Pitcairn Island was discovered in 1767 by the British and settled in 1790 by the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian companions.

Pitcairn was the first Pacific island to become a British colony (in 1838) and today remains the last vestige of that empire in the South Pacific.

By the mid-1850s the Pitcairn community was outgrowing the island and its leaders appealed to the British government for assistance.

They were offered Norfolk Island and on 3 May 1856, the entire community of 193 people set sail for Norfolk on board the Morayshire, arriving on June 8th after a miserable five-week trip.

But after eighteen months on Norfolk, seventeen of the Pitcairners returned to their home island; five years later another twenty-seven did the same.

Outmigration, primarily to New Zealand, has thinned the population from a peak of 233 in 1937 to less than 50 today.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population:
48 (July 2007 est.)

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Age structure:
0-14 years: NA
15-64 years: NA
65 years and over: NA

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Population growth rate:
0% (2007 est.)

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Birth rate:
NA

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Death rate:
NA

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Net migration rate:
NA

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Sex ratio:
NA

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Infant mortality rate:
total: NA
male: NA
female: NA

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Life expectancy at birth:
total population: NA
male: NA
female: NA

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Total fertility rate:
NA

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HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
NA

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HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
NA

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HIV/AIDS - deaths:
NA

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Nationality:
noun: Pitcairn Islander(s)
adjective: Pitcairn Islander

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Ethnic groups:
descendants of the Bounty mutineers and their Tahitian wives

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Religions:
Seventh-Day Adventist 100%

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Languages:
English (official), Pitcairnese (mixture of an 18th century English dialect and a Tahitian dialect)

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Literacy:
NA

The inhabitants of this tiny isolated economy exist on fishing, subsistence farming, handicrafts, and postage stamps. The fertile soil of the valleys produces a wide variety of fruits and vegetables, including citrus, sugarcane, watermelons, bananas, yams, and beans. Bartering is an important part of the economy. The major sources of revenue are the sale of postage stamps to collectors and the sale of handicrafts to passing ships. In October 2004, more than one-quarter of Pitcairn's small labor force was arrested, putting the economy in a bind, since their services were required as lighter crew to load or unload passing ships.

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GDP (purchasing power parity):
$NA

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Labor force:
15 able-bodied men (2004)

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Labor force - by occupation:
note: no business community in the usual sense; some public works; subsistence farming and fishing

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Budget:
revenues: $746,000
expenditures: $1.028 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (FY04/05 est.)

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Agriculture - products:
honey; wide variety of fruits and vegetables; goats, chickens, fish

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Industries:
postage stamps, handicrafts, beekeeping, honey

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Electricity - production:
NA kWh; note - electric power is provided by a small diesel-powered generator

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Exports:
$NA

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Exports - commodities:
fruits, vegetables, curios, stamps

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Imports:
$NA

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Imports - commodities:
fuel oil, machinery, building materials, flour, sugar, other foodstuffs

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Economic aid - recipient:
$3.465 million (2004)

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Currency (code):
New Zealand dollar (NZD)

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Exchange rates:
New Zealand dollars per US dollar - 1.5408 (2006), 1.4203 (2005), 1.5087 (2004), 1.7221 (2003), 2.1622 (2002)

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Fiscal year:
1 April - 31 March