The
Marshall Islands, officially the
Republic of the Marshall Islands , is an
island country located near the
equator in the
Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the
International Date Line. Geographically, the country is part of the larger island group of
Micronesia. The country's population of 53,158 people (at the 2011 Census) is spread out over 29
coral atolls, comprising 1,156 individual
islands and
islets. The islands share
maritime boundaries with the
Federated States of Micronesia to the west,
Wake Island to the north,
Kiribati to the south-east, and
Nauru to the south. About 27,797 of the islanders (at the 2011 Census) live on
Majuro, which contains the
capital.