Pago Pago
American Samoa
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Locator 🗺️ Map
43,268 (2025 est.)
224 sq km
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand
🧭 Background
Tutuila -- the largest island in American Samoa -- was settled by 1000 B.C., and the island served as a refuge for exiled chiefs and defeated warriors from the other Samoan islands. The Manu’a Islands, which are also now part of American Samoa, developed a traditional chiefdom that maintained autonomy by controlling oceanic trade. In 1722, Dutch explorer Jacob ROGGEVEEN was the first European to sail through the Manu’a Islands, and he was followed by French explorer Louis Antoine DE BOUGAINVILLE in 1768. Whalers and missionaries arrived in American Samoa in the 1830s, but American and European traders tended to favor the port in Apia -- now in independent Samoa -- over the smaller and less-developed Pago Pago on Tutuila. In the mid-1800s, a dispute arose in Samoa over control of the Samoan archipelago, with different chiefs gaining support from Germany, the UK, and the US. In 1872, the high chief of Tutuila offered the US exclusive rights to Pago Pago in return for US protection, but the US rejected this offer. As fighting resumed, the US agreed to the chief’s request in 1878 and set up a coaling station at Pago Pago. In 1899, with continued disputes over succession, Germany and the US agreed to divide the Samoan islands, while the UK withdrew its claims in exchange for parts of the Solomon Islands. Local chiefs on Tutuila formally ceded their land to the US in 1900, followed by the chief of Manu’a in 1904. The territory was officially named “American Samoa” in 1911. The US administered the territory through the Department of the Navy. In 1949, there was an attempt to organize the territory, granting it formal self-government, but local chiefs helped defeat the measure in the US Congress. Administration was transferred to the Department of the Interior in 1951, and in 1967, American Samoa adopted a constitution that provides significant protections for traditional Samoan land-tenure rules, language, and culture. In 1977, after four attempts, voters approved a measure to directly elect their governor. Nevertheless, American Samoa officially remains an unorganized territory, and people born in American Samoa are US nationals rather than US citizens.
🗺️ Geography
Oceania, group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and New Zealand
14 20 S, 170 00 W
Oceania
224 sq km
224 sq km
0 sq km
Slightly larger than Washington, D.C.
0 km
116 km
12 nm
200 nm
Tropical marine, moderated by southeast trade winds; annual rainfall averages about 3 m; rainy season (November to April), dry season (May to October); little seasonal temperature variation
Five volcanic islands with rugged peaks and limited coastal plains, two coral atolls (Rose Atoll, Swains Island)
Lata Mountain 964 m
Pacific Ocean 0 m
Pumice, pumicite
14.8% (2023 est.)
Arable land: 5.2% (2023 est.)
Permanent crops: 9.6% (2023 est.)
Permanent pasture: 0% (2023 est.)
79.2% (2023 est.)
6% (2023 est.)
0 sq km (2022)
Cyclones common from December to March volcanism: limited volcanic activity on the Ofu and Olosega Islands; neither has erupted since the 19th century
Pago Pago has one of the best natural deepwater harbors in the South Pacific Ocean, sheltered by shape from rough seas and protected by peripheral mountains from high winds; strategic location in the South Pacific Ocean
👥 People and Society⬆️ Top
43,268 (2025 est.)
21,478
21,790
American Samoan(s) (US nationals)
American Samoan
Pacific Islander 88.7% (includes Samoan 83.2%, Tongan 2.2%, other 3.3%), Asian 5.8% (includes Filipino 3.4%, other 2.4%), mixed 4.4%, other 1.1% (2020 est.)
Samoan 87.9% (closely related to Hawaiian and other Polynesian languages), English 3.3%, Tongan 2.1%, other Pacific Islander 4.1%, Asian languages 2.1%, other 0.5% (2020 est.)
Christian 98.3%, other <1%, unaffiliated <1% (2020 est.)
25.3% (male 5,738/female 5,387)
66% (male 14,291/female 14,679)
8.7% (2024 est.) (male 1,775/female 2,025)
51.3 (2025 est.)
37.5 (2025 est.)
13.8 (2025 est.)
7.2 (2025 est.)
30.6 years (2025 est.)
29.4 years
30.6 years
-1.33% (2025 est.)
15.3 births/1,000 population (2025 est.)
6.4 deaths/1,000 population (2025 est.)
-22.23 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2025 est.)
87.2% of total population (2023)
0.26% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
49,000 PAGO PAGO (capital) (2018)
1.06 male(s)/female
1.07 male(s)/female
0.97 male(s)/female
0.88 male(s)/female
0.99 male(s)/female (2024 est.)
9.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2025 est.)
11.7 deaths/1,000 live births
7.6 deaths/1,000 live births
75.8 years (2024 est.)
73.4 years
78.5 years
1.99 children born/woman (2025 est.)
0.96 (2025 est.)
Total: 99.8% of population
Total: 0.2% of population (2020 est.)
Total: 98.5% of population (2022 est.)
Total: 1.5% of population (2022 est.)
47.4% (2020 est.)
🌿 Environment⬆️ Top
Limited supply of drinking water; pollution; waste disposal; coastal and stream alteration; soil erosion
Tropical marine, moderated by southeast trade winds; annual rainfall averages about 3 m; rainy season (November to April), dry season (May to October); little seasonal temperature variation
14.8% (2023 est.)
Arable land: 5.2% (2023 est.)
Permanent crops: 9.6% (2023 est.)
Permanent pasture: 0% (2023 est.)
79.2% (2023 est.)
6% (2023 est.)
87.2% of total population (2023)
0.26% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)
389,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2023 est.)
389,000 metric tonnes of CO2 (2023 est.)
19,000 tons (2024 est.)
🏛️ Government⬆️ Top
American Samoa
American Samoa
Eastern Samoa
AS
The name's meaning is disputed; according to one theory, sa means "sacred" and moa means "center," so the name can mean "Holy Center"; alternatively, some assert that the name can mean "place of the sacred moa bird" of Polynesian mythology; however, the name may pre-date the Polynesian era (before 1000 B.C.), with sa'a meaning "tribe or people" and moa meaning "deep sea," or "people of the deep sea"
Unincorporated, unorganized Territory of the US with local self-government; republican form of territorial government with separate executive, legislative, and judicial branches
Unincorporated, unorganized Territory of the US; administered by the Office of Insular Affairs, US Department of the Interior
Pago Pago
14 16 S, 170 42 W
UTC-11 (6 hours behind Washington, DC, during Standard Time)
No first-order administrative divisions as defined by the US government, but 3 districts and 2 islands* are considered second-order; Eastern, Manu'a, Rose Island*, Swains Island*, Western
Mixed legal system of US common law and customary law
Adopted 17 October 1960; revised 1 July 1967
Proposed by either house of the Legislative Assembly; passage requires three-fifths majority vote by the membership of each house, approval by simple majority vote in a referendum, approval by the US Secretary of the Interior, and only by an act of the US Congress
See United States note: in accordance with US Code Title 8, Section 1408, persons born in American Samoa are US nationals but not US citizens
18 years of age; universal
President Donald J. TRUMP (since 20 January 2025)
Governor Nikolao PULA (since 3 January 2025)
Cabinet consists of 12 department directors appointed by the governor with the consent of the Legislature or Fono
President and vice president indirectly elected on the same ballot by an Electoral College of 'electors' chosen from each state to serve a 4-year term (eligible for a second term); under the US Constitution, residents of unincorporated territories such as American Samoa do not vote in elections for US president and vice president; however, they may vote in Democratic and Republican presidential primary elections; governor and lieutenant governor directly elected on the same ballot by absolute-majority popular vote in 2 rounds, if needed, for a 4-year term (eligible for a second term)
19 November 2024
Lemanu Peleti MAUGA elected governor in first round; percent of vote - Lemanu Peleti MAUGA (independent) 60.3%, Gaoteote Palaie TOFAU (independent) 21.9%, I'aulualo Fa'afetai TALIA (independent) 12.3%
November 2028
High Court of American Samoa (consists of the chief justice, associate chief justice, and 6 Samoan associate judges and organized into trial, family, drug, and appellate divisions)
Chief justice and associate chief justice appointed by the US Secretary of the Interior to serve for life; Samoan associate judges appointed by the governor to serve for life
District and village courts
Democratic Party Republican Party
None (territory of the US)
None (territory of the US)
AOSIS (observer), Interpol (subbureau), IOC, PIF (observer), SPC
None (territory of the US)
Flag Day, 17 April (1900)
Description: a large white triangle edged in red is based on the right side and extends to the left side, and it is on a dark blue field; a bald eagle holding a Samoan war club (fa'alaufa'i) and a coconut-fiber fly whisk (fue) sits on the right side of the flag meaning: the war club and fly whisk are traditional Samoan symbols of authority; the eagle carrying two objects echoes the US Great Seal and reflects the relationship between the United States and American Samoa; the red, white, and blue colors are traditionally used by both countries
A fue (coconut fiber fly whisk that represents wisdom) crossed with a to'oto'o (staff that represents authority)
Red, white, blue
"The Star-Spangled Banner"
Francis Scott KEY/John Stafford SMITH
Official anthem, as a US territory
💹 Economy⬆️ Top
Tourism, tuna, and government services-based territorial economy; sustained economic decline; vulnerable tuna canning industry; large territorial government presence; minimum wage increases to rise to federal standards by 2036
$658 million (2016 est.)
$674.9 million (2015 est.)
$666.9 billion (2014 est.)
1.7% (2022 est.)
-0.8% (2021 est.)
4.4% (2020 est.)
$871 million (2022 est.)
Bananas, coconuts, vegetables, taro, breadfruit, yams, copra, pineapples, papayas; dairy products, livestock
Tuna canneries (largely supplied by foreign fishing vessels), handicrafts
$249 million (2016 est.)
$262.5 million (2016 est.)
$409 million (2022 est.)
$332 million (2021 est.)
$427 million (2020 est.)
Australia 31%, UK 18%, Tanzania 9%, UAE 7%, Senegal 6% (2023)
Animal meal, aluminum, refined petroleum, gas turbines, broadcasting equipment (2023)
$677 million (2022 est.)
$694 million (2021 est.)
$686 million (2020 est.)
Singapore 28%, NZ 15%, Fiji 14%, Taiwan 11%, Malaysia 11% (2023)
Refined petroleum, fish, paper containers, wood, construction vehicles (2023)
The US dollar is used
⚡ Energy⬆️ Top
50,000 kW (2023 est.)
157.697 million kWh (2023 est.)
13.975 million kWh (2023 est.)
97.1% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
2.9% of total installed capacity (2023 est.)
3,000 bbl/day (2023 est.)
89.105 million Btu/person (2019 est.)
📡 Communications⬆️ Top
9,690 (2022 est.)
20 (2022 est.)
2,250 (2004 est.)
4 (2004 est.)
3 TV stations; multi-channel pay TV services are available; about a dozen radio stations, some of which are repeater stations
.as
40.3% (1990 est.)
🚚 Transportation⬆️ Top
3 (2025)
1 (2024)
0
0
1
0
1
Pago Pago Harbor
🛡️ Military and Security⬆️ Top
Defense is the responsibility of the US
Source: Factbook JSON archive.