Vanuatu
Provinces Vanuatu
Vanuatu is divided into six provinces:
- Malampa
- Penama
- Sanma
- Shefa
- Tafea
- Torba
Demographics
Population growth in Vanuatu, based on data from FAO, 2005; shows the number of inhabitants in thousands.
Vanuatu has a population of 221,506, most of whom live in non-urbanized rural areas, only urban Port Vila and Luganville have more than 10,000 inhabitants. Its inhabitants are called local Ni-Vanuatu, and is 98.5% by Melanesian descent. The remainder are of European, Asian or oceanic origin. Three of the islands were originally colonized by Polynesians. About 2,000 Ni-Vanuatu live and work in New Caledonia.
The country has three official languages: English, French and Bislama. Bislama is a Pidgin, which is now a kreolsprog in the most urbanized areas. It is the only language that is understood and spoken by the majority of Vanuatu’s population and serves as a lingua franca. In addition 113 indigenous languages still spoken actively. The number of languages per capita is the highest for any country in the world, since on average only 2,000 who speak each language. All of these local language belongs to the Oceanic language group, which in turn belongs to the autronesiske family.
Christianity is now the predominant religion in Vanuatu, it is divided into several different directions. About a third of the population belongs to the presbytiske church, making it the largest in the country. The next largest is the Catholic and Anglican churches, each comprising approximately 15% of the population. Small Christian communities exist in particular Seventh-day Adventists.
The large military presence during the second World War meant that the islands received huge amounts of Western goods. This led to the emergence of a series called cargokulte, based partly on local religious traditions and Christians. Most of them quickly disappeared again, but John frum movement on Tanna still have many, including members of its parliament. On Tanna also Prince Philip Movement, which among other things accorded to Prince Philip of Great Britain divine status. There are also a small Muslim community in Vanuatu.
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