| Location | Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands |
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| Geographic coordinates | 0 32 S, 166 55 E |
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| Zone | Oceania |
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| Area | total: 21 sq km
land: 21 sq km
water: 0 sq km |
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| Land boundaries | 0 km |
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| Coastline | 30 km |
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| Maritime claims | territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm |
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| Climate | tropical with a monsoonal pattern; rainy season (November to February) |
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| Terrain | sandy beach rises to fertile ring around raised coral reefs with phosphate plateau in center |
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| Elevation extremes | lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location along plateau rim 61 m |
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| Natural resources | phosphates, fish |
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| Irrigated land | 30 km |
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| Natural hazards | periodic droughts |
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Environment -
current issues | limited natural fresh water resources, roof storage tanks collect rainwater, but mostly dependent on a single, aging desalination plant; intensive phosphate mining during the past 90 years - mainly by a UK, Australia, and NZ consortium - has left the central 90% of Nauru a wasteland and threatens limited remaining land resources |
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Environment -
international agreements | party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
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| Geography - note | Nauru is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the Pacific Ocean - the others are Banaba (Ocean Island) in Kiribati and Makatea in French Polynesia; only 53 km south of Equator |
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