Tag Archives: Study in Kiribati

Kiribati is among the largest on the planet. It is located in the central Pacific Ocean, scattered over the huge area of ​​approx. 5 million km² (it extends for about 2000 km from N to S and for about 3900 from E to W), and includes 33 islands, namely that of Ocean, or Banaba, and 32 coral islets, divided into three archipelagos: the 16 Gilbert islands, the 8 islands of the Phoenix and 8 of the 11 islands of the Line Islands or Equatorial Sporades (the remaining three, namely Palmyra, Kingman and Jarvis, are still a dependency of the United States). The closest states are Nauru to the W, Tuvalu and Tokelau a S. The first islands were discovered at the beginning of the century. XVII, and around 1850 the first missionaries arrived (this explains the high percentage of Catholics). In the past, the original environment of some islands underwent considerable changes due to the exploitation, for commercial purposes, of deposits of guano, bird droppings with a high content of phosphates. Fortunately, this problem has affected a small part of the territory; for the rest the islands are striking for the extraordinary beauty of the places. Tourism, however, is still underdeveloped, and at the beginning of the 2000s the country was among the poorest in the world. In fact, its economy is largely based on copra and fish exports. According to COUNTRYAAH, Kiribati is a nation in Micronesia, the capital city of which is Tarawa Atoll. The latest population of Kiribati is 119,460.

THE STATE
Independent since July 12, 1979, Kiribati is a presidential republic within the Commonwealth; executive power rests with the president, elected by direct suffrage for a four-year term. He is also head of the government, and is assisted in the exercise of his powers by the ministers appointed by him; the legislative power belongs to the unicameral Assembly, elected for 4 years. Justice is administered by the Court of Appeal, the High Court, and by Courts of Magistrates; judges at all levels are presidential nominated. There is no regular army in the country, prohibited by the Constitutional Charter; however, there is a police force. Education is compulsory for nine years, from 6 to 15 years of age: primary school lasts 7 years, secondary school at least 5. Each atoll has at least one primary school and the illiteracy rate is quite low (7.5 % in 2001). L’ college and the branch office of the University of the South Pacific of Fiji, located in Tarawa.

GEOGRAPHY
Given their madreporic origin, the atolls are entirely surrounded by a coral reef, inside which are narrow sandy beaches, on which coconut palms grow luxuriantly (except on some of the Line Islands). The climate is equatorial or tropical, with temperatures ranging from 26 to 32 ºC; rainfall is abundant in the northern islands, where it can even reach 3000 mm per year; in the central and southern ones, 700 mm of rain fall on average and there are even periods of severe drought.