The 377 business establishments in American Samoa generated $1.2 billion in sales in 2012, employed 7,070 people and paid $114 million in annual payroll, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 Economic Census of Island Areas: Geographic Area Series for American Samoa.

Every five years, the economic census provides the most authoritative and comprehensive source of information about the entire U.S. economy, including U.S. territories. The 2012 Economic Census statistics for American Samoa are not comparable to 2007 because only firms with paid employees are included in the 2012 Economic Census, whereas in 2007 firms without paid employees were also included. In 2007, more than 99 percent of all sales were from businesses with paid employees.

American Samoa is a U.S. territory in the South Pacific Ocean.

American Samoa had 55 businesses with 20 or more employees in 2012, representing 14.6 percent of all businesses. These businesses accounted for 83.2 percent ($960 million) of total sales and 75.7 percent (5,350) of total employment.

In 2012, capital expenditures totaled $73.4 million. This is the first time that capital expenditures statistics have been collected for American Samoa. The new data will help provide more complete inputs to the calculation of the gross domestic product (GDP).

The statistics for American Samoa are available through the Census Bureau's American FactFinder, an online search tool that allows users to access, filter, manipulate and extract statistics. Statistics for Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands were released April 29. Data for the U.S. Virgin Islands will be released July 15; and Puerto Rico statistics will be released in 2015. More information about the Economic Census of Island Areas is available.

For information on confidentiality protection, nonsampling error and definitions, see the methodology section at <//www.census.gov/econ/islandareas/methodology.html>.

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