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How do Pacific Islands differ from the broader region of Oceania?

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Map of the Pacific Islands region showing political boundaries, major island groups, and countries such as Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Samoa, French Polynesia, and Kiribati. The map uses color shading to indicate elevation and ocean depth, with key islands and capitals labeled throughout the central and southwestern Pacific Ocean.
Pacific Islands

The terms Pacific Islands and Oceania are often used to describe the same geographic area, but they differ in scope and conventional inclusion.12

  • Oceania is a broader, collective term for the islands throughout the Pacific Ocean. In its widest sense, it encompasses the entire insular region between Asia and the Americas. Depending on the definition, it may include Australia, New Zealand, and sometimes the Malay Archipelago.13
  • Pacific Islands is a more specific geographic region conventionally comprising three ethnogeographic groupings: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. This term typically excludes the continent of Australia, as well as island groups closely related to the Asian mainland, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, and the Japanese archipelago.2

While Oceania can be defined to include these larger landmasses, the term "Pacific Islands" is generally reserved for the smaller island states and territories within the central and southern Pacific.12