Location:
Oceania, two archipelagic island chains of 29 atolls, each made up of many small islets, and five single islands in the North Pacific Ocean, about half way between Hawaii and Australia
Geographic coordinates:
9 00 N, 168 00 E
Map references:
Oceania
Area: Area - comparative: Land boundaries: Coastline: Maritime claims: Climate: Terrain: Elevation extremes: Natural resources: Land use: Irrigated land: Natural hazards: Environment - current issues: Environment - international agreements: Geography - note:
total: 181 sq km
[see also: Area - total country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 217
land:
181 sq km
water:
0 sq km
note:
the archipelago includes 11,673 sq km of lagoon waters and encompasses the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro, Rongelap, and Utirik
about the size of Washington, DC
0 km
[see also: Land boundaries country ranks ]
370.4 km
[see also: Coastline country ranks ]
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone:
24 nm
exclusive economic zone:
200 nm
tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border typhoon belt
low coral limestone and sand islands
lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m
[see also: Elevation extremes - lowest point country ranks ]
highest point:
unnamed location on Likiep 10 m
coconut products, marine products, deep seabed minerals
arable land: 11.11%
[see also: Land use - arable land country ranks ]
permanent crops:
44.44%
other:
44.44% (2011)
0 sq km (2011)
[see also: Irrigated land country ranks ]
infrequent typhoons
inadequate supplies of potable water; pollution of Majuro lagoon from household waste and discharges from fishing vessels
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified:
none of the selected agreements
the islands of Bikini and Enewetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein atoll, famous as a World War II battleground, surrounds the world's largest lagoon and is used as a US missile test range; 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