Kiribati fact sheet
For background information about Kiribati we recommend the CIA World Factbook, World Bank data & statistics and Wikipedia.
Background
Kiribati (pronounced KIRR-i-bas; 
listen), officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island nation located in the central tropical Pacific Ocean. It is composed of 32 atolls and one raised coral island, dispersed over 3,500,000 square kilometres, (1,351,000 square miles) straddling the equator, and bordering the International Date Line to the east. The name Kiribati is the local pronunciation of "Gilberts", derived from the main island chain, the Gilbert Islands. Kiribati became independent from the United Kingdom in 1979. It is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.
Geography
Kiribati is situated in Oceania, and is made up of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, straddling the Equator; the capital Tarawa is about half way between Hawaii and Australia; note - on 1 January 1995, Kiribati proclaimed that all of its territory was in the same time zone as its Gilbert Islands group (UTC +12) even though the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands under its jurisdiction were on the other side of the International Date Line.
Total land are is 811 sq km; this includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Phoenix Islands.
The total coastline is: 1,143 km.
The terrain is mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs.
Climate
Tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds.
Demographics
21 of the 33 islands are inhabited. The population is 112,850 (July 2009 est.).
Economy
Kiribati is one of the world's poorest countries. It has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports. Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP.
In 1956 Kiribati established a sovereign wealth fund to act as a store of wealth for the country's earnings from phosphate mining.
World Bank key facts about Kiribati
