and Kwajalein

Comparative area: slightly larger than Washington, DC

Land boundaries: none

Coastline: 370.4 km

Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 24 nm;

Extended economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

Disputes: claims US-administered Wake Island

Climate: wet season May to November; hot and humid; islands border
typhoon belt

Terrain: low coral limestone and sand islands

Natural resources: phosphate deposits, marine products, deep seabed
minerals

Land use: 0% arable land; 60% permanent crops; 0% meadows and
pastures; 0% forest and woodland; 40% other

Environment: occasionally subject to typhoons; two archipelagic
island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152 islands

Note: located 3,825 km southwest of Honolulu in the North Pacific Ocean,
about two-thirds of the way between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea; Bikini and
Eniwetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War II
battleground, is now used as a US missile test range

- People
Population: 43,417 (July 1990), growth rate 3.2% (1990)

Birth rate: 39 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 5 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: - 1 migrant/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 43 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 70 years male, 75 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 5.9 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun--Marshallese; adjective--Marshallese

Ethnic divisions: almost entirely Micronesian

Religion: predominantly Christian, mostly Protestant

Language: English universally spoken and is the official language;
two major Marshallese dialects from Malayo-Polynesian family; Japanese

Literacy: 90%

Labor force: 4,800 (1986)

Organized labor: none

- Government
Long-form name: Republic of the Marshall Islands

Type: constitutional government in free association with the US;
the Compact of Free Association entered into force 21 October 1986

Capital: Majuro

Administrative divisions: none

Independence: 21 October 1986 (from the US-administered UN trusteeship;
formerly the Marshall Islands District of the Trust Territory of the Pacific
Islands)

Constitution: 1 May 1979

Legal system: based on adapted Trust Territory laws, acts of the
legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws

National holiday: Proclamation of the Republic of the Marshall Islands,
1 May (1979)

Executive branch: president, Cabinet

Legislative branch