Pacific Islands News Association

Sports News : Ben Frame board blames impasse for PNG Pukpuks fall-out [24/05/2017 - Papua New Guinea]
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News Feature : RAMSI chapter ends in Australia’s Pacific story [24/05/2017 - Australia]
News Feature : Leaders discuss important issues at Green Growth Retreat [24/05/2017 - Tonga]
Business News : Kiribati private business buys Tuvalu’s Nivaga II to operate in Kiribati [24/05/2017 - Kiribati]
Business News : NFA to address illegal fishing in PNG waters [24/05/2017 - Papua New Guinea]
News : UN conference turns spotlight on Fiji’s women weather watch network [24/05/2017 - Mexico]
News : India pledges US$1M to help Fiji’s Presidency at COP 23 [24/05/2017 - Fiji]
News : Nauru refugee quietly arrives [24/05/2017 - Cambodia]
News : PNG police chief blasted over Indonesian training idea [24/05/2017 - Papua New Guinea]
News : Solomon Islands to host sixth Melanesian festival [24/05/2017 - Solomon Islands]
News Feature : Commonwealth offers climate vulnerable states “a light at the end of the tunnel” [24/05/2017 - United Kingdom]
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Country profile - Kiribati

Kiribati flag

The 33 atolls that make up Kiribati - the former Gilbert Islands - occupy a vast area in the Pacific. They stretch nearly 4,000 km from east to west, more than 2,000 km from north to south, and straddle the Equator.

The country won independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. Many of the atolls are inhabited; most of them are very low-lying and at risk from rising sea levels.

Kiribati used to lie either side of the International Date Line, but the government unilaterally moved the line eastwards in 1995 to ensure the day was the same in the whole country.

This was a shrewd move as Kiribati marketed itself as the first inhabited place on Earth to greet the new millennium on 1 January 2000. The world's media descended on Caroline Island, renamed Millennium Island, to record the event.

Kiribati's economy is weak and is affected by rises and falls in the world demand for coconut.

Fishing licences, foreign aid and money sent home by workers abroad also play their part, as does a trust fund set up with revenues from phosphate mining on the island of Banaba. The mines were depleted by 1980, precipitating the evacuation of much of the population.
Kiribati is home to the South Pacific's largest marine reserve.

Additional information