Special distinctions of Nauru

Because of Nauru's small size and colorful history, the country enjoys a number of distinctions; some are commendable, some are dubious.

• Nauru is the world's smallest independent republic in terms of population and land area.
• Nauru is the only country in the world to have no official capital.
• Nauru has one of the world's smallest parliaments.
• Nauru elected national weightlifting star Marcus Stephen to parliament in 2003.
• Nauru had 7 heads of state in 2003 (René Harris, Bernard Dowiyogo, René Harris, Bernard Dowiyogo, Derog Gioura, Ludwig Scotty, René Harris).
• Nauru is widely considered to be the most Westernized country out of all the small Pacific islands.
• The island's traditional culture is all but vanished.
• Nauru's climate is extremely hot and muggy all year round because of its proximity to the Equator.
• Nauru was colonized by the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany and Japan.
• Nauru has the highest rate of adult smoking in the world (around 60%).
• Nauru has the highest rate of diabetes in the world.
• Nauru has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world.
• Nauru has two hotels, two institutions of higher learning (Kayser College, University of the South Pacific, one runway, one airline (Air Nauru), one aircraft, one Internet service provider (CenPacNet), one hospital (Republic of Nauru General Hospital) and one grocery store (Capelle's).
• Nauru has the highest number of post offices per capita of any country in the world.
• Nauru is home to hundreds of Australian asylum seekers and contract workers from Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Philippines and China.
• The island's central plateau, stripped during decades of phosphate mining, is one of the most environmentally degraded areas in the Pacific.
• Nauru has one significant natural body of water (Buada Lagoon).
• Nauru has the highest rate of adherence to the Bahá'í Faith in the world.
• Most of the Nauruan population was deported to Chuuk during World War II.
• Nauru has no natural harbor, and any access by boat is difficult because of the sharp reefs surrounding the island.
• Despite having several miles of coastline, there is no safe swimming beach on Nauru.
• Nauru's first president, Hammer DeRoburt, served four terms, and Bernard Dowiyogo served seven terms.
• Several hundred offshore banks were once registered at one cabana in Nauru.
• Nauru has been increasingly isolated from the international community because of its sale of passports and laundering of Russian mafia funds.
• Nauru is perhaps the most difficult country to find accurate information about in the world, in part because of its minute contribution to the World Wide Web.
• There has been one complete ethnologue of the Nauruan people written, authored by Solange Petit-Skinner in the 1980s.
• Nauru is one of the small island states that will disappear if the global climate continues to change. The entire population is settled within a few hundred meters of the coast.