Environment - current issues:
heavy pollution in lagoon of south Tarawa atoll due to heavy
migration mixed with traditional practices such as lagoon latrines
and open-pit dumping; ground water at risk
Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto
Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note:
21 of the 33 islands are inhabited; Banaba (Ocean Island) in
Kiribati is one of the three great phosphate rock islands in the
Pacific Ocean - the others are Makatea in French Polynesia, and Nauru
People Kiribati
Population:
105,432 (July 2006 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 38.6% (male 20,608/female 20,060)
15-64 years: 58.1% (male 30,216/female 31,004)
65 years and over: 3.4% (male 1,517/female 2,027) (2006 est.)
Median age:
total: 20.2 years
male: 19.8 years
female: 20.8 years (2006 est.)
Population growth rate:
2.24% (2006 est.)
Birth rate:
30.65 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate:
8.26 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)