Marshall Islands

OceaniaCapital city: MajuroCapital metro: MajuroPresident: Hilda Heine
2026 population
42K
Rank #223 globally
Area
181 km² (70 sq mi)
Metros tracked
1
55% of population in metros
Composite score
0.5
Rank #208 globally

population: 2021 census (30 Sep 2021) · indicators as of 2026-09-05 · 1 metros tracked

🗺️ Geography1 metro

Marshall Islands metro footprint, shaded by composite tier.

Loading map…
1 polygons

Hover for rank, click to open the metro page. Boundaries derived from Overture Maps administrative divisions; metros without source coverage are omitted.

🏙️ 1 tracked metro
1 metros
#1907Majuro★ Capital▲ Largest
0.5
🗂️ Administrative subdivisions

23 entries listed under Marshall Islands across 2 types. Click any to see its metros and footprint.

23 total
📋 At a glance
Official languages
English, Marshallese
Legislature
Legislature of the Marshall Islands
Demonym
Marshallese
Time zone
UTC+12:00
Driving side
Right
Calling code
+692
Internet TLD
.mh
ISO 3166
MH
Established
1986
Highest point
Likiep Atoll (10 m (33 ft))
National anthem
Forever Marshall Islands

Facts via Wikidata.

💹 Economy and developmentUpper middle income
Human Dev. Index
#109 / 191
0.733
UNDP · 2023
GDP
#192 / 193
$308M
World Bank · 2025
GDP per capita
#90 / 193
$8.5k
World Bank · 2025
GDP/capita (PPP)
#133 / 190
$9.0k
World Bank · 2025
GNI/capita (Atlas)
#82 / 192
$9.7k
World Bank · 2025
Life expectancy
#156 / 194
67.1 yrs
World Bank · 2024
Median age
20.7 yrs
UN WPP · 2023
Urban population
#48 / 194
79%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. growth
-3.4%
World Bank · 2025
Pop. density
#48 / 193
216/km²
World Bank · 2023
Foreign-born
#68 / 193
8.8%
World Bank · 2024
Gini index
#86 / 166
35.5
World Bank · 2019
Internet users
#128 / 193
66%
World Bank · 2024
CO₂ per capita
#126 / 192
4.1 t
Global Carbon Budget · 2024

Ranks are among sovereign countries with data; ★ marks a top-5% finish. Sources: World Bank Open Data and Our World in Data (UNDP, UN WPP, V-Dem, Global Carbon Budget, Ember, Energy Institute; CC BY 4.0). Each card credits its originating body. Renewable share is of electricity generation, not of primary energy. Each figure is the most recent year available.

Alliances & Organisations2 full memberships

Political & Economic

Subregional

Full memberDashed border = Candidate / ApplicantItalic = Dialogue / Observer

🏛️ Leadership History3 leaders · click to expand

marks a leader associated with atrocities or defiance of law, systemic subversion of democratic institutions, or a criminal conviction. Convictions arising from political persecution, and annulled convictions, are excluded. denotes a monarch. These are editorial designations, applied per entry rather than derived automatically.

Hilda Heine✦ Current

2024Present

President

Tenure: 2y 6m 0d

Casten Nemra

20162016

President

Tenure: 17d

Christopher Loeak

20122016

President

Tenure: 4y 1d
📈 Power over timeThe Power Atlas →
Today
Minor#198 · 0.0%
3%5%8%10%2000
Power (headline share)Latent (material mass)Recognised (standing)
Marshall Islands · share of world power, 1991–2026

The powerline is the headline share of world power, running from the state’s first ranked year (benchmark estimates with wide error bars before 1816). Latent power is material mass a state could mobilise (population, manpower, heavy industry). Recognised power is what the system actually treats it as (military spending, productive economy, reach, and status such as a Security Council seat or nuclear arsenal). When latent runs above recognised, a power is rising or under-rated; when recognised runs higher, it is punching above its weight or coasting on prestige. Material sub-indices run 1816 through 2016.

👥 Population over time
Population 2023
39k
#219 in the world
Since 1800
6.67×
from 6k
Past its peak
−49.7%
peaked at 77k in 1928
Share of world
0.00%
0.00% in 1800
19k39k58k77k18001850190019502000
Marshall Islands · people, 1800–2023 · dashed to 2026 is projected

Our World in Data population (CC BY): UN WPP 2024 from 1950, Gapminder v7 1800-1949, HYDE 3.3 earlier; today's borders. Figures above are as of 2023, the last year that is estimated rather than forecast. The dashed tail to 2026 is a UN WPP medium-variant projection. It is drawn because the line should reach the present, and drawn differently because it has not happened yet: no rank, peak or share on this page uses it. Before 1950 the series is reconstruction rather than contemporaneous statistics, which is worth knowing when a country’s peak sits back there. The current population shown elsewhere on this page comes from the workbook and is unchanged by this. Marshall Islands is past its peak, which is less unusual than it sounds: the two lines here can point in opposite directions, and for most of Europe and East Asia they now both point down.

👥 To 2100

The UN’s probabilistic projection for Marshall Islands: the median with its 80% and 95% bands, the UN’s own high, low and zero-migration scenarios beside it. Not this site’s model; the site reads it and says what it implies.

Peak
2010
52k; already passed
2050
25k
95% band 15k to 52k
2100
24k
95% band 10k to 209k
2100 against 2025
0.66×
median falling from 2085
Deaths outnumber births
from 2089
on the UN medium path; migration decides the rest
55k110k165k220k1950197520002025205020752100

Tap or drag across the chart to read any year: the estimate to 2023, then the UN median, its bands and the scenarios.

estimateUN median80% and 95% bandshigh and low fertilityzero migration

What drives it

Births, deaths and net migration on the UN medium path, with fertility, life expectancy and median age, every decade from 1950.

1950
605 born · 232 died · -244 net migration
TFR 7.76 · life expectancy 52.6 · median age 17.2
1960
689 born · 237 died · +63 net migration
TFR 8.08 · life expectancy 54.4 · median age 16.2
1970
1k born · 256 died · +201 net migration
TFR 8.07 · life expectancy 58.8 · median age 16.2
1980
2k born · 287 died · -155 net migration
TFR 7.37 · life expectancy 61.0 · median age 13.9
1990
2k born · 337 died · -562 net migration
TFR 5.97 · life expectancy 61.8 · median age 13.9
2000
2k born · 342 died · -1k net migration
TFR 4.70 · life expectancy 63.3 · median age 17.1
2010
2k born · 336 died · -1k net migration
TFR 3.67 · life expectancy 64.5 · median age 19.6
2020
1k born · 312 died · -2k net migration
TFR 2.99 · life expectancy 65.4 · median age 21.4
Show all 16 decades
2030
621 born · 261 died · -1k net migration
TFR 2.60 · life expectancy 67.8 · median age 21.3
2040
596 born · 269 died · -553 net migration
TFR 2.31 · life expectancy 69.1 · median age 24.3
2050
440 born · 271 died · -273 net migration
TFR 2.11 · life expectancy 70.1 · median age 27.6
2060
371 born · 251 died · -179 net migration
TFR 1.97 · life expectancy 71.0 · median age 28.9
2070
363 born · 211 died · -116 net migration
TFR 1.89 · life expectancy 72.1 · median age 31.8
2080
304 born · 213 died · -65 net migration
TFR 1.82 · life expectancy 73.3 · median age 36.0
2090
272 born · 290 died · -38 net migration
TFR 1.78 · life expectancy 74.7 · median age 39.4
2100
263 born · 328 died · -20 net migration
TFR 1.75 · life expectancy 76.0 · median age 40.4

Every country to 2100 →

Source: United Nations, DESA, Population Division. World Population Prospects 2024. Licensed under CC BY 3.0 IGO. Estimates to 2023; projections 2024 to 2100, medium variant and probabilistic intervals. The UN revises every two years; this is the WPP 2024 revision.