Facts about Marshall Islands

Nuclear claims between the United States and the Marshall Islands are ongoing: health effects still linger from these tests.

There have been a number of local and national elections since the Republic of the Marshall Islands was founded, and in general, democracy has functioned well.

The Marshall Islands has no formal administrative divisions, but the territory is divided into 26 legislative districts, which correspond to the inhabited islands and atolls of the country.

In 1947, the United States, as the occupying power, entered into an agreement with the UN Security Council to administer much of Micronesia, including the Marshall Islands, as the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

At the beginning of World War I, Japan assumed control of the Marshall Islands.

Marshall Islands' independence was finally realized according to international law in 1990, when the UN officially ended the trust given to the US.

The people of the Marshall Islands are of Micronesian origin, which is traced to a combination of peoples who emigrated from Southeast Asia several thousand years ago.

The Marshall Islands has had a rapid population increase, from 43,380 people in 1988 to 60,422 in 2006.

Youths select spouses, but many marriages do not last, according to Carrucci, a Marshall Islands researcher.

The Marshall Islands has a constitutional government in free association with the U.S.

Not belonging to the United Nations International Labor Organization, the Marshall Islands is not obliged to follow labor laws.

The Marshall Islands sells fishing rights to other nations as a source of income.

Japanese is also occasionally spoken in some areas of Marshall Islands.

Whalers from Europe and the United States were originally attracted to Marshall Islands' waters in the 1830s to 1850s.