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Marshall Islands: map, flag, capital and key facts

The Marshall Islands is a country in Oceania, with about 36,000 people (2025) and an area of 180 square kilometres. Its capital is Majuro, and it has no land borders.

By Team Geography Last reviewed

Flag of the Marshall Islands
Flag of the Marshall Islands
Map showing where the country sits among its neighbours
The Marshall Islands in solid, land neighbours outlined, capital marked.

Key facts about the Marshall Islands

CapitalMajuro
ContinentOceania
Population36,282 2025, World Bank. 190th of 195.
Area180 km² (69 sq mi) World Bank, surface area. 189th largest of 195.
Population density202 people per km²
Land neighboursNone. It has no land borders with another country.
Official nameRepublic of the Marshall Islands
UN statusMember state
Capital coordinates7.10° N, 171.38° E Majuro, Natural Earth.

No land borders

The Marshall Islands shares no land border with another country. Its nearest neighbours are across the sea, as the map above shows.

From the Geography app

The app teaches each country through short hand written lenses: PLACE for physical geography, STORY for history and identity, NOW for the news, and THREAD for the ties between countries. Here is one of the Marshall Islands's 6, in full.

PLACELens 1 of 6

Twenty-nine atolls in the middle of the Pacific

The Marshall Islands consist of 29 coral atolls and 5 single islands arranged in two parallel chains called Ralik and Ratak, the sunset and sunrise chains, spanning roughly 1,900 kilometers of the central Pacific. Total land area is just 181 square kilometers, but the exclusive economic zone covers nearly 2 million square kilometers of ocean. Majuro, the capital atoll, is home to more than half the country's 42,000 residents.

More on Ralik and Ratak

The two atoll chains run roughly north-south, with the Ralik chain to the west and Ratak to the east. The names mean "sunset" and "sunrise" in Marshallese, reflecting the navigational orientation of a people whose world was defined by horizon and ocean.

5 more lenses on the Marshall Islands in the app

  • STORY The nuclear legacy the world prefers to forget
  • NOW A nuclear waste dome that may not hold
  • STORY Stick charts and the art of reading waves
  • THREAD A Compact of Free Association that binds two nations
  • THREAD Everyone tested the bomb on someone else's home

Titles only. The app brings each lens back on a spaced repetition schedule set by how well you knew it: New, Hazy or Clear.

Compare the Marshall Islands with another country

Opens the country comparison tool with population, area, income and more side by side, every figure dated.

Common questions

What is the capital of the Marshall Islands?
The capital of the Marshall Islands is Majuro. Majuro lies at about 7.1 degrees north and 171.4 degrees east. The Marshall Islands is in Oceania. It is home to about 36,000 people. The world capitals quiz on this site tests every capital, and the printable capitals sheets cover each continent.
What is the population of the Marshall Islands?
About 36,000 people live in the Marshall Islands, according to the World Bank figures for 2025. That makes it the 190th most populous of the 195 countries. With an area of 180 square kilometres, that is about 202 people per square kilometre.
What countries border the Marshall Islands?
None. The Marshall Islands has no land borders with any other country. It is surrounded by sea, so every neighbour of the Marshall Islands is across the water. It lies in Oceania. Its area is 180 square kilometres, and about 36,000 people live there.
How big is the Marshall Islands?
The Marshall Islands covers 180 square kilometres, or about 69 square miles. That makes it the 189th largest of the 195 countries. The figure is total surface area, which includes inland water such as lakes and rivers. Its population of about 36,000 gives a density of 202 people per square kilometre.

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