Wallis and Futuna
(overseas collectivity of France)
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The economy is limited to traditional subsistence agriculture, with about 80% of labor force earnings from agriculture (coconuts and vegetables), livestock (mostly pigs), and fishing. About 4% of the population is employed in government. Revenues come from French Government subsidies, licensing of fishing rights to Japan and South Korea, import taxes, and remittances from expatriate workers in New Caledonia.
Source: The Places Factbook, CIA. |
The
Futuna island group was discovered by the Dutch in 1616 and Wallis by the
British in 1767, but it was the French who declared a protectorate over the
islands in 1842. In 1959, the inhabitants of the islands voted to become a
French overseas territory.