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
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
14 May 1948 (from League of Nations mandate under British administration)
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)
Jewish 76.4%, Muslim 16%, Arab Christians 1.7%, other Christian 0.4%, Druze 1.6%, unspecified 3.9% (2004)
Languages
Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) note: English (official), widely spoken as a second language
Hebrew (official), Arabic used officially for Arab minority, English most commonly used foreign language
Exports
machinery and equipment, software, cut diamonds, agricultural products, chemicals, textiles and apparel
External Debt
$102,300,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
new Israeli shekels (ILS) per US dollar - 3.56 (2008 est.), 4.14 (2007), 4.4565 (2006), 4.4877 (2005), 4.482 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
7.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
0
1
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
Middle East, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Egypt and Lebanon
Area
181 km sq
20,770 km sq
Coastline
370 km
273 km
Climate
tropical; hot and humid; wet season May to November; islands border typhoon belt
temperate; hot and dry in southern and eastern desert areas
