zone:
200 nm
territorial sea:
12 nm
International disputes:
claims US territory of 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:
arable land:
0%
permanent crops:
60%
meadows and pastures:
0%
forest and woodland:
0%
other:
40%
Irrigated land:
NA sq km
Environment:
current issues:
inadequate supplies of safe drinking water
natural hazards:
occasionally subject to typhoons
international agreements:
party to - Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution
Note:
two archipelagic island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152 islands; 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

@Marshall Islands, People

Population:
54,031 (July 1994 est.)
Population growth rate:
3.86% (1994 est.)
Birth rate:
46.31 births/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Death rate:
7.68 deaths/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Net migration rate:
0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1994 est.)
Infant mortality rate:
49.3 deaths/1,000 live births (1994 est.)
Life expectancy at birth:
total population:
63.13 years
male:
61.6 years
female:
64.74 years (1994 est.)
Total fertility rate:
6.94 children born/woman (1994 est.)
Nationality:
noun:
Marshallese (singular and plural)
adjective:
Marshallese
Ethnic divisions:
Micronesian
Religions:
Christian (mostly Protestant)
Languages:
English (universally spoken and is the official language), two major
Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese
Literacy:
age 15 and over can read and write (1980)
total population:
93%
male:
100%
female:
88%
Labor force:
4,800 (1986)
by occupation:
NA

@Marshall Islands, Government

Names:
conventional long form:
Republic of the Marshall Islands
conventional short form:
Marshall Islands
former:
Marshall Islands District (Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)
Digraph:
RM
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 trustee