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

Terrain: low coral limestone and sand islands

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
highest point: unnamed location on Likiep 10 m

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

Land use:
arable land: NA%
permanent crops: 60%
permanent pastures: NA%
forests and woodland: NA%
other: 40%

Irrigated land: NA sq km

Natural hazards: occasional typhoons

Environment-current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer
Protection, Ship Pollution
signed, but not ratified: Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol

Geography-note: two archipelagic island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152
islands; Bikini and Enewetak 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: 63,031 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 50% (male 16,073; female 15,432)
15-64 years: 48% (male 15,408; female 14,695)
65 years and over: 2% (male 669; female 754) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.85% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 45.39 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 6.9 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.89 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 44.54 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.48 years
male: 62.89 years
female: 66.14 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.72 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Marshallese (singular and plural)
adjective: Marshallese

Ethnic groups: 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:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 93%
male: 100%
female: 88% (1980 est.)

@Marshall Islands:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of the Marshall Islands
conventional short form: Marshall Islands
former: Marshall Islands District (Trust Territory of the Paci