_#_Disputes: claims US territory of Wake Island
_#_Climate: wet season May to November; hot and humid; islands border typhoon belt
_#_Terrain: low coral limestone and sand islands
_#_Natural resources: phosphate deposits, marine products, deep seabed minerals
_#_Land use: arable land 0%; permanent crops 60%; meadows and pastures 0%; forest and woodland 0%; other 40%
_#_Environment: occasionally subject to typhoons; two archipelagic island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152 islands
_#_Note: located 3,825 km southwest of Honolulu in the North Pacific Ocean, about two-thirds of the way between Hawaii and Papua New Guinea; Bikini and Eniwetak are former US nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War II battleground, is now used as a US missile test range
_*People #_Population: 48,091 (July 1991), growth rate 3.9% (1991)
_#_Birth rate: 47 births/1,000 population (1991)
_#_Death rate: 8 deaths/1,000 population (1991)