Cook Islands Country Info - Oceania

Description and Basic Information

Cook Islands with its capital Avarua is located in Oceania (Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean). It covers some 241 square kilometres (1.3 times the size of Washington, DC) with 21,388 citizens. English and Maori are the the official languages used in Cook Islands.

The Cook Islands are a self-governing parliamentary democracy in free association with New Zealand, located in Polynesia, in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, named after Captain Cook, who sighted them in 1770. The population of the Cook Islands is less than 15,000 but there are over 50,000 Cook Islanders living in New Zealand, and over 30,000 in Australia. Though the locals often go barefoot, it's not recommended beyond sandy beaches due to the sharp coral rocks. Most of the outer islands turn off the entire electric system (blackout) overnight. Bring a flashlight (torch) with batteries. There are five living languages in the Cook Islands with English and Cook Islands Maori the official languages. Cook Islands Maori is called Rarotongan after the capital island and is the most widely spoken version of Maori in the Islands. The Cook Islands use the New Zealand Dollar, but also issue their own banknotes and coinage, including the unusual $3 notes and the triangular $2 coins. Cook Islands money is only negotiable within the Cook Islands. Overall, much cheaper than nearby Tahiti, though anything imported will be expensive. This especially applies to fuel and to milk. Try the islands' ika mata (raw tuna) with coconut milk, finely chopped vegetables.

Pictures from Capital (Avarua)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Cook Islands

The landscape features low coral atolls in north and volcanic, hilly islands in south. The average density of population is about 89 per km². The climate in Cook Islands can be described as tropical oceanic with moderated by trade winds, a dry season from April to November and a more humid season from December to March. Potential threats by nature are typhoons (November to March).

To reach someone in Cook Islands dial +682 prior to a number. There are 6,900 installed telephones. And there are 7,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".ck". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 240V - 50Hz. The following list are the 1 regions/states in Cook Islands we know off.

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total Cook Islander population shrinked at a rate of -3.26% (or by 374 citizens). With 83 deaths and 180 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 0.85%. -471 persons more in total emmigrated from the country than immigrated.

An overview of age distribution in Cook Islands: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.