Country · Oceania
Kiribati
Independent and Sovereign Republic of Kiribati
Kiribati is a country in Micronesia. About 116 000 people live there, in an area of 811 square kilometres. Its capital city is South Tarawa.
Picture credit: Flexman (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Flexman (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (CC BY 2.0) · Photo taken by Government of Kiribati employee in the course of their work (CC BY 3.0) · Arorae (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Kiribati?
Kiribati lies in Micronesia, on the continent of Oceania.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 158 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 1 143 km long.
It has no land neighbours — every border it has is with the sea.
How big is Kiribati?
Kiribati covers 811 square kilometres.
Luxembourg is about 3.2 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 171st largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 142.8 people on every square kilometre.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Kiribati?
About 116 000 people live in Kiribati.
That is the 177th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Gilbertese.
They pay with the Australian dollar and Kiribati dollar.
On average, people born here can expect to live about 60 years.
The land of Kiribati
Its coast runs for about 1 143 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 57 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Kiribati different?
Websites from here often end in .ki.
Kiribati and the rest of the world
Fewer than one person in every thousand on Earth lives in Kiribati.
It takes up less than a hundredth of one per cent of all the land in the world.
Within Oceania the country ranks 8th of 14 by size, and 8th by population.
Nature and animals
The highest mountain in the country is the Unnamed rise on Banaba, at 81 metres.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big is Kiribati compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 11 557 times as big as Kiribati: 9 372 610 km² against 811 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 300 times as big as Kiribati: 242 900 km² against 811 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Kiribati?
The capital of Kiribati is South Tarawa. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Kiribati?
About 116 000 people live in Kiribati, which makes it the 177th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big is Kiribati?
Kiribati covers 811 square kilometres, making it the 171st largest country in the world. Luxembourg is about 3.2 times bigger.
What is the highest mountain in Kiribati?
The highest mountain in Kiribati is the Unnamed rise on Banaba, 81 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
Are there rivers in Kiribati?
Kiribati has no permanent river. The ground is porous, so rain sinks straight in or runs to the sea in channels that stay dry most of the year. The water comes from rain tanks, wells or desalination plants.
Which continent is Kiribati in?
Kiribati is in Oceania, in the part called Micronesia.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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