In Nauru's history, there have been six major demographics changes. The island was first inhabited by Micronesian people roughly 3,000 years ago.The first European to find the island was John Fearn in 1798. Then, the country was annexed by Germany in 1888. The next was when Japanese occupied the island during World War II in the 1940s. During this time, the Japanese deported several thousands of Nauruans to other islands. The next major demographic change was in the 1960s; the country gained independence, where the percentage of Nauruans started to increase. The last major demographics change was in 2006 when the Government of Nauru repatriated almost all of the remaining Tuvaluan and I-Kiribati workers, following large scale reduction from the Republic of Nauru Phosphate Corporation (RONPhos) and government workers. The census of 2006 stated 9,233 people were in Nauru: down 2.13% per year from the previous census of 2002.