- Population:
- 78,831
- Religion:
- Christianity
'The Marshall Islands are a sprawling chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls in the central Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and the Philippines. In the northwest Bikini Atoll’s largely undisturbed waters used as a ship graveyard after World War II are now a popular wreck dive site. Near Majuro Atoll which holds the islands'' capital and largest settlement the coral reef at Kalalin Pass teems with marine life.'
After almost four decades under US administration as the easternmost part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands the Marshall Islands attained independence in 1986 under a Compact of Free Association. Compensation claims continue as a result of US nuclear testing on some of the atolls between 1947 and 1962. The Marshall Islands hosts the US Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) Reagan Missile Test Site a key installation in the US missile defense network.
