Kiribati
Name
| Official name | Republic of Kiribati — Ribaberiki Kiribati |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | "KIRR-i-bass" — the Gilbertese "ti" said as "s"; Kiribati the local form of "Gilberts" |
| Former names | The Gilbert Islands; the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate (1892–1916) and Colony (1916–1976); the Gilbert Islands colony (1976–1979); Tungaru, the islanders' old name for the Gilberts |
| Demonym | I-Kiribati |
| Meaning of the name | Gilbert — for Captain Thomas Gilbert of the First Fleet, who crossed the islands in 1788 on his way from Sydney to Canton |
| Motto | "Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa" — health, peace and prosperity |
Quick facts
| Capital | South Tarawa — the islets of Tarawa Atoll from Betio to Bonriki; about 63,000, half the nation |
|---|---|
| Other settlements | Betio, the port and the battle's ground; Bairiki of the ministries; Bikenibeu; London on Kiritimati; the villages of the outer islands |
| Official languages | Gilbertese — Te Taetae ni Kiribati, a Micronesian language spoken by all — and English, the language of the government and the law |
| Currency | Australian dollar — ISO code AUD, A$; the Kiribati dollar coins at par, seldom seen |
| Time zones | Three — UTC+12 in the Gilberts, UTC+13 in the Phoenix Islands, UTC+14 in the Line Islands, the earliest on earth; the dateline moved east of the Line Islands on 1 January 1995 |
| Calling code | +686 |
| Internet domain | .ki |
| ISO 3166 codes | KI · KIR · 296 |
| Vehicle registration code | KIR |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 240 V, 50 Hz; plug type I |
| Independence | 12 July 1979, from the United Kingdom — Ieremia Tabai the first president |
| National days | 12 July, Independence Day, with the days before it — 10 July, Gospel Day, and 11 July, National Culture and Senior Citizens Day; 7 April, National Health Day; 5 August, Youth Day; 5 October, Education Day; 10 December, Human Rights Day; Easter and Christmas |
| Constitution | 12 July 1979 — the Constitution of Kiribati, the independence constitution; the president elected by the people from candidates chosen by the House, for four years and at most three terms; amended 1995 and after; the crisis of 2022 over the courts |
| Population | 119,940 at the census of 2020; about 135,000 (UN, 2025 est.) — more than half on Tarawa |
| Area | 811 km² (313 sq mi) of land on 33 islands — 21 inhabited; the exclusive economic zone about 3.44 million km², the twelfth-largest in the world; the country 3,900 km from west to east |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A red field over three white and three blue wavy stripes — the ocean and the three island groups — with a golden sun of seventeen rays rising from the sea, for the sixteen Gilberts and Banaba, and a golden frigatebird flying above it for power, freedom and the dance; the arms of the colony of 1937 made a flag, adopted 12 July 1979.Flag of Kiribati |
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| Coat of arms | The same device on a shield — the frigatebird over the sun over the waves — with the motto beneath; granted to the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony by Sir Arthur Grimble's design in 1937, the arms of the republic since 1979 |
| National anthem | "Teirake Kaini Kiribati" ("Stand Up, Kiribati") — words and music by Urio Teatao; adopted 1979 |
| National motto | "Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa" |
| National colors | Red, white, blue and gold |
| National bird | The frigatebird — te eitei, the great frigatebird of the flag and the dance, whose spread wings the dancers copy; widely cited |
| National tree | The coconut palm — the tree of life, the copra, the toddy of the mornings and the thatch; the pandanus beside it; widely cited |
| National dish | Fish and coconut — the raw fish in coconut milk, the te bua toro of taro, the palusami of taro leaves; the babai swamp taro of the pits; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by the National Identity Act of 1989; the bird, tree and dishes widely cited, none designated |
Geography
| Location | The central Pacific — astride the equator and the 180th meridian, the only country in all four hemispheres; the Marshall Islands to the north, Tuvalu and Fiji to the south, Nauru to the west, French Polynesia and the American Line Islands to the east |
|---|---|
| Land borders | None — maritime boundaries with nine neighbors |
| Coastline | 1,143 km (710 mi) |
| Highest point | An unnamed point on Banaba, 81 m (266 ft); the atolls at 3 m or less |
| Lowest point | The Pacific Ocean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | 2 m (7 ft) |
| The islands | 33 — the 16 Gilbert Islands of the west, where 90% of the people live, Tarawa, Abaiang, Butaritari, Abemama, Tabiteuea and the rest; Banaba, the raised island, mined bare; the 8 Phoenix Islands, all but Kanton empty; the 8 Line Islands of the east — Kiritimati, Tabuaeran and Teraina inhabited, Millennium Island, Malden and Starbuck empty |
| Kiritimati | Christmas Island — the largest atoll in the world by land area, 388 km², nearly half the country's land, 3,300 km east of Tarawa; sighted by Cook on Christmas Eve 1777; the British and American nuclear tests of 1957–62; about 7,000 people at London, Banana and Poland; the first inhabited place to see each new year |
| Terrain | Low coral atolls of sand and rubble around lagoons — Tarawa's lagoon 500 km², the land 31 km²; the reef flats; Banaba's raised limestone with its pinnacles; no rivers, no hills, the freshwater lens beneath the sand the only water |
| Climate | Tropical maritime — hot and humid all year at 28°C, the trade winds; the rains uncertain, the droughts of La Niña years lasting a year and more; outside the cyclone belt, mostly |
| Natural hazards | The sea — king tides over the causeways, the erosion of the villages, the salting of the wells and the taro pits; drought; the cyclones that reach the south — Pam of 2015; the low islands' future the country's question |
| Natural resources | The fish of the exclusive economic zone — the tuna of the Pacific; the phosphate of Banaba, exhausted in 1979; the copra; the seabed minerals of the future; the sun |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 42% — the coconuts; forest about 15% |
| Protected areas | The Phoenix Islands Protected Area of 2008 — 408,250 km², among the largest marine reserves on earth when declared, a World Heritage site since 2010, closed to commercial fishing from 2015 and reopened to it by the government in 2021 for the license revenue, to the conservationists' dismay; the Kiritimati wildlife sanctuary of the seabirds |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 1 — the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (2010), the country's first and only, for its untouched reefs and eight atolls |
| Administrative divisions | 3 island groups — the Gilberts, the Phoenix Islands and the Line Islands — with 21 island councils; South Tarawa and Betio with town councils; no provinces |
People
| Population | 119,940 (census of 2020); about 135,000 (2025 est.) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 165 per km² (430 per sq mi) over the land — above 3,900 on South Tarawa, among the densest places on earth, with Betio above 15,000 |
| Population growth | About 1.5% a year — the drift from the outer islands to Tarawa |
| Median age | About 25 years |
| Life expectancy | About 68 years |
| Fertility rate | About 3.3 births per woman |
| Urban population | About 58% — nearly all of it South Tarawa |
| Adult literacy | About 98% |
| Ethnic groups | I-Kiribati about 96%, the Micronesians of the Gilberts; mixed I-Kiribati about 2%; Tuvaluans, Chinese, Europeans and the rest under 2% (census of 2020) |
| Languages | Gilbertese by nearly all as mother tongue; English by the educated and in the government; the Banaban dialect |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 59%, the missions of the 1880s; the Kiribati Uniting Church, once the Protestant church of the London Missionary Society, about 21%; Mormon about 5%; Baha'i about 2%; Seventh-day Adventist; the maneaba, the meeting house, the center of every village (census of 2020) |
| Human Development Index | 0.628 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 145th of 193 |
| The sea and the future | The atolls a meter or two above the tide — the seawater in the wells and the pits, the causeways overtopped, the villages of Tebunginako moved; the purchase of 20 km² of land on Vanua Levu in Fiji in 2014 for US$8.8 million as a refuge and a farm; the "migration with dignity" of President Tong, and President Maamau's plan to dredge and raise the islands instead, with China's help; the seasonal workers in Australia and New Zealand; the seafarers on the world's ships |
| Sport | Football, the Betio and Bairiki clubs of the Tarawa league; the weightlifting of David Katoatau, the country's first Commonwealth gold in 2014, dancing on the platform; the Pacific Games; the canoe racing of the lagoons |
| Diaspora | Some 10,000 I-Kiribati abroad — in Fiji, the Banabans on Rabi Island since 1945, New Zealand under the Pacific Access quota, Australia, the Solomons and the Marshalls; the seafarers of the German and Japanese fleets |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1979 — the Beretitenti, the president, head of state and government, elected by the people from three or four candidates chosen by the House from among its members, for four years and at most three terms; the Kauoman-ni-Beretitenti, the vice president; the cabinet drawn from the House |
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| President | Taneti Maamau (Tobwaan Kiribati Party), since 11 March 2016 — the fifth; a civil servant and finance secretary, born 16 September 1960 at Onotoa in the southern Gilberts; elected 9 March 2016 with 60% against Anote Tong's party, re-elected 22 June 2020 with 59% and 25 October 2024 with 55.05% and 20,676 votes against Kaotitaake Kokoria's 42.03%, a defector from his own party, on a turnout of 68.77%; inaugurated 1 November 2024 for the third and last term the Constitution allows; the Kiribati Vision for 20 Years, KV20, his program |
| Vice President | Teuea Toatu (TKP), since 2019 — the finance minister; Kourabi Nenem before |
| The 2024 elections | The House of Assembly elected 14 and 19 August 2024 in two rounds: the Tobwaan Kiribati Party 33 of the 44 elected seats, the Boutokaan Kiribati Moa, BKM, of the opposition 8, independents the rest; a record five women, the BKM's leader Tessie Lambourne and the former Speaker Tangarik Reete among them; the House nominating four presidential candidates, all from the ruling party, Kokoria breaking with it to run — "Kiribati is becoming a one-party state," Lambourne said; the cost of living, the sea and China the issues; Willie Tokataake elected Speaker 13 September 2024 |
| Parliament | The Maneaba ni Maungatabu — the House of Assembly, named for the meeting house — 45 members: 44 elected for four years from the 23 island districts in two rounds, and one nominated by the Banaban community of Rabi Island in Fiji; the Speaker from outside the House; the Attorney General ex officio |
| The next election | The House and the presidency due in 2028; Maamau barred from standing |
| The judges | The crisis of 2022 — the government's suspension of the High Court judge David Lambourne, the opposition leader's husband, and then of the Court of Appeal's three judges, over the deportation of Lambourne and the court's orders against it; the country without a functioning higher court for a time, the Commonwealth and the region's bar deploring it; the courts rebuilt with new appointments; the tribunal's findings the government's |
| China and Taiwan | Diplomatic recognition switched from Taiwan to the People's Republic on 20 September 2019, four days after the Solomons' — the fisheries, the airstrip of Kanton in the Phoenix Islands, the Chinese police officers in Tarawa since 2023 and the seabed survey the Western worries; the president's rebuke of China's ballistic-missile test into the Pacific in September 2024; the treaty with Australia of 2024 on climate and security beside it |
| Legal system | Common law from England with customary law; the High Court and the Court of Appeal; the magistrates of the islands; the island councils' by-laws |
| Local government | The island councils of the 21 inhabited islands, elected every four years, the Teinainano Urban Council of South Tarawa and the Betio Town Council; the unimwane, the elders of the maneaba |
| Banaba | The phosphate island mined by the British Phosphate Commissioners from 1900 to 1979 — the Banabans moved to Rabi in Fiji in 1945 after the Japanese occupation, their seat in the House kept, their claim to the island and to independence unresolved; about 300 living on it |
| Defense | No armed forces — the police; the Australian-given patrol boat for the exclusive economic zone; the U.S. Coast Guard patrols under the shiprider agreement; the treaty of friendship with the United States of 1979 renouncing its claims to the Line and Phoenix Islands |
| United Nations | Member since 14 September 1999 — twenty years after independence; the Small Island Developing States; the Alliance of Small Island States, whose case the country has made at every climate summit |
| Memberships | The Pacific Islands Forum, left in 2021 and returned in 2023; the Commonwealth; the Parties to the Nauru Agreement on the tuna; the Pacific Community; the ACP–EU; the World Bank and the IMF since 1986 |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$300 million (2025, IMF) — among the smallest economies in the world |
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| GDP per capita | About US$2,200 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$2,500 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 3–4% a year (2023–25) on the fishing licenses and the aid; the government's revenue the economy |
| Economy by sector | Services about 65% — the government most of it; agriculture and fishing about 25%; industry about 10% |
| Currency | Australian dollar (AUD) |
| The fishing licenses | The largest revenue — the licenses sold to the tuna fleets of the United States, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China for the exclusive economic zone, one of the richest tuna grounds on earth, under the vessel-day scheme of the Nauru Agreement parties; about A$150 million a year, more than half of government revenue, and the reason the Phoenix reserve was reopened |
| The fund | The Revenue Equalisation Reserve Fund — the phosphate money of Banaba set aside in 1956 and invested since, about A$1.5 billion, ten times the economy, drawn on for the budget in the lean years; among the oldest sovereign funds |
| Copra and the rest | Copra, the dried coconut, the cash crop of the outer islands, bought by the state at a subsidized price; seaweed; the fish and the sea cucumbers; the pet fish of Kiritimati; the tourism of a few thousand a year, the bonefishing of Kiritimati |
| Remittances and aid | The seafarers' and the seasonal workers' money from the ships and the farms of Australia and New Zealand; the aid of Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan before 2019 and China since, the EU and the World Bank — about a third of the budget |
| Public finances | Public debt about 15% of GDP, most of it concessional; the budget of about A$300 million; the imports of nearly everything eaten, rice and tinned fish and sugar |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income (World Bank); a least developed country |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Bonriki International Airport at the eastern end of South Tarawa — the flights of Fiji Airways to Nadi and of Nauru Airlines; Cassidy International on Kiritimati, with Fiji Airways from Nadi and Honolulu; the airstrips of the outer islands |
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| Airline | Air Kiribati, the government's carrier for the Gilberts and the flight to Kiritimati begun in 2023; Coral Sun Airways before it |
| Main port | Betio, at the west end of Tarawa — the container wharf rebuilt by Japan; the ports of Kiritimati at London and of Kanton; the supply ships to the outer islands |
| Railways | None — the phosphate railway of Banaba gone with the mine |
| Roads | About 670 km (416 mi), the South Tarawa road from Betio to Bonriki, 30 km, rebuilt in 2016 with the World Bank and Australia, the country's spine; the causeways — the Betio–Bairiki of 1987 and the Japanese-built Nippon Causeway; the coral roads of the islands |
| The lagoon | The canoes and the outboards; the ferries to North Tarawa and Abaiang; the outer-island shipping of the Kiribati Shipping Services, weeks between calls |
History in dates
| c. 3000 BC | The first Micronesian settlers |
|---|---|
| 1606 | Quirós sights Butaritari |
| 1777 | Cook sights Christmas Island, 24 December |
| 1788 | Thomas Gilbert crosses the islands |
| 1820 | The Gilberts named, by Krusenstern |
| 1857 | The first missionaries — Hiram Bingham at Abaiang |
| 1892 | The British protectorate, 27 May |
| 1900 | Phosphate found on Banaba — the mining begins |
| 1916 | The Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony |
| 1941 | The Japanese occupy Tarawa, December |
| 1943 | The Battle of Tarawa, 20–23 November — some 1,700 Americans and 4,700 Japanese dead in 76 hours |
| 1945 | The Banabans moved to Rabi Island in Fiji |
| 1957 | Britain's hydrogen bomb tests off Christmas Island, from 15 May; the American tests of 1962 |
| 1975 | The Ellice Islands separate as Tuvalu, 1 October |
| 1979 | Independence, 12 July — Ieremia Tabai; the phosphate ends |
| 1994 | Teburoro Tito president |
| 1995 | The dateline moved, 1 January |
| 2000 | The first new year of the millennium at Millennium Island |
| 2003 | Anote Tong president |
| 2008 | The Phoenix Islands Protected Area |
| 2014 | The land bought in Fiji, May |
| 2016 | Taneti Maamau president, 11 March |
| 2019 | Recognition switched to China, 20 September |
| 2022 | The judges suspended — the constitutional crisis |
| 2024 | The House elected, August; Maamau's third term, 25 October |
Records & firsts
| The first to see each new year | Kiritimati, UTC+14 |
|---|---|
| The only country in all four hemispheres | Across the equator and the dateline |
| The largest atoll by land | Kiritimati, 388 km² |
| Among the lowest countries on earth | The atolls at 3 m |
| The widest small country | 3,900 km from end to end, 811 km² of land |
| The first to buy land abroad against the sea | Vanua Levu, 2014 |
| Among the densest places | Betio, above 15,000 per km² |
| One of the earliest sovereign funds | The phosphate fund of 1956 |
| The Battle of Tarawa | Among the bloodiest of the Pacific war, 1943 |
| A nation that moved the dateline | 1 January 1995 |
| The frigatebird dance | The wings of the flag |
| A marine reserve the size of California | The Phoenix Islands |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Kiribati, and how is it said?
The Republic of Kiribati — Ribaberiki Kiribati in Gilbertese — pronounced "KIRR-i-bass," for the Gilbertese alphabet has no S and writes the sound as "ti": Kiribati is the islanders' rendering of "Gilberts," the name the British gave the islands after Captain Thomas Gilbert, who sailed through them in 1788. The country became independent from Britain on 12 July 1979, four years after the Ellice Islands parted from it as Tuvalu; it was the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony before, from 1916.
What is the capital of Kiribati?
South Tarawa — the string of islets along the southern rim of Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert group, joined by causeways from Betio to Bonriki, where the parliament, the government and the airport stand; about 63,000 people on 16 km² of land, half the country on a strip of coral a few hundred meters wide, as densely peopled as Hong Kong. Betio, the port at the western end, was the site of the battle of 1943; Bairiki holds the ministries, Ambo the House of Assembly. London on Kiritimati, 3,300 km to the east, is the town of the Line Islands.
How big is Kiribati, and how many people live there?
About 811 km² (313 sq mi) of land — four times Washington, D.C. — on 33 islands scattered across 3.4 million km² of the central Pacific, an area the size of India, in three groups: the Gilberts in the west, the Phoenix Islands in the middle and the Line Islands in the east, with the raised island of Banaba apart. It is the only country in all four hemispheres, north and south of the equator and east and west of the 180th meridian. The census of 2020 counted 119,940 people; the estimate for 2025 is about 135,000, more than half of them on Tarawa, with the outer islands emptying toward it.
What are the highest and lowest points of Kiribati?
An unnamed point of 81 m (266 ft) on Banaba, the raised phosphate island 400 km west of the Gilberts — the atolls themselves rise no more than 3 m above the sea, so that Kiribati is among the lowest-lying countries on earth and the one most often named when the sea's rise is discussed; and the Pacific. Kiritimati, Christmas Island, is the largest atoll in the world by land area at 388 km², nearly half the country's land; Tarawa, Abemama and Butaritari are the atolls of the Gilberts.
What currency does Kiribati use?
The Australian dollar (ISO code AUD, A$), the country's currency since independence, with its own coins of the Kiribati dollar struck at par in 1979 and 1989 and seldom seen — the frigatebird and the canoe on them. Clocks keep three time zones, and the highest on earth: UTC+12 in the Gilberts, UTC+13 in the Phoenix Islands and UTC+14 in the Line Islands, since the country moved its half beyond the dateline to its own side on 1 January 1995 so that the whole nation shares a day; Kiritimati sees each new year first of any inhabited place. Kiribati drives on the left.
Who governs Kiribati?
President Taneti Maamau of the Tobwaan Kiribati Party — the Beretitenti, head of state and government — in office since 11 March 2016 and re-elected in 2020 and on 25 October 2024, when he took 55 percent against a rival from his own party, for a third and final term begun on 1 November 2024. His party holds 33 of the 44 elected seats in the House of Assembly, the Maneaba ni Maungatabu, whose members chose the presidential candidates from its own ranks; the opposition leader Tessie Lambourne has said the country is becoming a one-party state. Maamau switched the country's recognition from Taiwan to China in 2019, suspended the judges in 2022 in a crisis the Commonwealth deplored, and plans to raise the islands against the sea rather than his predecessor's "migration with dignity." The next election is due in 2028.
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