Capital: Port Vila

CURRENCY:The currency used is the Vatu. Although Australian dollars are accepted by many shops, restaurants, and hotels in Vila and a few in Luganville (Santo), they are not readily accepted outside of town or throughout the islands. The main banks are Westpac (with a branch at the international airport), ANZ and Bank of Hawaii. There are several ANZ ATM machines in Port Vila and Luganville, Santo only.

TIME: Vanuatu is 11 hours ahead Greenwich Time (UTC/GMT), which means that its 19 hours later in Vanuatu than in California. No daylight saving time.

LANGUAGE:Vanuatu has over 120 distinct languages and many more dialects. The official languages are Bislama, English, and French.

Religion : Christian 84%, Other 16%

Subsistence agriculture has traditionally been the economic base of Vanuatu, together with an elaborate exchange network within and between islands.