Distillers Country guides / Tonga
Tonga
A one-page guide to Tonga for the spirits trade: the country, its people, its economy and how it drinks.
At a glance
- Capital
- Nuku'alofa
- Official languages
- Tongan, English
- Currency
- Pa'anga (TOP)
- Time zone
- UTC+13
- Area
- 748 km²
People
- Population
- 99,000 (2025)
- Population growth
- -0.4% a year
- Living in towns and cities
- 21.2%
- Aged under 15
- 34.9%
- Aged 65 and over
- 6.9%
- Life expectancy
- 73.1 years
Economy
- GDP
- US$692.0 million (2025)
- GDP per person
- US$6,972 (2025)
- Economic growth
- 4.4% (2025)
- Inflation
- 3.1% (2025)
Climate
Tropical rainforest climate. December-April is warm (above 32 C), May-November cooler (rarely above 27 C). Tongatapu averages 23 C and 1,700 mm of rain; March is wettest. Cyclone season runs 1 November to 30 April.
Alcohol
- Alcohol is
- Legal
- Legal drinking age
- 18; selling to under-18s prohibited
- Alcohol per adult a year
- 0.2 litres of pure alcohol (2022)
Sources: World Bank (population, economy and demographics), WHO Global Health Observatory (alcohol per adult and drinking mix); Wikipedia - Tonga (basics, climate); IMF DataMapper WEO (GDP, population, growth, inflation; retrieved 26 Oct 2026); UN Comtrade (HS 2208); WHO Global Health Observatory; Wikipedia - Legal drinking age. Figures are the latest each source publishes; the year is shown beside each one.