Geography

Manus shares its border to the east with New Ireland, southwest with Madang and western boundaries with East and West Sepik. It has 208 islands scattered over 220,000 square kilometres of sea, and a land mass of 2,100 square kilometres. Manus Island is the largest at 100km long and 30km wide. It is rugged. The highest peak is Mt Dremsel, which is 718 metre high. The eastern, southern and western portions are of volcanic origin. Rambutso is the second largest island and the other smaller islands in size are Lou, Baluan and M’buke. Tuluman, an underwater volcano, which erupted in the 1950s, is still considered active. The islands to the north and west are mainly low lying coral atolls. Hermit islands and the Ninigo group are the largest groups with Wuvulu being further west. Rain forest covers four fifths of Manus Island. It also has large areas of sago and mangrove swamps.

Population

Manus has a population of 43,387 citizens according to the 2000 census figures with an annual growth rate of 2.8%. Of this, 22,401 are males and 20,986 are females. The majority of the people (83%) live in the rural areas. Between the 1990 and 2000 census, the population of Manus increased by 32%. With a land area of 2100 square kilometres and a population of 43,387, the crude population density is 21 persons per square kilometre. Manus contributes only 1% to the country's population and 6% to the Islands region's population. It is interesting to note that over 40% of the population is under the age of 15 years, 55% between 15 and 64 years and 3% is over 65 years. This suggests that Manus has a high fertility population and thus has a high potential for further growth. It has a young population thus a high dependency ratio. It is important that these factors should be noted when it comes to policy making by key players in the development process.