Palauans enjoy constitutionally guaranteed access to twelve years of free public education, subsidised tertiary education available locally to the associate degree level, and a wide range of public scholarship and loan opportunities to support off-island tertiary study. Given these advantages, Palau has achieved virtual universal literacy. Nevertheless, attention to instilling in students appropriate attitudes toward work and nation-building will need to be strengthened, and discrepancies between the supply of, and demand for skills need to be eliminated. This, plus a caring and sharing ethic within the family and wider community, provides Palauans with a social and economic safety net, which ensures that few go without the essentials for life - food, clothing, shelter. However, the Government is aware that accelerating development is beginning to restrict access to land and sea resources, erode their productivity, especially in-shore fisheries resources, and simultaneously, the traditional family and social support systems are beginning to weaken as a result of economic globalisation and changing cultural values, and that as a result, Palau is becoming increasingly vulnerable to the emergence of poverty, with women, youth, and the elderly being most vulnerable.
Palauan women enjoy a high social status because of the matrilineal nature of the society.
Social status and inheritance follow the maternal lineage and women play pivotal roles in traditional affairs as for example, appointment of chiefs. However, women's role in modern western-modeled policy formulation and decision making is not commensurate with their traditional authority. Women, as Palau's primary food producers, are also disproportionately affected by environmental degradation and land alienation and their roles are being increasingly undermined by use of foreign farm labourers. Palau has a complexity of fragile eco-systems. These sectors, dependent upon exploitation of the environment and natural resource base, are under increasing threat from lifestyle choices, large scale development, and uneven concentration of population, particularly in Koror.