The country that once relied on bird poop to get rich is now a notorious country of beggars.
There is a country in the world, which is small in geographical area and remote, and is an island country surrounded by the sea. But unlike other archipelago countries, there is only one island in the entire territory of this country. However, it was such a small island that developed rapidly through the exploitation of resources in the 60s of the last century. In the 1980s, it became the richest country in the world per capita, up to five times larger than the United States at that time.
The people of the island live in a utopian world, they do not need to work and work, and all expenses are borne by the government. There are even endless pocket money to eat, drink and have fun. However, such a beautiful paradise country fell from the altar in just 20 years.
This country is Nauru, an island country not far from Australia
What is the reason why this smallest island country, which has been established less than 50 years ago, has fallen from becoming the richest country in the world to a "rogue state" ridiculed by many countries in the world?
Nauru is located in the South Pacific Ocean, just 41 km from the equator. It is the smallest island country in the world and has a population of 11,000 people, ranking third from the bottom in the world.
More than a hundred years ago, an employee of the British phosphate mining company accidentally found a stone from the island of Nauru in Australia, which he suspected was phosphate ore. So I thought that if I could find mineral deposits from the island, I would make a lot of money.
Surprisingly, when investigators landed on the island, they were surprised to find that there was no need to look for these deposits. Almost the entire island of Nauru is covered in thick phosphate mines. The discovery of phosphate on Nauru coincided with the Second Industrial Revolution, when the world's population was rapidly increasing and the demand for food was skyrocketing. And the large amount of phosphate on Nauru Island is birdish phosphate ore, which greatly changed the fate of the island.
Why does Nauru, a small, remote island nation, have such a huge phosphate mine? This is because Nauru's unique location is home to most of the seabirds in this vast expanse of sea. These seabirds excrete droppings on the island, and over hundreds of millions of years, the accumulation of small amounts of guano forms a thick layer of guano soil.
These guano soil layers calcify to form ornithischi phosphate that covers most of the island of Nauru. Due to Nauru's geographical and climatic advantages, the phosphate mines on the island are not only large in reserves, but also very easy to mine. The purity is also much higher than in most parts of the world.
Since the discovery of phosphate mines, Nauru has risen from an unknown island to a rich and golden island. This also turned the lives of the islanders upside down, and the islanders have since enjoyed a life of overnight wealth.
After reclaiming phosphate rights from the great powers, the Nauru government went on a frenzy to mine the island's salt mines. This has allowed Nauru to earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year simply by exporting phosphate ore, and its sparse population makes Nauru the richest country in the world. In 1975, GDP per capita was $35,000, five times that of the United States at the time. So it is known as "Kuwait in the Pacific"
Not only that, but the government also distributes wealth equally among households. From daily expenses such as water, electricity, and transportation, to housing, education and medical expenses, the government pays for all expenses. The most egregious thing is that the people of Nauru not only do not have to pay taxes at all, but even the unemployed people receive a high annual benefit.
As a result, the people of Nauru have a strong spending power. All the wealth is spent on eating, drinking, and playing, and the domestic phosphate mining and other labor work is to bring in foreign laborers to work.
At that time, there were countless luxury goods on the island, and luxury cars and yachts could be seen everywhere. Thanks to the enormous wealth generated by phosphate ore exports, the people of Nauru enjoy themselves almost every day. Having long been accustomed to this comfortable and languid lifestyle, it has led to a series of significant sequelae. Nauru has one of the highest obesity rates in the world and one of the highest rates of diabetes in the world, with nearly half of the population suffering from type 2 diabetes.
Over time, as the island's mineral deposits gradually dwindled, a series of financial problems began to follow. It paved the way for Nauru's future destitution. In fact, despite its profligacy, the Nauru government realized long before the peak of its economy that the wealth generated by over-reliance on a single mining industry would not last. So they followed the example of the Nordic country Norway and set up a wealth trust early on from using part of the income from phosphate mining. Intended to profit from investing in international real estate and business rights, this seemingly beautiful idea ended up losing a lot of investment funds due to the corruption of the Nauru government and the wrong investment direction.
Then the island was unable to develop agriculture due to violent mining, and the people were accustomed to enjoying a prosperous life and did not disdain to go out to sea. In addition, most of the daily goods are imported, and the lack of development of industry also laid the seeds for Nauru's decline in the future.
Finally, by 2000, the phosphate mines on Nauru Island had been exhausted, and Nauru had no source of wealth after the mine was exhausted. After that, Nauru, which no longer enjoys its mining wealth, can no longer provide the same massive social benefits to its people. Because the people of the island have long been accustomed to the life of pie in the sky, they are not keen on labor-style work. In order to save the country's collapsed economy, the Nauru government has indirectly staged a series of "island survival strategies" over the past 20 years
In 2001, Nauru proposed to Australia a refugee reception centre to receive asylum seekers and political refugees arriving in Australia. Most of these refugees come from war-torn countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq. Those refugees rejected by the Australian government and sent to Nauru were handed over to the Nauru government for thousands of Australian dollars per person per month, making Nauru a Pacific transit point for thousands of refugees. As a result, it receives about 30 million Australian dollars in annual assistance from the Australian government.
