Making Billions on Bird Poop
This country made money on bird droppings and was one of the richest in the world. And now it's bankrupt and at risk of disappearing. This is Nauru. A tiny island in the Pacific Ocean, home to 13,000 people. But just recently, it was one of the richest countries on Earth. Nauru earned billions of dollars – from bird droppings. Phosphates are a very good fertilizer. There's little of it on earth, but this small island in the middle of the ocean was covered in bird droppings. And so the money started pouring in. In terms of GDP per capita, Nauru became the second-highest in the world – just behind the oil kingdom of Kuwait. But the authorities didn't spend the money very wisely. They staged musicals in London, bought a skyscraper in Melbourne, opened an airline… And then they stopped buying fertilizer and the money ran out. And now the country has absolutely nothing that can generate a profit. And because of the fertilizer extraction, almost the entire island has been left uninhabitable. Nauru is bankrupt. Now this country is willing to accept any means to make money. They host migrants seeking asylum in Australia – and get paid for it. Or they sell their friendship: Nauru was long an ally of Taiwan, but suddenly turned its back on China. Beijing usually pays handsomely for such things. Some time ago, the country recognized Abkhazia and South Ossetia as part of Russia – in exchange for $50 million. But there is also a final plan. The Nauruan authorities want to extract minerals from the ocean floor. Demand for them could soon skyrocket. And if everything works out, the island will once again become one of the richest countries on earth. But Nauru has no plan B. And the future of the entire country is at risk due to global warming. Sea levels are rising so quickly that the island could simply disappear. Cryptocurrency investor Sam Bankman-Fried, who once owned a $32 billion business and now risks life in prison, planned to buy the country of Nauru and build an underground bunker there in case of the end of the world.