In a narrow sense, Oceania is a term used to refer to Polynesia (including New Zealand), Melanesia (including New Guinea) and Micronesia as a whole. In a wider sense Australia is also counted as forming part of Oceania, and in this sense it is also sometimes seen as a continent. This article uses the wider sense of the term.
Countries of Oceania include:
Unlike the figures in the country articles, the figures in this table are based on areas including inland water bodies (lakes, reservoirs, rivers) and may therefore be lower here.
Map
Countries
Territories in Oceania belonging to other continentīs countries include:
List of countries/dependencies by population density in inhabitants/km2.
| country | pop. dens. | area | population |
|---|---|---|---|
| (/kmē) | (kmē) | (2002-07-01 est.) | |
| Nauru | 587 | 21 | 12,329 |
| Tuvalu | 429 | 26 | 11,146 |
| Marshall Islands | 407 | 181 | 73,630 |
| American Samoa (US) | 345 | 199 | 68,688 |
| Guam (US) | 293 | 549 | 160,796 |
| Micronesia | 194 | 702 | 135,869 |
| Northern Mariana Islands (US) | 162 | 477 | 77,311 |
| Tokelau (N.Z.) | 143 | 10 | 1,431 |
| Tonga | 142 | 748 | 106,137 |
| Kiribati | 119 | 811 | 96,335 |
| Cook Islands (N.Z.) | 87 | 240 | 20,811 |
| French Polynesia (Fr.) | 62 | 4,167 | 257,847 |
| Samoa | 61 | 2,944 | 178,631 |
| Wallis and Futuna (Fr.) | 57 | 274 | 15,585 |
| Norfolk Island (Aus) | 53 | 35 | 1,866 |
| Fiji | 47 | 18,270 | 856,346 |
| Cocos Islands (Aus) | 45 | 14 | 632 |
| Palau | 42 | 458 | 19,409 |
| Solomon Islands | 17 | 28,450 | 494,786 |
| Vanuatu | 16 | 12,200 | 196,178 |
| New Zealand | 15 | 268,680 | 3,908,037 |
| Papua New Guinea | 11 | 462,840 | 5,172,033 |
| New Caledonia (Fr.) | 11 | 19,060 | 207,858 |
| Niue (1) | 8.2 | 260 | 2,134 |
| Christmas Island (Aus) | 3.5 | 135 | 474 |
| Australia | 2.5 | 7,686,850 | 19,546,792 |
| Pitcairn Islands (UK) | 1.0 | 47 | 47 |
(1) Niue has strong ties with New Zealand
- See also: History of Oceania
Oceania is also one of the three super-states in George Orwell's novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, where the book's main character lives.
