Torba Province

Template:Short description Template:Infobox settlement

Torba (or TorBa) is the northernmost and least populous province of Vanuatu.

It consists of the Banks Islands and the Torres Islands. It has an area of Template:Convert. Its capital is Sola on Vanua Lava.

The province's name is derived from the initial letters of TORres and BAnks.

Administrative divisions

Torba Province are subdivided into nine area councils, which are further subdivided into populated places (i.e.: villages, communities, etc.). These area councils are, in geographical order (from NW to SE):

Torres Area Council
Ureparapara Area Council
Motalava Area Council
East Vanualava Area Council
West Vanualava Area Council
Mota Area Council
East Gaua Area Council
West Gaua Area Council
Merelava-Merig Area Council

Islands

These are the main islands of Torba Province, excluding smaller and uninhabited islets.

Banks Islands

Name	Population	Area in km²
Gaua	2,491	342
Kwakéa	26	1.2
Merelava	647	18
Merig	12	0.5
Mota	683	9.5
Motalava	1,451	24
Ra	189	0.5
Ureparapara	437	39
Vanua Lava	2,597	314

Torres Islands

Name	Population	Area in km²
Hiw	269	51
Linua	0	2.5
Lo	210	11.9
Metoma	13	3
Tegua	58	30.8
Toga	276	18.8

Population

File:Vanuatu-Torres-Banks.png

Detailed map of Torba province (Torres-Banks)

The province had a population of 9,359 in 2009, 10,161 in 2016, and 11,002 in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="dla"/>

Languages

Template:Main The Torba province has seventeen languages, which are all Oceanic.<ref>Template:Harvcoltxt.</ref><ref>List and map of the 17 languages of Torba province.</ref> From north to south, they are: Hiw, Lo-Toga, Lehali, Löyöp, Volow, Mwotlap, Lemerig, Vera'a, Vurës, Mwesen, Mota, Nume, Dorig, Koro, Olrat, Lakon, and Mwerlap.<ref>François et al. (2015).</ref> With an average of 550 speakers per language, Torba is one of the most linguistically dense areas of Vanuatu, which is itself the country with the highest density of languages per capita in the world.