Funafuti

Funafuti is the capital of Tuvalu. It is a ring of small, flat islands.

In the middle of the ring is a big lagoon.

Funafuti is an atoll, a ring of low islands around a lagoon, in the Pacific Ocean. Universalis calls it by far the largest of Tuvalu's nine atolls and says it is considered the capital. Its lagoon covers 275 square kilometers and is up to 57 meters deep.

The government's buildings are in Vaiaku, a village on the main island, Fongafale. The census of 12 December 2022 counted 6,602 people on Funafuti.

Universalis (Tuvalu): Funafuti atoll, by far the largest of Tuvalu's nine atolls (lagoon 275 km², depth reaching 57 m), is considered the capital; the administrative buildings are in the village of Vaiaku on the small island of Fongafale. Larousse: an island of Tuvalu, site of the capital, also named Funafuti. City Population (Tuvalu Central Statistics Division / SPC): Funafuti 6,602 at the census of 12 December 2022 (6,025 in 2012); the built-up area it lists as 'Vaiaku' had 6,429.

In this photo, a long, thin island curves through the sea. A runway runs along it.

This photo of Fongafale, Funafuti's main island, was taken from the air in June 2006. A thin strip of land curves between the open ocean, with white surf along its shore, and the paler lagoon. Along it run the airport's runway, trees and buildings.

Universalis says Fongafale is 12 kilometers long but no more than 400 meters wide where the airport is, and mostly just 1 to 2 meters above the sea.

Commons: 'Tuvalu Funafuti Airport (cropped)', by Gabriella Jacobi ('self-photographed'), GFDL / CC BY-SA 3.0, June 2006; a crop of her atoll photo, moved from German Wikipedia; categories include 'Funafuti International Airport' and 'Aerial photographs of Tuvalu'. In the picture: the islet with a runway, trees and buildings between surf on the ocean side and the lagoon. Universalis: Fongafale stretches 12 km but is no wider than 400 m at the airport, at an altitude generally of 1 to 2 m; it holds half of Tuvalu's people.

Families live in villages on Funafuti. The land is very low, close to the sea.

In 2022, City Population put 6,429 of Funafuti's 6,602 people in the built-up area it calls Vaiaku. The largest villages were Fakaifou, with 1,258 people, Lofeagai, with 1,165, Alapi, with 1,115, and Senala, with 1,014.

Because the land is so low, Universalis says islanders have worried since the 1990s that rising seas could shrink their land, especially during storms.

City Population (census 12 December 2022, villages): Fakaifou 1,258, Lofeagai 1,165, Alapi 1,115, Senala 1,014; all four on Funafuti. Funafuti's land: 279 hectares. Universalis: Tuvalu's atolls are small and without relief, an extreme vulnerability; since the 1990s the prospect of a rising ocean has worried islanders, for whom it would mean less land, or land lost, in storms or cyclones.