Country · Oceania
Marshall Islands
Republic of the Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands are a country in Micronesia. About 58 000 people live there, in an area of 181 square kilometres. Their capital city is Majuro.
Picture credit: Jacob Allison (Public domain) · Cliff Hansen (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Stefan Lins (CC BY 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where are the Marshall Islands?
The Marshall Islands lie in Micronesia, on the continent of Oceania.
They sit in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 002 km from the equator.
Their coastline is about 370 km long.
They have no land neighbours — every border they have is with the sea.
How big are the Marshall Islands?
The Marshall Islands cover 181 square kilometres.
Luxembourg is about 14 times bigger.
Among the world's countries that makes them the 188th largest.
Spread everybody out evenly and you get about 322.7 people on every square kilometre.
That is busier than the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in the Marshall Islands?
About 58 000 people live in the Marshall Islands.
That is the 186th biggest population in the world.
People here speak English and Marshallese.
They pay with the United States dollar ($).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 66 years.
The land of the Marshall Islands
Their coast runs for about 370 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 19 days.
They lie inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason their weather is the way it is.
What makes the Marshall Islands different?
Websites from here often end in .mh.
The Marshall Islands and the rest of the world
Fewer than one person in every thousand on Earth lives in the Marshall Islands.
They take up less than a hundredth of one per cent of all the land in the world.
Within Oceania the country ranks 12th of 14 by size, and 11th by population.
Nature and animals
The highest mountain in the country is the Unnamed spot on Likiep Atoll, at 10 metres.
Where this country lands in the record lists
How big are the Marshall Islands compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 51 782 times as big as the Marshall Islands: 9 372 610 km² against 181 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 1 342 times as big as the Marshall Islands: 242 900 km² against 181 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of the Marshall Islands?
The capital of the Marshall Islands is Majuro. It is the city where the government works from.
How many people live in the Marshall Islands?
About 58 000 people live in the Marshall Islands, which makes them the 186th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
How big are the Marshall Islands?
The Marshall Islands cover 181 square kilometres, making them the 188th largest country in the world. Luxembourg is about 14 times bigger.
What is the highest mountain in the Marshall Islands?
The highest mountain in the Marshall Islands is the Unnamed spot on Likiep Atoll, 10 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
Are there rivers in the Marshall Islands?
The Marshall Islands have 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 are the Marshall Islands in?
The Marshall Islands are 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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