Samoa

OceaniaCapital city: ApiaCapital metro: ApiaHead of State: Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi IIPrime Minister: Laʻauli Leuatea Schmidt
2026 population
206K
Rank #196 globally
Area
3k km² (1k sq mi)
Metros tracked
1
45% of population in metros
Composite score
1.5
Rank #181 globally

population: 2021 census (6 Nov 2021) · indicators as of 5 Sep 2026 · 1 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography1 metro

Samoa metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
1 polygons

Select a metro for its rank and a link to its page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 1 tracked metro
1 metros
#1060Apia★ Capital▲ Largest
Faleata 1 · 94K · Emerging Metro
1.5
🗂️ Electoral Constituencies

51 entries listed under Samoa. Select any to see its metros and footprint.

51 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
English, Samoan
Legislature
Legislative Assembly of Samoa
Demonym
Samoan
Time zone
UTC+13:00
Driving side
Left
Calling code
+685
Internet TLD
.ws
ISO 3166
WS
Established
1962
Highest point
Silisili (1,858 m (6,096 ft))
National anthem
The Banner of Freedom

Facts via Wikidata.

🗣️ Languages of Samoa

Samoan first; one language carries the country; 2 official.

LanguageShareStatus
Samoan100%Official
English2.1%Official

Shares count first and second language, so they overlap and can add past 100%.

English reach
2%
Tier 3 country
Effective languages
1.0
Official-language gap
0%
Samoan is spoken by 100%

Samoa on the languages board · Language power

💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
Human Dev. Index
#121 / 191
0.708
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#183 / 193
$1.3B
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#111 / 193
$5.9k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#130 / 190
$9.3k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#111 / 192
$5.6k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#118 / 194
71.8 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
19.9 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#192 / 194
18%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
0.6%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#107 / 193
78/km² (202/mi²)
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#134 / 193
1.8%
World Bank · 2024
Gini index
#111 / 166
38.7
World Bank · 2013
Internet users
#176 / 193
21%
World Bank · 2014
Inflation
#65 / 185
2.2%
World Bank · 2025
CO₂ per capita
#58 / 192
1.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024
Renewable electricity
#76 / 186
44%
Ember · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations3 full memberships

Political & Economic

Regional

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History17 leaders · click to expand
Laʻauli Leuatea Schmidt✦ Current
Prime Minister · 0y 9m
2025–Present
Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa
Prime Minister · 4y 1m
2021–2025
Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II✦ Current
Head of State · 8y 11m
2017–Present
Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi
Head of State · 10y 1m
2007–2017
Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi
Prime Minister · 22y 8m
1998–2021
Tofilau Eti Alesana
Prime Minister · 10y 7m
1988–1998
Va'ai Kolone
Prime Minister · 2y 3m
1985–1988
Tofilau Eti Alesana
Prime Minister · 3y 0m
1982–1985
Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi
Prime Minister · 0y 3m
1982–1982
Va'ai Kolone
Prime Minister · 0y 5m
1982–1982
Tui Ātua Tupua Tamasese Efi
Prime Minister · 6y 0m
1976–1982
Tupua Tamasese Lealofi IV
Prime Minister · 0y 10m
1975–1976
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#175 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)

The power line is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

⚔️ Wars and conflicts1 interstate war · click to expand
Samoan Civil War1886–1894
Combat deaths: —

Bold = principal belligerent. Source: Wikipedia, “List of interstate wars since 1945.”

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
217k
#189 in the world
Since 1800
4.58×
from 47k
Peak
2023
at its largest now
Share of world
0.00%
0.01% in 1800
55k110k165k221k18001850190019502000

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Note that people and share of world can move in opposite directions. A country can grow steadily and still become a smaller part of humanity, which is what happened to almost every rich country after 1960.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Samoa: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak on the median
after 2100
still growing at 2100
2050
273k
95% band 169k to 404k
2100
384k
95% band 76k to 1.7m
2100 against 2025
1.75×
median still rising in 2100
446k891k1.3m1.8m1950197520002025205020752100
estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
5k born · 1k died · -1k net migration
TFR 7.55 · life expectancy 49.2 · median age 14.7
1960
6k born · 1k died · -1k net migration
TFR 7.78 · life expectancy 55.2 · median age 14.0
1970
6k born · 1k died · -2k net migration
TFR 7.34 · life expectancy 60.4 · median age 13.5
1980
6k born · 1k died · -3k net migration
TFR 5.86 · life expectancy 65.0 · median age 15.3
1990
6k born · 1k died · -5k net migration
TFR 5.01 · life expectancy 67.8 · median age 17.4
2000
6k born · 970 died · -3k net migration
TFR 4.52 · life expectancy 70.8 · median age 18.8
2010
6k born · 1k died · -3k net migration
TFR 4.52 · life expectancy 71.5 · median age 19.7
2020
6k born · 1k died · -2k net migration
TFR 4.00 · life expectancy 70.7 · median age 20.4

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.

🏆 National Teams

Samoa on the international stage. Select a card for the full record.