Marshall Islands
The Marshall Islands consists of two archipelagic island chains of 30 atolls and 1,152 islands. Bikini and Enewetak were former United States nuclear test sites; Kwajalein, the famous World War Two battleground, is now used as by the US as a missile test range.
AREA: Total: 181.3 sq km
POPULATION: 57,738 (July 2004 est.)
LANGUAGES: English (widely spoken as a second language, both English and Marshallese are official languages), two major Marshallese dialects from the Malayo-Polynesian family, Japanese
ETHNIC GROUPS: Micronesian
LITERACY LEVELS: Definition: age 15 and over can read and write
- Total population: 93.7%
- Male: 93.6%
- Female: 93.7% (1999)
