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Kiribati[kir´´ibas´] Pronunciation Key, officially Republic of Kiribati (1995 est. pop. 79,000), 342 sq mi (886 sq km), consisting of 33 islands scattered across 2,400 mi (3,860 km) of the Pacific Ocean near the equator. It includes 8 of the 11 Line Islands, including Kiritimati (formerly Christmas Island), as well as the Gilbert and Phoenix groups and Banaba (formerly Ocean Island). Tarawa is the capital. The population is nearly all Micronesian, with about 30% concentrated on Tarawa. Languages spoken are English (official) and Gilbertese. Inhabitants are about half Roman Catholic and 45% Protestant. Fishing and the growing of taro and bananas form the basis of the mainly subsistence economy. Fish and copra became the chief exports after the mining of Banaba's once thick phosphate deposits ended in 1979. A member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the nation is a republic with a president, a cabinet, and a unicameral legislature.
The islands were administered (1892–1916) with the Ellice Islands as a British protectorate that became (1916) the British Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony. They gained self-rule in 1971, and, after the Ellice Islands gained (1978) independence as Tuvalu, the remaining islands were granted independence (1979) as Kiribati. U.S. claims to several islands, including Kanton (formerly Canton) and Enderbury, were abandoned in 1979. Overcrowding has been a problem, and in 1988 it was announced that 4,700 residents of the main island group would be resettled onto less populated islands. In 1994 Teburovo Tito was elected president. In 1995, Kiribati moved the international date line to the eastern border of the sprawling island nation so that it would no longer be divided by the date line. Tito was reelected in 1998 and 2003, but in Mar., 2003, he was removed from office by a no-confidence vote, and replaced by a Council of State. Anote Tong was elected to succeed Tito in July.
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