Kiribati Country Info - Oceania

Description and Basic Information

Kiribati with its capital Tarawa is located in Oceania (Oceania, group of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean). It covers some 812 square kilometres (four times the size of Washington, DC) with 110,000 citizens. English and are the the languages spoken by people in Kiribati.

Kiribati is an island group in Micronesia straddling the equator and, until 1995, the International Date Line. Kiribati is most emphatically not another Tahiti, Hawaii, etc. where you can go to relax and have nothing to worry about. It has few visitors, and they have to be prepared to rough it. That said, there aren't many countries where the people are more friendly. South Tarawa is one of the most densely populated, severely poverty-stricken places in the world. Other islands have far fewer people, but getting to them can be difficult, and conditions are even more primitive. Most tourists, especially from the USA, go to Kiritimati (Christmas Island). It received some attention on January 1, 2000 as the first location in the world to experience the new millennium.

Pictures from Capital (Tarawa)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Kiribati

The topography features mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs. The average density of population is about 135 per km². The climate in Kiribati can be described as tropical with marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds. Potential natural disasters are typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to March or occasional tornadoes or low level of some of the islands make them sensitive to changes in sea level.

To reach someone in Kiribati dial +686 prior to a number. There are 4,000 installed telephones. And there are 1,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".ki". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 240V - 50Hz. The following list are the 3 regions/states in Kiribati we know off.

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total I-Kiribati population grew at a rate of 1.27% (or by 1,264 citizens). With 744 deaths and 2,294 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 1.56%. -286 persons more in total emmigrated from the country than immigrated.

An overview of age distribution in Kiribati: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.