Kiribati

Lore & Background

The permanent population of Kiribati is just over 138,000 as of the 2026 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. There is also a significant number of I‑Kiribati forming a diaspora, the largest of which still growing via emigration is probably in New Zealand; historically, diasporic communities were created through over-population resettlement in the Solomon Islands on Ghizo and Wagina, and through intermarriage in the United Kingdom and United States.

Another country with growing diasporic communities born of recent labour immigration is Australia. The I‑Kiribati are a Micronesian people that speaks the Gilbertese language. The Gilberts were politically autonomous of each other, more or less, and anywhere else, until annexed as a protectorate in 1892 by the British; they had no political connection then with the Phoenix or Line islands. This annexation was ended in 1979, when Kiribati gained its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming a sovereign state in 1979.

The sovereign state included the Gilberts, the Phoenix and Line islands and Banaba. The capital, Tarawa, now the most populated area, consists of a number of islets, connected by a series of causeways. These comprise about half the area of Tarawa Atoll. Prior to its independence the country exported phosphate, but the mine, on Banaba, is virtually exhausted and no longer viable.

The descendants of the Banabans mostly live in exile on Rabi in Fiji but are represented in the Kiribati Parliament. Fisheries, subsistence agriculture and the export of copra drive much of the economy, particularly on outer islands away from Tarawa. Kiribati is one of the least developed countries in the world and its government is highly dependent on fishing licence fees from foreign fleets and international capital aid to finance infrastructure and other projects.

Many families rely on remittances from circular labour migrants (seafarers, agricultural workers, urban service workers). They also work for the government or for private business and non-business organisations, or run trade stores and small private cooperative-like businesses. The government now pays benefits to the unemployed on Tarawa and to the elderly.

Reader's Guide

The name is pronounced /ˈkɪrɪbæs/ (KIRR-i-bass), as the Gilbertese language 'ti' represents an 's' sound. Similarly, the name of its people, the I-Kiribati, is pronounced /iːˈkɪrɪbæs/. The name Kiribati was adopted upon the country's independence in 1979. It is the Gilbertese rendition of Gilberts, the plural of the English name of the nation's main archipelago, the Gilbert Islands.

It was named 'Îles Gilbert' (French for 'Gilbert Islands') in about 1820 by Russian admiral Adam von Krusenstern and French captain Louis Duperrey, after the British captain Thomas Gilbert. Gilbert and captain John Marshall sighted some of the islands in 1788, while charting the 'outer passage' route from Port Jackson to Canton. Both von Krusenstern's and Duperrey's maps, published in 1824, were written in French. In French, the Northern Islands were until then called 'Îles de la Mer Équatoriale' and Byron's Island was not part of them.

In English, the archipelago, particularly the southern part, was often referred to as the Kingsmills in the 19th century, although the name Gilbert Islands was used increasingly, including for the purposes of the Western Pacific High Commission in the Western Pacific Order-in-Council of 1877 and Pacific Order-in-Council of 1893. The name Gilbert, already in the name of the British protectorate since 1892, was incorporated into the name of the entire Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony (GEIC) from 1916 and was retained after the Ellice Islands became the separate country of Tuvalu in 1976.

The spelling of Gilberts in the Gilbertese language as 'Kiribati' may be found in books in Gilbertese prepared by missionaries, but with the meaning of Gilbertese (demonym and language). The first mention as a dictionary entry of the word Kiribati as the native name of the country was written down in 1952 by Ernest Sabatier in his comprehensive 'Dictionnaire gilbertin-français'. The indigenous name often suggested for the Gilbert Islands proper is 'Tungaru'.

The rendition Kiribati for Gilberts was chosen as the official name of the new independent state by the chief minister, Sir Ieremia Tabai and his cabinet, on such grounds that it was modern, and to indicate the inclusion of islands (e.g., the Phoenix and Line Islands), beyond the Tungaru (i.e., Gilbert) chain.

Did You Know?

• Kiribati is the only country in the world to fall into all four hemispheres (northern, southern, eastern, and western).
• Kiribati became a full member of the United Nations in 1999.