Кирибати архипелагындағы Арорае атоллы

Island of Kiribati

Arorae (spelling variants: Arorai, Arurai; also known as Hope Island or Hurd Island) is an atoll in Kiribati located near the equator. Arorae is the southernmost island in the Gilbert Islands group. It has a population of just over a thousand inhabitants on 9.5 square kilometres.

Arorae is the southernmost atoll in the Gilbert Islands, 600 km south from South Tarawa. The atoll's area is The atoll is a low and flat coralline island with an elongated shape. It is 9 km in length and 1 km wide, at its widest point. There is no lagoon, like in bigger atolls of the Gilberts. Since the 2015 census, Arorae is the less populated island of the Republic of Kiribati but Banaba and Canton Island. The population at the November 2020 census was the lowest ever, 983 inhabitants from 208 households. The population at the previous 2015 census was 1,011, most of whom (98.5%) are Protestants of Kiribati Uniting Church (KUC) and all of them are I Kiribati (no declared mixed races or others).

Arorae Airport, featuring Air Kiribati scheduled service on Thursdays, is located in the north of the island, north of the village of Tamaroa.

Arorae is known as the atoll with more literate people of Kiribati, with 98% able to read and write in Gilbertese. There are only two schools in Arorae: namely Arorae Junior Secondary School (JSS) and the Tiona Primary School. There are also two pre schools. Both schools are enough for the size of Arorae, placed near the Arorae Island Council, with easy access from both villages. In 2011, a total of 198 children were enrolled in the Tiona Primary School and 103 students were attending the Arorae JSS.