constitutional government in free association with the US; the Compact of Free Association entered into force 21 October 1986 and the Amended Compact entered into force in May 2004
republic
Independence date
9 July 1816 (from Spain)
Religions
Protestant 54.8%, Assembly of God 25.8%, Roman Catholic 8.4%, Bukot nan Jesus 2.8%, Mormon 2.1%, other Christian 3.6%, other 1%, none 1.5% (1999 census)
nominally Roman Catholic 92% (less than 20% practicing), Protestant 2%, Jewish 2%, other 4%
Languages
Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) note: English (official), widely spoken as a second language
Spanish (official), Italian, English, German, French
Exports
soybeans and derivatives, petroleum and gas, vehicles, corn, wheat
External Debt
$136,800,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Argentine pesos (ARS) per US dollar - 3.1636 (2008 est.), 3.1105 (2007), 3.0543 (2006), 2.9037 (2005), 2.9233 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.800%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
6
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
Southern South America, bordering the South Atlantic Ocean, between Chile and Uruguay
Area
181 km sq
2,780,400 km sq
Coastline
370 km
4,989 km
Climate
tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border typhoon belt
mostly temperate; arid in southeast; subantarctic in southwest
