(WIPO code: SB) (latest review March 2021)
by PHILLIPS ORMONDE FITZPATRICK – Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys, Melbourne, Australia
Solomon Islands
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.