Compare Kiribati (2008) - South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2006)

Compare Kiribati (2008) z South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2006)

	Kiribati (2008)	South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (2006)

Administrative divisions	3 units; Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Phoenix Islands; note - in addition, there are 6 districts (Banaba, Central Gilberts, Line Islands, Northern Gilberts, Southern Gilberts, Tarawa) and 21 island councils - one for each of the inhabited islands (Abaiang, Abemama, Aranuka, Arorae, Banaba, Beru, Butaritari, Kanton, Kiritimati, Kuria, Maiana, Makin, Marakei, Nikunau, Nonouti, Onotoa, Tabiteuea, Tabuaeran, Tamana, Tarawa, Teraina)	-
Age structure	0-14 years: 38.2% (male 20,886/female 20,322) 15-64 years: 58.4% (male 31,083/female 31,884) 65 years and over: 3.4% (male 1,554/female 2,088) (2007 est.)	-
Agriculture - products	copra, taro, breadfruit, sweet potatoes, vegetables; fish	-
Airports	19 (2007)	-
Airports - with paved runways	total: 4 1,524 to 2,437 m: 4 (2007)	-
Airports - with unpaved runways	total: 15 914 to 1,523 m: 11 under 914 m: 4 (2007)	-
Area	total: 811 sq km land: 811 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes three island groups - Gilbert Islands, Line Islands, Phoenix Islands	total: 3,903 sq km land: 3,903 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Shag Rocks, Black Rock, Clerke Rocks, South Georgia Island, Bird Island, and the South Sandwich Islands, which consist of eleven islands
Area - comparative	four times the size of Washington, DC	slightly larger than Rhode Island
Background	The Gilbert Islands were granted self-rule by the UK in 1971 and complete independence in 1979 under the new name of Kiribati. The US relinquished all claims to the sparsely inhabited Phoenix and Line Island groups in a 1979 treaty of friendship with Kiribati.	The islands, which have large bird and seal populations, lie approximately 1,000 km east of the Falkland Islands and have been under British administration since 1908 - except for a brief period in 1982 when Argentina occupied them. Grytviken, on South Georgia, was a 19th and early 20th century whaling station. Famed explorer Ernest SHACKLETON stopped there in 1914 en route to his ill-fated attempt to cross Antarctica on foot. He returned some 20 months later with a few companions in a small boat and arranged a successful rescue for the rest of his crew, stranded off the Antarctic Peninsula. He died in 1922 on a subsequent expedition and is buried in Grytviken. Today, the station houses scientists from the British Antarctic Survey. Recognizing the importance of preserving the marine stocks in adjacent waters, the UK, in 1993, extended the exclusive fishing zone from 12 nm to 200 nm around each island.
Birth rate	30.48 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)	-
Budget	revenues: $55.52 million expenditures: $59.71 million (FY05)	-
Capital	name: Tarawa geographic coordinates: 1 19 N, 172 58 E time difference: UTC+12 (17 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)	-
Climate	tropical; marine, hot and humid, moderated by trade winds	variable, with mostly westerly winds throughout the year interspersed with periods of calm; nearly all precipitation falls as snow
Coastline	1,143 km	NA km
Constitution	12 July 1979	-
Country name	conventional long form: Republic of Kiribati conventional short form: Kiribati local long form: Republic of Kiribati local short form: Kiribati note: pronounced keer-ree-bahss former: Gilbert Islands	conventional long form: South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands conventional short form: none abbreviation: SGSSI
Death rate	8.12 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)	-
Debt - external	$10 million (1999 est.)	-
Dependency status	-	overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina; administered from the Falkland Islands by a commissioner, who is concurrently governor of the Falkland Islands, representing Queen ELIZABETH II; Grytviken - formerly a whaling station on South Georgia - is a scientific base
Diplomatic representation from the US	the US does not have an embassy in Kiribati; the ambassador to Fiji is accredited to Kiribati	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)
Diplomatic representation in the US	Kiribati does not have an embassy in the US; there is an honorary consulate in Honolulu	none (overseas territory of the UK, also claimed by Argentina)
Disputes - international	none	Argentina, which claims the islands in its constitution and briefly occupied the islands by force in 1982, agreed in 1995 to no longer seek settlement by force
Economic aid - recipient	$27.84 million largely from UK and Japan (2005)	-
Economy - overview	A remote country of 33 scattered coral atolls, Kiribati has few natural resources. Commercially viable phosphate deposits were exhausted at the time of independence from the UK in 1979. Copra and fish now represent the bulk of production and exports. The economy has fluctuated widely in recent years. Economic development is constrained by a shortage of skilled workers, weak infrastructure, and remoteness from international markets. Tourism provides more than one-fifth of GDP. Private sector initiatives and a financial sector are in the early stages of development. Foreign financial aid from UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and China equals more than 10% of GDP. Remittances from seamen on merchant ships abroad account for more than $5 million each year. Kiribati receives around $15 million annually for the government budget from an Australian trust fund.	Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting finfish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK, sale of fishing licenses, and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels. Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly.
Electricity - consumption	8.37 million kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - exports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - imports	0 kWh (2005)	-
Electricity - production	9 million kWh (2005)	-
Elevation extremes	lowest point: Pacific Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location on Banaba 81 m	lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point: Mount Paget (South Georgia) 2,934 m
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	NA
Environment - international agreements	party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Whaling signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements	-
Ethnic groups	Micronesian 98.8%, other 1.2% (2000 census)	-
Exchange rates	Australian dollars per US dollar - 1.2137 (2007), 1.3285 (2006), 1.3095 (2005), 1.3598 (2004), 1.5419 (2003)	-
Executive branch	chief of state: President Anote TONG (since 10 July 2003); Vice President Teima ONORIO; note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government head of government: President Anote TONG (since 10 July 2003); Vice President Teima ONORIO cabinet: 12-member cabinet appointed by the president from among the members of the House of Parliament elections: the House of Parliament chooses the presidential candidates from among its members and then those candidates compete in a general election; president is elected by popular vote for a four-year term (eligible for two more terms); election last held 17 October 2007 (next to be held in 2011); vice president appointed by the president election results: Anote TONG 63.7%, Nabuti MWEMWENIKARAWA 32.9%	-
Exports	0 bbl/day (2004)	-
Exports - commodities	copra 62%, coconuts, seaweed, fish	-
Exports - partners	US 22.8%, Belgium 21.5%, Japan 14.3%, Samoa 7.8%, Australia 7.5%, Malaysia 6.7%, Taiwan 5.6%, Denmark 4.6% (2006)	-
Fiscal year	NA	-
Flag description	the upper half is red with a yellow frigate bird flying over a yellow rising sun, and the lower half is blue with three horizontal wavy white stripes to represent the ocean	blue, with the flag of the UK in the upper hoist-side quadrant and the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands coat of arms centered on the outer half of the flag; the coat of arms features a shield with a golden lion centered; the shield is supported by a fur seal on the left and a penguin on the right; a reindeer appears above the shield, and below it on a scroll is the motto LEO TERRAM PROPRIAM PROTEGAT (Let the Lion Protect its Own Land)
GDP - composition by sector	agriculture: 8.9% industry: 24.2% services: 66.8% (2004)	-
GDP - real growth rate	0.3% (2005)	-
Geographic coordinates	1 25 N, 173 00 E	54 30 S, 37 00 W
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	the north coast of South Georgia has several large bays, which provide good anchorage; reindeer, introduced early in the 20th century, live on South Georgia
Household income or consumption by percentage share	lowest 10%: NA% highest 10%: NA%	-
Imports	216.4 bbl/day (2004)	-
Imports - commodities	foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, miscellaneous manufactured goods, fuel	-
Imports - partners	Australia 33%, Fiji 27.1%, Japan 18.1%, NZ 6.9% (2006)	-
Independence	12 July 1979 (from UK)	-
Industrial production growth rate	0.7% (1991 est.)	-
Industries	fishing, handicrafts	-
Infant mortality rate	total: 46.02 deaths/1,000 live births male: 51.03 deaths/1,000 live births female: 40.75 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)	-
Inflation rate (consumer prices)	0.5% (2005 est.)	-
International organization participation	ACP, ADB, C, FAO, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, IOC, ITU, ITUC, OPCW, PIF, Sparteca, SPC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO	-
Irrigated land	NA	0 sq km
Judicial branch	Court of Appeal; High Court; 26 Magistrates' courts; judges at all levels are appointed by the president	-
Labor force	7,870 economically active, not including subsistence farmers (2001 est.)	-
Labor force - by occupation	agriculture: 2.7% industry: 32% services: 65.3% (2000)	-
Land boundaries	0 km	0 km
Land use	arable land: 2.74% permanent crops: 47.95% other: 49.31% (2005)	arable land: 0% permanent crops: 0% other: 100% (largely covered by permanent ice and snow with some sparse vegetation consisting of grass, moss, and lichen) (2005)
Languages	I-Kiribati, English (official)	-
Legal system	NA	the laws of the UK, where applicable, apply; the senior magistrate from the Falkland Islands presides over the Magistrates Court
Legislative branch	unicameral House of Parliament or Maneaba Ni Maungatabu (46 seats; 44 members elected by popular vote, 1 ex officio member - the attorney general, 1 nominated by the Rabi Council of Leaders (representing Banaba Island); to serve four-year terms) elections: legislative elections were held in two rounds - the first round on 22 August 2007 and the second round on 30 August 2007 (next to be held in 2011) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - NA, other 2 (includes attorney general)	-
Life expectancy at birth	total population: 62.45 years male: 59.41 years female: 65.63 years (2007 est.)	-
Literacy	definition: NA total population: NA male: NA female: NA	-
Location	Oceania, group of 33 coral atolls in the Pacific Ocean, straddling the Equator; the capital Tarawa is about one-half of the way from Hawaii to Australia; note - on 1 January 1995, Kiribati proclaimed that all of its territory lies in the same time zone as its Gilbert Islands group (UTC +12) even though the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands under its jurisdiction lie on the other side of the International Date Line	Southern South America, islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, east of the tip of South America
Map references	Oceania	Antarctic Region
Maritime claims	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm	territorial sea: 12 nm exclusive fishing zone: 200 nm
Merchant marine	total: 7 ships (1000 GRT or over) 28,435 GRT/42,682 DWT by type: bulk carrier 1, cargo 3, passenger/cargo 1, refrigerated cargo 2 foreign-owned: 3 (Malaysia 1, Singapore 1, Turkey 1) (2007)	-
Military - note	Kiribati does not have military forces; defense assistance is provided by Australia and NZ	defense is the responsibility of the UK
Military branches	no regular military forces; Police Force (carries out law enforcement functions and paramilitary duties; small police posts are on all islands) (2007)	-
Military expenditures - percent of GDP	NA	-
National holiday	Independence Day, 12 July (1979)	-
Nationality	noun: I-Kiribati (singular and plural) adjective: I-Kiribati	-
Natural hazards	typhoons can occur any time, but usually November to March; occasional tornadoes; low level of some of the islands make them very sensitive to changes in sea level	the South Sandwich Islands have prevailing weather conditions that generally make them difficult to approach by ship; they are also subject to active volcanism
Natural resources	phosphate (production discontinued in 1979)	fish
Net migration rate	0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)	-
Political parties and leaders	Boutokaan Te Koaua Party or BTK [Taberannang TIMEON]; Maneaban Te Mauri Party or MTM [Teburoro TITO]; Maurin Kiribati Pati or MKP; National Progressive Party or NPP [Dr. Harry TONG] note: there is no tradition of formally organized political parties in Kiribati; they more closely resemble factions or interest groups because they have no party headquarters, formal platforms, or party structures	-
Political pressure groups and leaders	NA	-
Population	107,817 (July 2007 est.)	no indigenous inhabitants note: the small military garrison on South Georgia withdrew in March 2001, to be replaced by a permanent group of scientists of the British Antarctic Survey, which also has a biological station on Bird Island; the South Sandwich Islands are uninhabited (July 2006 est.)
Population below poverty line	NA%	-
Population growth rate	2.235% (2007 est.)	-
Radio broadcast stations	AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (may be inactive) (2002)	0 (2003)
Religions	Roman Catholic 52%, Protestant (Congregational) 40%, other (includes Seventh-Day Adventist, Muslim, Baha'i, Latter-day Saints, Church of God) 8% (1999)	-
Sex ratio	at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.028 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.975 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.744 male(s)/female total population: 0.986 male(s)/female (2007 est.)	-
Suffrage	18 years of age; universal	-
Telephone system	general assessment: generally good quality national and international service domestic: wire line service available on Tarawa and Kiritimati (Christmas Island); connections to outer islands by HF/VHF radiotelephone; wireless service available in Tarawa since 1999 international: country code - 686; Kiribati is being linked to the Pacific Ocean Cooperative Telecommunications Network, which should improve telephone service; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean)	general assessment: NA domestic: NA international: coastal radiotelephone station at Grytviken
Telephones - main lines in use	4,500 (2002)	-
Telephones - mobile cellular	600 (2004)	-
Television broadcast stations	1 (possibly inactive) (2002)	0 (2003)
Terrain	mostly low-lying coral atolls surrounded by extensive reefs	most of the islands, rising steeply from the sea, are rugged and mountainous; South Georgia is largely barren and has steep, glacier-covered mountains; the South Sandwich Islands are of volcanic origin with some active volcanoes
Total fertility rate	4.12 children born/woman (2007 est.)	-
Unemployment rate	2% official rate; underemployment 70% (1992 est.)	-
Waterways	5 km (small network of canals in Line Islands) (2007)	-

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