Marshall Islands

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	total: 181 sq km land: 181 sq km water: 0 sq km note: the archipelago includes 11,673 sq km of lagoon waters and includes the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro, Rongelap, and Utirik
Area - comparative	about the size of Washington, DC
Land boundaries	0 km
Coastline	370.4 km
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
Climate	tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; 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	coconut products, marine products, deep seabed minerals
Land use	arable land: 11.11% permanent crops: 44.44% other: 44.45% (2005)
Irrigated land	0 sq km
Natural hazards	infrequent typhoons
Environment - current issues	inadequate supplies of potable water; pollution of Majuro lagoon from household waste and discharges from fishing vessels
Environment - international agreements	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
Geography - note	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