Island state of Oceania, in the southwestern Pacific. In 2005 the estimated population was 848,000 residents, with a modest increase (about 9 %) compared to the last census (dating back to 1996), despite a high birth rate (22.7 ‰ in 2005) and a low mortality (5, 6 ‰). According to paradisdachat, this phenomenon was caused by the significant migratory flow (- 3.04 ‰), which has affected the islands since the early nineties: inter-ethnic tensions have in fact caused a consistent exodus of the population of Indian origin, allowing that of Melanesian origin to return in the majority.
After the coup d’etat of 2000, companies entered a phase of recession, which was only partially overcome in 2003 thanks to a growth in some of the leading sectors, tourism and the textile and clothing industry. The good performance of the first sector (426,000 visitors in 2003 against 398,000 in 2002), which contributed 20 % to the formation of the GDP, also had positive repercussions on the construction sector; a consistent development has also known the textile industry, which contributed with 25% of total exports. In this sector, however, competition from other countries in the region has increased, and the attempt to regain competitive capacity has led the government to promote a policy of fiscal incentives, with the aim of attracting foreign capital. The sugar industry, the main production of the archipelago, has instead gone through a negative period, so much so as to threaten the economy of the country as a whole: in the space of twenty years the yield of this crop has practically halved. To this must be added the difficulties associated with geographic isolation and inflation between 2002 and 2004 has had a strong surge. Consequently, despite the overcoming of the most critical phase of the recession, the number of households living below the poverty line is still high.
Politics
Despite the entry into force (1998) of a new constitutional text aimed at guaranteeing multi-ethnic political representation, the conflict between the Melanesian population, expression of the dominant economic elite, and that of Indian origin, continued to represent, even to the early 21st century, the main obstacle to the stability of the country. The victory of the social democratic and multiracial Fiji Labor Party (FLP) in the 1999 elections, and the subsequent appointment as prime minister of its leader M. Chaudhry, of Indian ethnicity, sparked the harsh reaction of the most nationalist Melanesian forces, who did not take long to resume. the upper hand. In May 2000 a military coup ousted Chaudhry, who was held hostage along with other MPs for over two months; the new Constitution was suspended and a state of emergency was proclaimed. In July of the same year, however, a new national reconciliation executive was formed, led by L. Qarase, which sanctioned the return of the Melanesian community to legal power. Qarase, after the victory of his party (the United Fiji Party, UFP) in the elections of August 2001 (31 seats, compared to 27 of Labor), formed a coalition government among all nationalist forces, excluding the representation of the FLP, also provided for by the Constitution (which required the presence in the executive of all political formations that exceeded 10 % of the votes). In the following years the situation remained tense, while new laws reaffirmed the discrimination of the Indian community. In the course of 2005, in view of the legislative elections, a further polarization between the political alignments was recorded: in August the nationalist parties, led by the UFP, formed an electoral coalition, which was opposed in October by that constituted by the opposition forces, led by in turn from the FLP. The consultations, held in May 2006, reconfirmed the UFP in power, which obtained 36 seats.
