Kiribati
An archipelagic nation straddling the equator and the 180th meridian, Kiribati is a sovereign state in the central Pacific Ocean.
Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an archipelagic country spanning the Micronesia and Polynesia sub-regions of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. The state comprises 32 atolls and other islands and one remote raised coral island, Banaba. Its total land area is 811 km² (313 sq mi) dispersed over 3,441,810 km² (1,328,890 sq mi) of ocean. The permanent population is just over 138,000 as of the 2026 census, and more than half live on Tarawa.
- Capital
- South Tarawa
- Official Languages
- English, Gilbertese (Taetae ni Kiribati)
- Region
- Oceania / Micronesia and Polynesia
- Distinctive Feature
- World's only country spanning all four hemispheres
Lore & Background
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. The indigenous name often suggested for the Gilbert Islands proper is Tungaru. The Gilberts were annexed as a British protectorate in 1892; this annexation ended in 1979 when Kiribati gained independence. The sovereign state includes the Gilberts, the Phoenix and Line islands, and Banaba. The capital, Tarawa, consists of a number of islets connected by causeways.
In Their Own Story
On Kiritimati, the sun does not just rise; it spills over the horizon from every direction at once. An elder sits on the fringing reef's edge, watching a tide creep higher than any he remembers from his youth. The coconut palms sway above brackish water that now licks the foundations of the village maneaba, eroding the soil where ancestors once walked. He recounts stories of the old stick charts—hand-crafted maps of wave patterns and star paths—to his grandson, but today, the ocean itself is rewriting the map, turning the familiar horizon into a question mark.
Reader's Guide
Kiribati is a member of the Pacific Community, Commonwealth of Nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999. Fisheries, subsistence agriculture and the export of copra drive much of the economy. Kiribati is one of the least developed countries in the world. The government pays benefits to the unemployed on Tarawa and to the elderly. As an atoll nation, Kiribati is acutely vulnerable to sea-level rise and climate change.
Did You Know?
- The International Date Line goes around Kiribati, placing its easternmost islands in the most advanced time zone on Earth: UTC+14.
- The name Kiribati is pronounced KIRR-i-bass, as -ti in Gilbertese represents an [s] sound.
- Prior to independence, the country exported phosphate from Banaba, but the mine 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.
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