The History of Nauru: How The World's Wealthiest Country Lost Everything | NowThis World
The History of Nauru: How The World's Wealthiest Country Lost Everything | NowThis World
Here’s how Nauru, a secluded island roughly 1,800 miles off the northeastern coast of Australia, went from being the wealthiest country in the world to losing everything.
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NowThis World is dedicated to bringing you topical explainers about the world around you. Each week we’ll be exploring current stories in international news, by examining the facts, providing historical context, and outlining the key players involved. We’ll also highlight powerful countries, ideologies, influential leaders, and ongoing global conflicts that are shaping the current landscape of the international community across the globe today.
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0.06 -> In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there’s
a tiny island nation called Nauru, that spans
5.31 -> only about 8 square miles.
7.58 -> Not too long ago, it was considered the single
richest country in the world, per capita.
13.23 -> Today, it is one of the world’s poorest
and most obese nations, and is currently best
17.869 -> known to house a detention center rampant
with human rights abuses.
22.49 -> So what’s the story behind Nauru’s journey
from riches to rags?
26.429 -> Well, Nauru’s stroke of luck came from its
isolated position, roughly 1,800 miles north-east
32.68 -> of Australia.
34.14 -> As one of the only landmasses in sight, the
island served as a stopping point for seagulls
39.18 -> around the Pacific, and on each visit, they’d
do what seagulls seem to do best.
44.23 -> After a few million years of being used as
a seagull toilet, the accumulating bird poop
49.22 -> calcified, imbuing the soil with phosphates,
a very valuable, and lucrative group of elements.
55.51 -> Their most important use is that they help
plants capture the sun’s energy so that
59.74 -> they can grow through photosynthesis, and
so phosphates are vital as a component of
64.57 -> fertilizer.
65.57 -> So when Nauru gained its independence in 1968,
it jumped headfirst into mining and selling
71.7 -> it’s phosphate rich soil.
73.78 -> Between the mid 1970s and early 1980s, the
tiny island nation, of roughly 4,300 people
80.469 -> had far and away surpassed any oil rich, or
technologically advanced country in the world
85.899 -> in per-capita wealth.
88.07 -> Some stats estimate that in modern currency,
the island was worth $2.5 billion dollars,
93.81 -> or more than half a million dollars for every
single man, woman, and child.
99.009 -> Almost every societal necessity was completely
free.
102.34 -> Education, medical care, and transportation.
105.429 -> On top of that, Nauruans didn’t pay a penny
in taxes.
107.789 -> They didn’t have to.
109.11 -> They were so rich that there was barely even
any crime.
111.749 -> So what happened?
112.749 -> Well, predictably, the phosphate ran out.
114.789 -> And the country didn’t do a very good job
of planning far into the future.
119.079 -> As mining became less and less lucrative,
the soil, once one of the most fertile in
123.2 -> the world, became totally barren.
125.939 -> Little could be grown on the island, and its
residents got used to importing all of their
129.939 -> food: mostly canned, and high in preservatives.
133.11 -> In 2011, this unhealthy diet led to Nauru
being named the single most obese country
139.239 -> in the world.
140.239 -> But that wasn’t the only problem.
143.19 -> As the government began running out of money
after poor financial planning, they opened
147.5 -> the country as an untraceable tax free banking
haven, right around the time the Soviet Union
153.15 -> collapsed.
154.2 -> Russian criminal syndicates took the opportunity
to launder tens of billions of dollars through
159.879 -> this unregulated financial system, feeding
the increasingly corrupt government, and draining
164.9 -> it of resources.
166.13 -> In a last ditch attempt at survival, Nauru
reached out to the Australian government,
170.629 -> it’s closest neighboring world power, and
worked out a deal on what to do with a 70%
176.349 -> uninhabitable island with no source of revenue.
178.89 -> And the solution wasn’t pretty.
182.079 -> In the early 2000s, in exchange for Australia’s
financial support, Nauru agreed to take a
187.15 -> few hundred Sri Lankan and Pakistani refugees,
including more than three dozen children and
192.53 -> several pregnant women, who were attempting
to enter Australia by boat.
197 -> This was called the “Pacific Solution”,
and from then on, when any refugees approached
201.53 -> Australia, they were sent to squalid detention
centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which
207.099 -> had made a similar agreement.
209.65 -> Conditions in these detention centers have
been likened to a crumbling, poorly run prison,
214.299 -> with effectively no possibility for many of
its detainees to leave.
217.909 -> In fact, in 2007, the situation at the heavily
overcrowded Nauru facility became so bad that
224.55 -> it had to be shut down when they ran out of
water.
227.159 -> But the detention center reopened in 2012,
and is still operating in the same conditions
231.89 -> today.
233.33 -> Between 1975 and 2017, Nauru went from being
the richest country per capita in the world,
240.09 -> to one of the five most impoverished, with
a growing obesity problem, and effectively
241.58 -> a prison for refugees.
242.58 -> All because of bird poop.
243.58 -> So just how bad are these detention centers,
and why is Australia going to such draconian
246.18 -> measures to keep out immigrants and refugees?
248.79 -> You can find out in this video to the right.
250.939 -> Thanks for watching NowThis World, don’t
forget to like and subscribe for more episodes
254.859 -> just like this every week.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG_eaAt2JN0