Yap State

Constituent state of the Federation of Micronesia

The State of Yap (Yapese: Wa'ab or Waqab) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia, located in the westernmost portion of the country. The state borders Palau to the southwest, Guam to the north, and Chuuk State to the east. According to the state's population census carried out in 2020, the total population is 11,577 residing across a total area of 119.54 sq km (46.15 sq mi), though a large majority of the area is water. The only town area in the state, Colonia, serves as the state capital. What is now current day Yap State and some parts of Chuuk State were the historical Yapese Empire, which at its peak, controlled 1,300 km of the western Pacific comprising all the inhabited islands and atolls between Yap and Chuuk. The rulers of the chiefdom of Gagil in Yap maintained sovereignty of these islands to the east and extracted resources and tribute, maintaining close economic and political relationships with the different island groups. After losing its influence and becoming incorporated territories of Spain, the German Empire, the Japanese Empire, and the United States through the UN mandated Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI), Yap and the islands and atolls between Yap and Chuuk formed Yap State upon the founding of the FSM. According to the FSM Statistics Office, the population of Colonia and the municipalities of the State of Yap was 11,577 in 2020. The state has a total land area of .

The islands are thought to have been populated from the Malay Archipelago. In approximately 950 AD, it was the seat of the Yapese Empire, contemporary to the Tu'i Tonga Empire. The outer islands, now part of the Yap state, were settled from Polynesia. The island nation formerly used rai stones as currency. Since this stone money had to be made from a rock that could not be extracted on the island, its value derived from the dangers taken on expeditions to obtain it, mainly from Palau. The Portuguese were the first Westerners to visit the island in 1525 when the navigator Diogo da Rocha arrived in Ulithi and stayed there for four months. The Caroline Islands were under Spanish rule from the 16th century under Johannes von Yaplett until the end of the 19th century. Still, most of the communities on the islands of the present state of Yap had little contact with Europeans and lived in complete independence. In 1885, following a conflict between Spain and Germany, the arbitration of Pope Leo XIII confirmed possession to Spain against commercial advantages for Germany. On June 30, 1899, after the Spanish–American War, Spain sold the Carolines, the Palau Islands, and the majority of the Marianas to the German Empire. The Caroline Islands came under the control of the United States in 1944, which administered them as a Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands under a UN mandate received in 1947. The state was once the Yap District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. On May 10, 1979, Yap ratified the Constitution of the Federated States of Micronesia and became an integral part of this new nation with official independence on November 3, 1986. The Yapese Main Islands are located approximately southwest of Guam, from Tokyo, from Manila, and from Honolulu.

The State of Yap has five official languages: English, Ulithian, Woleaian, Satawalese and Yapese.

According to the FSM Statistics Division, the 2020 population of Yap State is 11,577. The state has the third largest population among the states in the FSM, with Chuuk and Pohnpei leading in this order. The population of the state consists mainly of the local Yapese, Ulithians, Woleaians and Satawalese people; however, the state has been seeing a rise in the number of foreign citizens from countries such as the United States, Japan, Palau and the Philippines.

According to the 2018 International Religious Freedom Report compiled by the United States Department of State, an estimated 80% of the state population is Catholic, and the remainder is Protestant. Religious affiliation tends to follow clan lines. A majority of foreign citizens in the FSM and the state is made up of Filipino Catholics.

The GDP per capita in 2018 was US$4,510, while the total GDP in 2018 was US$52 million. According to the 2010 Labor Market Statistics data compiled by the FSM Statistics Office, 67% of the total state population is in the labor force, the highest percentage of people in the labor force in the entire nation. Most of those in the labor force are in formal work, while the rest are in home production, including subsistence. Yap has a relatively small tourism industry, with the Yap Visitors Bureau reporting only 4,000 annual visitors from 2010 to 2017. China's Exhibition & Travel Group has announced plans to develop a 4,000 unit resort on the island. the Bank of the Federated States of Micronesia (BFSM), Community Ayuw Services Credit Union, Western Union, and the FSM Development Bank. The State is now expected to be one of the fastest growing economies in the country as technological innovation is highly encouraged. Although the FSM communications industry is largely monopolized by the state operated FSM Telecommunications Corporation based in Pohnpei, Yap saw the rise of the tech startup company iBoom when the company is expected to utilise the National Government's Digital FSM Project 2017 grant funding from the World Bank to connect each home, work office, etc. iBoom is expected to challenge previous monopoly of the FSM Telecom Corporation through competitive pricing and services.

Yap International Airport receives service from United Airlines as well as Pacific Mission Aviation. The state also has a small dockyard, colloquially known as Gampek, in Colonia just south of Tamil Harbor that services maritime vessels for inter state and cross border transport and freight.