Solomon Islands

(WIPO code: SB) (latest review March 2021)

by PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK – Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, Melbourne, Australia

General Information

Area

28,896 sq. km.

Population

685,097 (estimated July 2020).

Capital

Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal.

Languages

English (official) and 120 indigenous languages, including Melanesian Pidgin, Polynesian, Papuan. English is spoken by 1%-2% only.

Currency

Solomon Islands dollar (SBD); 1 U.S. dollar (USD) = 7.97 SBD (estimated January 2021).

GDP

U.S.$ 1.33 billion (2017 est.); U.S.$ 2,200 per capita (2017 est.).

Agriculture

Cocoa, coconuts, palm kernels, rice, fruit, cattle, pigs, fish, timber.

Labor force

75% agriculture, 20% services, 5% industry.

Exports

Timber, fish, copra, palm oil, cocoa, coconut oil.

General Remarks

This archipelago Nation includes Southern Solomon Islands, primarily Guadalcanal, Malaita, San Cristobal, Santa Isabel, Choiseul. The Nation, a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth of Nations, became independent on July 7, 1978. It has a mixed legal system of English common law and customary law. From 2003 to 2017, the Regional Assistance to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) led by Australia and New Zealand, consisting of police, military and civilian advisors drawn from fifteen countries restored civil and political order and rebuilt government institutions, while reinforcing regional stability, although unrest is not uncommon. There has been modest growth in the economy.