Samoa Country Overview
Where is Samoa located? The island nation of Samoa is also called Western Samoa. It has been independent from New Zealand since 1962, but politically the eastern part of the island state belongs to the USA. The time zone map places Samoa in a time zone called “West Samoa Time” which has a time offset of 11 hours from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC-11). In the summer months (end of September to beginning of March), the clock is also advanced by one hour, which then reduces the difference to -10 hours.
Population Distribution
As of 2023, the latest population of Samoa is 203,774, based on our calculation of the current data from UN (United Nations).
| Total population | 203,774 |
| Population growth rate | 0.61% |
| Birth rate | 20.40 births per 1,000 people |
| Life expectancy | |
| Overall life expectancy | 72.94 years |
| Men life expectancy | 70.06 years |
| Women life expectancy | 75.97 years |
| Age structure | |
| 0-14 years | 30.67% |
| 15-64 years | 63.49% |
| 65 years and above | 5.85% |
| Median age | 23.50 years |
| Gender ratio (Male to Female) | 1.05 |
| Population density | 71.98 residents per km² |
| Urbanization | 22.30% |
| Ethnicities | |
| approx. 90% Samoans (Polynesians), 9% Euronesians; Chinese minority | |
| Religions | |
| Congregationalists 34.8% Catholics (Roman Catholic) 19.6% Methodists 15% Latter-day Saints 12.7% Assembly of God Members of other Christian denominations 4.5% Worship Center 1.3% Other 1.7% Not specified 0, 1% [2001 census] | |
| Human Development Index (HDI) | 0.707 |
| HDI ranking | 111th out of 194 |
People in Samoa
The native population are Samoans. This includes 92 out of 100 people who live in Samoa. You belong to the Polynesians. There are also people of European descent. There are also many people here who have German ancestors, because Samoa was once a German colony.
Typical for Samoa is the cohesion of families and life in village communities (see Everyday Life: Typical Samoa). A leader is chosen for each village who is also responsible for the problems of the village.
The largest city in the country and also the capital is Apia and is located in the north of the island of Upolu. Most of the population lives on this island. Most of the people settle on the narrow, fertile coastline in the north and west of the island.
In the meantime, however, many Samoan residents are leaving their islands in order to find better living conditions and, above all, work in New Zealand or Australia. More than 150,000 Samoans now live abroad and the number continues to rise.
Languages in Samoa
The main speakers in Samoa are Samoan and English.
Religions in Samoa
With the appearance of the Europeans, many residents of the islands turned – more or less voluntarily – to the Christian faith. So today 99 out of 100 residents are baptized Christian. However, there are different churches to which the people are divided.