Vanuatu

Economy & income

Currency

Vanuatu vatu (VUV, VT); ~120 VUV per USD (Jul 2026)

GDP per capita

• ~$3,940 nominal (2025, IMF WEO; ~$4,082 proj. 2026)
• ~$3,172 PPP (2024, World Bank)

Average salary

• ~$540 net/mo (Numbeo/livingcost, 2026, ~VT67k)
• avg ~$620/mo gross (wage.is, ~VT75k, Jun 2026)

Median salary

• ~$174/mo (wage.is median ~VT250k/yr) to ~$234/mo (livingcost after-tax median) — thin data
• large subsistence/informal economy (73.8% rural)

Minimum wage

• VT 300/hour (min wage since Jun 2023; reviewed ~every 2 yrs)
• no monthly statutory figure — ~VT57,000/mo full-time (44h wk) ≈ $475/mo

Cost of living

• Medium — import-driven prices high vs low local incomes
• Numbeo Port Vila ~12% above US avg but data VERY thin (41 entries, Aug 2025), treat as unreliable

Digital landscape

Population

331,000 (Jan 2025, DataReportal); ~342,600 (2026 est., IMF)

Internet users

45.7% (~151,000 users, Jan 2025); +2.3% YoY

Social media users

39.3% (~130,000 identities); 70.3% of adults 18+

Mobile connections

• 315,000 cellular connections = 95.1% of pop (Jan 2025)
• 96.4% broadband-capable

Devices

mobile ~50.3% / desktop ~48.5% / tablet ~1.2% (StatCounter, Jun 2026)

Ad spend

• n/a — DataReportal's Vanuatu report publishes no ad-spend figure (market too small to itemise)
• paid social runs almost entirely through Meta

Top social platforms

Facebook ~130K, 39.3% of pop

Messenger ~78K, 23.5%

LinkedIn ~24K members, 7.2%

Instagram ~13K, 4.0%

X/Twitter ~2.3K, 0.7%

• TikTok — growing among youth; no official DataReportal reach figure

Messengers

• Facebook Messenger (~78K — dominant chat app)
• WhatsApp (widely used)
• Facebook itself (primary comms channel for most users)
• Mobile-money (not chat): MyCash by Digicel & M-Vatu by Vodafone — P2P/airtime only, <1% uptake

Payments & behaviour

Payment methods

• Cash (dominant — largely cash economy)
• Bank card/transfer — urban/formal only (ANZ, Bank South Pacific/BSP, National Bank of Vanuatu/NBV, Bred Bank)
• Cash-on-delivery for any physical e-commerce/import
• Mobile money: MyCash (Digicel) & M-Vatu (Vodafone) — P2P/airtime/bills, <1% uptake

E-wallets

• MyCash (Digicel)
• M-Vatu (Vodafone)
• Bank mobile apps (cards)
• PayPal/Stripe — limited/patchy availability

Cash on delivery

• High reliance on cash/COD
• card & digital-payment acceptance very low outside Port Vila and Luganville

E-commerce

• Very low — no significant domestic e-commerce
• cross-border buying via AliExpress/Amazon through freight-forwarders (e.g. ColisExpat, Ubuy)
• tourism bookings are the main online spend

Notes

• Mobile-money systems run in silos, not linked to banks or to each other
• Remittances are important (MyCash offers cross-border transfers with Fiji/Samoa/Tonga)
• Cash cycles driven by tourism and remittances.

Audience & culture

Languages

• Bislama (English-based creole; national lingua franca, spoken by most as a 2nd language)
• English (official; dominant in business/education)
• French (official; sizeable French-educated minority)
• 113 indigenous languages (highest language density per capita on earth)

Religion

• ~82% Christian — Presbyterian 27.2%, Seventh-day Adventist 14.8%, Anglican ~12%, Roman Catholic ~12%
• other denominations + customary/kastom beliefs ~20% (2020 census)

Median age

20.3 years (DataReportal, Jan 2025) — very young population

Key seasons

• Dry season May–Oct (peak tourism; Jul–Aug align with AU/NZ winter holidays)
• Independence Day 30 July (national celebrations)
• Wet/cyclone season Nov–Apr (Jan–Mar peak — disaster/connectivity disruption risk)
• Christmas/New Year

Cultural notes

• Communal, church-centred, kastom (custom) values
• conservative on sex/gender/LGBT
• strong oral & radio culture
• Facebook effectively IS the internet for most
• low disposable income
• tourism and remittances drive spending.

Where to find creators

• Facebook (dominant reach)
• YouTube
• TikTok (rising among youth)
• Instagram (small; travel/expat-led)

Media landscape

Creators & public figures

Top creators

Celebrities

Vanessa Quai n/a exact — modest local IG following (country pop. 331K)

Vanuatu's best-known recording artist; child-star singer, described as a national 'living cultural icon'

M

Miller Pata n/a exact — small IG following

Beach volleyball Olympian (Tokyo 2020); 2× Commonwealth Games bronze (2018, 2022), now national coach

L

Linline Matauatu n/a exact — small IG following

Beach volleyball Olympian; Pata's partner, 2018 Commonwealth bronze

P

Priscila Tommy n/a exact — small IG following

Table-tennis Olympian (Beijing 2008 & Paris 2024); Vanuatu flag bearer

Ralph Regenvanu n/a exact — active on Facebook/X, modest counts

Prominent anthropologist, artist & politician (MP; ex-Foreign Minister) — high-profile public figure

M

Marceline Rofit n/a — no significant social presence

Actress; lead ('Selin') in the Oscar-nominated Ni-Vanuatu film Tanna (2015)

Affiliate & traffic

Hot verticals

• Sweepstakes / prize (win-a-phone, gift-card)
• Mobile content / mVAS / app installs
• iGaming & betting (offshore-licensed; small domestic play)
• Crypto & finance (VU is a crypto-licence hub — operator, not consumer, angle)
• Nutra COD (health/beauty)
• Travel/tourism & dropshipping

Active networks

• No local networks — reached via global CPA/CPI networks that accept rare geos: Mobidea
• CPA.house
• Adcombo / Dr.Cash (COD nutra)
• AliExpress & Amazon Associates (import goods)
• Global iGaming/crypto networks (tied to VU offshore licences)

Payouts

• Tier-3, low payouts
• CPM/CPC very cheap but volume is minimal
• Typical tier-3 ranges (illustrative, not VU-measured): sweeps CPL ~$0.3–2, app installs ~$0.1–0.5, nutra COD ~$8–15/order, betting FTD variable
• low caps limit total earnings

Competition

• Very low — micro-market (~151K internet users)
• rarely targeted on its own, usually bundled into Oceania or 'rest of world' campaigns

Seasonality

• Peak online activity in dry/tourist season (May–Oct, esp. Jul–Aug)
• disruption risk in cyclone season (Jan–Mar)
• spending tracks tourism & remittance cash cycles

Traffic sources

• Facebook/Meta ads (dominant)
• Google Search & YouTube
• TikTok (emerging)
• Push/pop & in-app
• Facebook groups / influencer shout-outs

Good to know

Capital

Port Vila (on Efate island; pop. 49,034, 2020 census)

Major cities

• Port Vila (~49K, capital, Efate)
• Luganville (~17.7K, Espiritu Santo)
• Norsup/Lakatoro (Malekula)
• Isangel (Tanna)

Time zones

• Single time zone — Vanuatu Time (VUT), UTC+11
• no daylight saving (tz_offset 660)

Android vs iOS

83% 17%

Android 83% iOS 17%

Phone brands

• Samsung (~37.9%)
• Apple (~16.9%)
• Unknown/other (~16.2%)
• Xiaomi (~8.5%)
• Realme (~4.4%)
• Infinix (~3.8%) — StatCounter, Jun 2026

Top e-commerce

• AliExpress (via freight-forwarders)
• Amazon / eBay (import)
• Ubuy Vanuatu
• Facebook Marketplace & buy/sell groups
• Local classifieds / Trading Post

Peak activity

Evenings ~7–10pm local (UTC+11) and midday; Facebook-first. Rural reach peaks on weekends and via radio. (Best-guess windows — no hard local analytics.)

Creative taboos

• Christianity & church are central (no mockery)
• conservative on sex/nudity/LGBT
• respect kastom, chiefs & land/community
• cyclone & disaster sensitivity
• avoid 'poverty-tourism' framing

Also worth knowing

1. Facebook effectively IS the internet — Meta (Facebook + Messenger) carries almost all reach and social commerce.
2. Vanuatu's global relevance is as an OFFSHORE gambling & crypto (VASP) LICENSING hub — an operator base, not a consumer market.
3. Tiny, cash-based, disaster-prone micro-market: cheap CPMs but minimal volume — best bundled into Oceania campaigns, with radio still key for rural reach.