Country Facts - Guam

The People

Nationality

Guamanian(s)

Ethnic Composition

Chamorro	37%
Filipino	26%
White	10%
Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other	27%

Religious Composition

Roman Catholic	85%
Other	15%

(1999)

Languages Spoken

English, Chamorro, Japanese

Education and Literacy

Guam's overall adult literacy is around 99 percent. Among both males and females the average is the same i.e. 99 percent.

Labor Force

Total: 60,000 (2000)

By occupation:

Services	40%
Government	26%
Trade	24%
Private	74%
Industry	10%

Geography

Land Mass Total

211 sq mi (549 sq km)

Land

211 sq mi (549 sq km)

Water

0 sq mi (

0 sq km)

Land Boundaries

0 mi (0 km), island

Coastline

77.9 mi (125.5 km)

Maritime claim

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Territorial sea: 12 nm

Climate/Weather

Tropical marine; generally warm and humid, moderated by northeast trade winds; dry season from January to June, rainy season from July to December; little seasonal temperature variation.

Terrain

Volcanic origin, surrounded by coral reefs; relatively flat coralline limestone plateau (source of most fresh water), with steep coastal cliffs and narrow coastal plains in north, low-rising hills in center, mountains in south.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Pacific Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Mount Lamlam 1,332 ft (406 m)

Natural Resources

Fishing (largely undeveloped), tourism (especially from Japan).

Land use

Arable land	11%
Permanent crops	11%
Other	78%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Frequent squalls during rainy season; relatively rare, but potentially very destructive typhoons (especially in August).

Environment - current issues

Extirpation of native bird population by the rapid proliferation of the brown tree snake, an exotic species.

Geography Note

Largest and southernmost island in the Mariana Islands archipelago; strategic location in western North Pacific Ocean.

Demographics

Population

160,796 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	35.1%	male 29,706	female 26,813
15-64 years:	58.6%	male 49,457	female 44,697
65 years and over:	6.3%	male 5,070	female 5,053

(2002)

Growth Rate

1.99% (2002)

Life Expectancy

78.11 years (2002)
female: 80.72 years
male: 75.81 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$21,000 (2000)

Infant Mortality

6.58 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.14 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.11 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	1.11 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	1 male(s)/female
Total population:	1.1 male(s)/female

(2002))

Net migration rate

0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

The economy depends on U.S. military spending, tourism, and the export of fish and handicrafts. Total U.S. grants, wage payments, and procurement outlays amounted to $1 billion in 1998. Over the past 20 years, the tourist industry has grown rapidly, creating a construction boom for new hotels and the expansion of older ones. More than one million tourists visit Guam each year. The industry has recently suffered setbacks because of the continuing Japanese slowdown; the Japanese normally make up almost 90 percent of the tourists. Most food and industrial goods are imported. Guam faces the problem of building up the civilian economic sector to offset the impact of military downsizing. However, the expansion of U.S. global military operations beginning in 2002 has helped alleviate pressure in this area. Potential conflicts involving North Korea also look to keep Guam as an active military base for some time to come.

Unemployment

15% (2000)

Inflation Rate

0% (1999)

Industries

US military, tourism, construction, transshipment services, concrete products, printing and publishing, food processing, textiles.

Exports

$75.7 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Imports

$203 million (f.o.b., 1999)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$3.2 billion (2000)

Top Export Partners

US 25%

Top Import Partners

US 23%, Japan 19%

Top Exports

Mostly transshipments of refined petroleum products; construction materials, fish, food and beverage products.

Top Imports

Petroleum and petroleum products, food, manufactured goods.

Debt - external

Economic aid

Guam receives large transfer payments from the US Federal Treasury ($143 million in 1997) into which Guamanians pay no income or excise taxes; under the provisions of a special law of Congress, the Guam Treasury, rather than the US Treasury, receives federal income taxes paid by military and civilian Federal employees stationed in Guam.

Fiscal Year:

October 1 to September 30

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices
Retail
Banks	Monday to Thursday 10a.m. to 3p.m., and 4:30p.m. to 7:30p.m.; Friday 10a.m. to 6p.m.	Saturday 9a.m. to 12p.m.; Sunday Closed
Government

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Martin Luther King Jr. Day¹	January 20	January 19	January 17
Presidents' Day/Washington's Birthday²	February 17	February 16	February 21
Guam Discovery Day³	March 3	March 1	March 7
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter*¹	April 20	April 11	March 27
Memorial Day*²	May 26	May 24	May 30
Independence Day	July 4	July 4	July 4
Liberation Day	July 21	July 21	July 21
Labor Day*³	September 1	September 6	September 5
All Souls Day	November 2	November 2	November 2
Veterans' Day	November 11	November 11	November 11
Thanksgiving Day**¹	November 27	November 25	November 24
Our Lady of Camarin Day	December 8	December 8	December 8
Christmas**²	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Martin Luther King Jr. Day commemorates the birthday of the late Civil Rights leader. Observed the third Monday of January.
²	In 1971, Richard Nixon proclaimed the third Monday of February in honor of all past presidents. Banks are closed on this day.
³	Takes place the first Monday in March.
*¹	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later. Easter coincides with Spring Break, a school holiday. Some people take the whole week before Easter off.
*²	Memorial Day is a federal holiday officially observed the last Monday in May, and is a day of remembrance for those who died in service to the country.
*³	Labor Day celebrates the working class, and is also the last fling of summer. Usually taken as a three-day weekend, it is celebrated the first Monday of September.
**¹	Historic day celebrating the Pilgrims first plentiful harvest. Celebrated on the third Thursday of November.
**²	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D. 320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press