s fresh water;
primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds,
shorebirds, and marine wildlife

_#_Note: remote location 2,575 km southwest of Honolulu in the North
Pacific Ocean, just north of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii
and Australia

_*_People
_#_Population: uninhabited

_#_Note: American civilians evacuated in 1942 after Japanese air and
naval attacks during World War II; occupied by US military during World
War II, but abandoned after the war; public entry is by special-use
permit only and generally restricted to scientists and educators; a
cemetery and cemetery ruins located near the middle of the west coast

_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: none

_#_Type: unincorporated territory of the US administered by the Fish
and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the
National Wildlife Refuge system

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: no economic activity

_*_Communications
_#_Ports: none; offshore anchorage only, one boat landing area along
the middle of the west coast

_#_Airports: 1 abandoned World War II runway of 1,665 m

_#_Note: there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast

_*_Defense Forces
_#_Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by
the US Coast Guard
_%_
_@_Bangladesh
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 144,000 km2; land area: 133,910 km2

_#_Comparative area: slightly smaller than Wisconsin

_#_Land boundaries: 4,246 km total; Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km

_#_Coastline: 580 km

_#_Maritime claims:

Contiguous zone: 18 nm;

Continental shelf: up to outer limits of continental margin;

Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;

Territorial sea: 12 nm

_#_Disputes: a portion of the boundary with India is in dispute;
water sharing problems with upstream riparian India over the Ganges

_#_Climate: tropical; cool, dry winter (October to March); hot, humid
summer (March to June); cool, rainy monsoon (June to October)

_#_Terrain: mostly flat alluvial plain; hilly in southeast

_#_Natural resources: natural gas, uranium, arable land, timber

_#_Land use: arable land 67%; permanent crops 2%; meadows and
pastures 4%; forest and woodland 16%; other 11%; includes irrigated
14%

_#_Environment: vulnerable to droughts; much of country routinely
flooded during summer monsoon season; overpopulation; deforestation

_#_Note: almost completely surrounded by India

_*_People
_#_P