A remote country of 33 scattered coral atolls, kiribati has few natural resources. commercially viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the uk in 1979. copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports. the economy has fluctuated widely in recent years. economic development is constrained by a shortage of skilled workers, weak infrastructure, and remoteness from international markets. tourism provides more than one-fifth of gdp. private sector initiatives and a financial sector are in the early stages of development. foreign financial aid from uk, japan, australia, new zealand, and china equals more than 10% of gdp. remittances from seamen on merchant ships abroad account for more than $5 million each year. kiribati receives around $15 million annually for the government budget from an australian trust fund.
Heavy pollution in lagoon of south tarawa atoll due to heavy migration mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines and open-pit dumping; ground water at risk
110,356 (july 2008 est.)
Oceania, group 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 lies in the same time zone as its gilbert islands group (utc +12) even though the phoenix islands and the line islands under its jurisdiction lie on the other side of the international date line
Total: 811 sq km land: 811 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes three island groups - gilbert islands, line islands, phoenix islands
Four times the size of washington, dc
Conventional long form: republic of kiribati conventional short form: kiribati local long form: republic of kiribati local short form: kiribati note: pronounced keer-ree-bahss former: gilbert islands
Name: tarawa geographic coordinates: 1 19 n, 172 58 e time difference: utc+12 (17 hours ahead of washington, dc during standard time)