 2020, Nauru's main sources of income were the sale of fishing rights in Nauru's territorial waters, and revenue from the Regional Processing Centre.
New World syndrome is a set of non-communicable diseases brought on by consumption of junk food and a sedentary lifestyle, especially common to indigenous peoples of the Americas, Oceania, and circumpolar peoples. It is characterized by obesity, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and shortened life span.
Obesity in Mexico is a relatively recent phenomenon, having been widespread since the 1980s with the introduction of ultra-processed food into much of the Mexican food market. Prior to that, dietary issues were limited to under and malnutrition, which is still a problem in various parts of the country. Following trends already ongoing in other parts of the world, Mexicans have been foregoing the traditional Mexican diet high in whole grains, fruits, legumes and vegetables in favor of a diet with more animal products and ultra-processed foods. It has seen dietary energy intake and rates of overweight and obese people rise with seven out of ten at least overweight and a third clinically obese.
Obesity is common in the United States and is a major health issue associated with numerous diseases, specifically an increased risk of certain types of cancer, coronary artery disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cardiovascular disease, as well as significant increases in early mortality and economic costs.
Obesity in the United Kingdom is a significant contemporary health concern, with authorities stating that it is one of the leading preventable causes of death. In February 2016, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt described rising rates of childhood obesity as a "national emergency". The National Childhood Measurement Programme, which measures obesity prevalence among school-age pupils in reception class and year 6, found obesity levels rocketed in both years groups by more than 4 percentage points between 2019–20 and 2020–21, the highest rise since the programme began. Among reception-aged children, those aged four and five, the rates of obesity rose from 9.9% in 2019–20 to 14.4% in 2020–21. By the time they are aged 10 or 11, more than a quarter are obese. In just 12 months, the rate is up from 21% in 2019–20 to 25.5% in 2020–21.
According to 2007 statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), Australia has the third-highest prevalence of overweight adults in the English-speaking world. Obesity in Australia is an "epidemic" with "increasing frequency." The Medical Journal of Australia found that obesity in Australia more than doubled in the two decades preceding 2003, and the unprecedented rise in obesity has been compared to the same health crisis in America. The rise in obesity has been attributed to poor eating habits in the country closely related to the availability of fast food since the 1970s, sedentary lifestyles and a decrease in the labour workforce.
Pacific island nations and associated states make up the top seven on a 2007 list of heaviest countries, and eight of the top ten. In all these cases, more than 70% of citizens aged 15 and over are obese. A mitigating argument is that the BMI measures used to appraise obesity in Caucasian bodies may need to be adjusted for appraising obesity in Polynesian bodies, which typically have larger bone and muscle mass than Caucasian bodies; however, this would not account for the drastically higher rates of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes among these same islanders.
Obesity in the Middle East and North Africa is a notable health issue. Out of the 15 fattest nations in the world as of 2014, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), five were located in the Middle East and North Africa region.
The Japanese occupation of Nauru was the period of three years during which Nauru, a Pacific island which at that time was under Australian administration, was occupied by the Japanese military as part of its operations in the Pacific War during World War II. With the onset of the war, the islands that flanked Japan's South Seas possessions became of vital concern to Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, and in particular to the Imperial Navy, which was tasked with protecting Japan's outlying Pacific territories.
Obesity in Pakistan is a health issue that has effected concern only in the past few years. Urbanisation, fast food, changing lifestyles and the fact that traditional Pakistani Cuisine tends to be high in fat and sugar are among the root causes contributing to obesity in the country. Pakistan is ranked 165 in terms of its overweight population, with 22.2% of individuals over the age of 15 crossing the threshold of obesity. This ratio roughly corresponds with other studies, which state one-in-four Pakistani adults as being overweight. In Pakistan, the problem of excess weight is quite high among adults.
Health in Malta has seen improvements in recent years, with one of the highest life expectancies in Europe. Malta has a good overall quality of health and has seen rapid growth and improvement in key health indicators. Malta has seen significant development in the practice of mental health which has been supported by new infrastructure and increased government health spending. The introduction of health-focused government initiatives, particularly around nutrition, alcohol, smoking, and health will likely contribute to the further improvement of overall health nationwide.
Health in Qatar has undergone significant improvement in the last several decades as a result of substantial investments in healthcare by the government. Child mortalities have been reduced by over fifty percent since the 1990s. Qatar's healthcare spending is among the highest in the Middle East, with $4.7 billion being invested in healthcare in 2014. The country's progress in health is hampered by exceedingly high rates of obesity, diabetes and genetic disorders.
In Nauru, health is challenged by obesity, limited lifespan and childhood health.
Within the Pacific, Tonga is recognised to have some of the highest overall health standards, implementing a combination of preventative and immediate strategies to curb rates of communicable disease, child mortality and overall life expectancy. The Tongan government aims to continue such levels of health through achieving their Millennium Development Goals (MDG) detailing their focus on improving their healthcare system within the areas of maternal and infant health as well as improve access to immunisation, safe water and sanitation.
The cuisine of Nauru is the traditional cuisine of the island state on the Pacific Ocean.
The effects of phosphate mining in Nauru have had significant negative impacts on the island's environment and economy. One of the most prominent effects of the phosphate mining in Nauru is the extensive environmental degradation that has occurred as a result of the extraction of phosphates. Large areas of the island have been stripped of vegetation and topsoil, leaving behind barren landscapes that are prone to erosion and degradation. The mining activities have also caused significant disruption to the island's ecosystem, leading to a decline in biodiversity and the extinction of several plant and animal species.
