{
"Introduction": {
"Background": {
"text": "Humans arrived in the Marshall Islands in the first millennium B.C. and gradually created permanent settlements on the various atolls. The early inhabitants were skilled navigators who frequently traveled between atolls using stick charts to map the islands. Society became organized under two paramount chiefs, one each for the Ratak (Sunrise) Chain and the Ralik (Sunset) Chain. Spain formally claimed the islands in 1592. Germany established a supply station on Jaluit Atoll and bought the islands from Spain in 1884, although paramount chiefs continued to rule.
Japan seized the Marshall Islands in 1914 and was granted a League of Nations Mandate to administer the islands in 1920. The US captured the islands in heavy fighting during World War II, and the islands came under US administration as part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) in 1947. Between 1946 and 1958, the US resettled populations from Bikini and Enewetak Atolls and conducted 67 nuclear tests; people from Ailinginae, Rongelap, and Utrik Atolls were also evacuated because of nuclear fallout, and Bikini and Rongelap remain largely uninhabited. In 1979, the Marshall Islands drafted a constitution separate from the rest of the TTPI and declared independence under President Amata KABUA, a paramount chief. In 2000, Kessai NOTE became the first commoner elected president. In 2016, Hilda HEINE was the first woman elected president."
}
},
"Geography": {
"Location": {
"text": "Oceania, consists of 29 atolls and five isolated islands in the North Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Hawaii and Australia; the atolls and islands are situated in two, almost-parallel island chains - the Ratak (Sunrise) group and the Ralik (Sunset) group; the total number of islands and islets is about 1,225; 22 of the atolls and four of the islands are uninhabited"
},
"Geographic coordinates": {
"text": "9 00 N, 168 00 E"
},
"Map references": {
"text": "Oceania"
},
"Area": {
"total ": {
"text": "181 sq km"
},
"land": {
"text": "181 sq km"
},
"water": {
"text": "0 sq km"
},
"note": "note: the archipelago includes 11,673 sq km (4,507 sq mi) of lagoon and encompasses the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro, Rongelap, and Utirik"
},
"Area - comparative": {
"text": "about the size of Washington, D.C."
},
"Land boundaries": {
"total": {
"text": "0 km"
}
},
"Coastline": {
"text": "370.4 km"
},
"Maritime claims": {
"territorial sea": {
"text": "12 nm"
},
"contiguous zone": {
"text": "24 nm"
},
"exclusive economic zone": {
"text": "200 nm"
}
},
"Climate": {
"text": "tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border typhoon belt"
},
"Terrain": {
"text": "low coral limestone and sand islands"
},
"Elevation": {
"highest point": {
"text": "East-central Airik Island, Maloelap Atoll 14 m"
},
"lowest point": {
"text": "Pacific Ocean 0 m"
},
"mean elevation": {
"text": "2 m"
}
},
"Natural resources": {
"text": "coconut products, marine products, deep seabed minerals"
},
"Land use": {
"agricultural land": {
"text": "38.9% (2023 est.)"
},
"agricultural land: arable land": {
"text": "arable land: 2.8% (2023 est.)"
},
"agricultural land: permanent crops": {
"text": "permanent crops: 36.1% (2023 est.)"
},
"agricultural land: permanent pasture": {
"text": "permanent pasture: 0% (2022 est.)"
},
"forest": {
"text": "53.9% (2023 est.)"
},
"other": {
"text": "7.2% (2023 est.)"
}
},
"Irrigated land": {
"text": "0 sq km (2022)"
},
"Population distribution": {
"text": "most people live in urban clusters on many of the country's islands; more than two thirds of the population lives on the atolls of Majuro and Ebeye"
},
"Natural hazards": {
"text": "infrequent typhoons"
},
"Geography - note": {
"text": "Kwajalein atoll surrounds the world's largest lagoon; the island city of Ebeye is the second largest settlement in the Marshall Islands, after the capital of Majuro, and one of the most densely populated locations in the Pacific"
}
},
"People and Society": {
"Population": {
"total": {
"text": "82,011 (2024 est.)"
},
"male": {
"text": "41,581"
},
"female": {
"text": "40,430"
}
},
"Nationality": {
"noun": {
"text": "Marshallese (singular and plural)"
},
"adjective": {
"text": "Marshallese"
}
},
"Ethnic groups": {
"text": "Marshallese 95.6%, Filipino 1.1%, other 3.3% (2021 est.)"
},
"Languages": {
"Languages": {
"text": "Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999)"
},
"major-language sample(s)": {
"text": "
Bok eo an Lalin kin Melele ko Rejimwe ej jikin ebōk melele ko raurōk. (Marshallese)
The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.
the US dollar is used
" } }, "Energy": { "Electricity access": { "electrification - total population": { "text": "100% (2022 est.)" }, "electrification - urban areas": { "text": "96.1%" }, "electrification - rural areas": { "text": "100%" } } }, "Communications": { "Telephones - fixed lines": { "total subscriptions": { "text": "2,000 (2014 est.)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "5 (2022 est.)" } }, "Telephones - mobile cellular": { "total subscriptions": { "text": "16,000 (2021 est.)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "38 (2021 est.)" } }, "Broadcast media": { "text": "no TV broadcast station; a cable network is available on Majuro with programming via videotape replay and satellite relays; 4 radio broadcast stations; US Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) provides satellite radio and TV service to Kwajalein Atoll (2019)" }, "Internet country code": { "text": ".mh" }, "Internet users": { "percent of population": { "text": "66% (2023 est.)" } }, "Broadband - fixed subscriptions": { "total": { "text": "1,000 (2022 est.)" }, "subscriptions per 100 inhabitants": { "text": "2 (2022 est.)" } } }, "Transportation": { "Civil aircraft registration country code prefix": { "text": "V7" }, "Airports": { "text": "33 (2025)" }, "Merchant marine": { "total": { "text": "4,180 (2023)" }, "by type": { "text": "bulk carrier 1,939, container ship 277, general cargo 66, oil tanker 1039, other 859" } }, "Ports": { "total ports": { "text": "3 (2024)" }, "large": { "text": "0" }, "medium": { "text": "0" }, "small": { "text": "0" }, "very small": { "text": "3" }, "ports with oil terminals": { "text": "2" }, "key ports": { "text": "Enitwetak Island, Kwajalein, Majuro Atoll" } } }, "Military and Security": { "Military and security forces": { "text": "Marshall Islands Police Department (includes a Sea Patrol Division)" }, "Military - note": { "text": "defense is the responsibility of the US; in 1982, the Marshall Islands signed a Compact of Free Association (COFA) with the US, which granted the Marshall Islands financial assistance and access to many US domestic programs in exchange for exclusive US military access and defense responsibilities; the COFA entered into force in 1986; the Marshall Islands hosts a US Army missile test site