Phoenix Islands

Area - comparative:
four times the size of Washington, DC

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
1,143 km

Maritime claims:
territorial sea: 12 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm

Climate:
tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds

Terrain:
mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m

Natural resources:
phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)

Land use:
arable land: 2.74%
permanent crops: 50.68%
other: 46.58% (2001)

Irrigated land:
NA

Natural hazards:
typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to March;
occasional tornadoes; low level of some of the islands make them
very sensitive to changes in sea level

Environment - current issues:
heavy pollution in lagoon of south Tarawa atoll due to heavy
migration mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines
and open-pit dumping; ground water at risk

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
21 of the 33 islands are inhabited; Banaba (Ocean Island) in
Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the
Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French Polynesia, and Nauru

People Kiribati

Population:
103,092 (July 2005 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 38.9% (male 20,342/female 19,806)
15-64 years: 57.7% (male 29,362/female 30,136)
65 years and over: 3.3% (male 1,477/female 1,969) (2005 est.)

Median age:
total: 20.05 years
male: 19.61 years
female: 20.58 years (2005 est.)

Population growth rate:
2.25% (2005 est.)

Birth rate:
30.86 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate:
8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.75 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 48.52 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 53.64 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 43.16 deaths/1,000 live births (