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| Country | Marshall Islands | | | Flag |  | | | Capital | name: Majuro geographic coordinates: 7 06 N, 171 23 E time difference: UTC+12 (17 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time) | | | Population | 64,522 (July 2009 est.) | | | GMT | +12 | | | 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
see map | | | Area | total: 181.3 sq km land: 181.3 sq km water: 0 sq km note: the archipelago includes 11,673 sq km of lagoon waters and includes the atolls of Bikini, Enewetak, Kwajalein, Majuro, Rongelap, and Utirik | | | Ethnic groups | Marshallese 92.1%, mixed Marshallese 5.9%, other 2% (2006) | | | 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) | | | Languages | Marshallese (official) 98.2%, other languages 1.8% (1999 census) note: English (official), widely spoken as a second language | | | Government type | 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 | | | National holiday | Constitution Day, 1 May (1979) | | | Constitution | 1 May 1979 | | | Legal system | based on adapted Trust Territory laws, acts of the legislature, municipal, common, and customary laws; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction | | | Background | After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands hosts the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) Reagan Missile Test Site, a key installation in the US missile defense network. | | Internet country code | .mh | |
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