_#_Climate: equatorial; scant rainfall, constant wind, burning sun
_#_Terrain: low, nearly level coral island surrounded by a narrow
fringing reef
_#_Natural resources: guano (deposits worked until 1891)
_#_Land use: arable land 0%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and pastures
0%; forest and woodland 0%; other 100%
_#_Environment: treeless, sparse and scattered vegetation consisting
of grasses, prostrate vines, and low growing shrubs; lacks fresh water;
primarily a nesting, roosting, and foraging habitat for seabirds,
shorebirds, and marine wildlife
_#_Note: remote location 2,575 km southwest of Honolulu in the North
Pacific Ocean, just north of the Equator, about halfway between Hawaii
and Australia
_*_People
_#_Population: uninhabited
_#_Note: American civilians evacuated in 1942 after Japanese air and
naval attacks during World War II; occupied by US military during World
War II, but abandoned after the war; public entry is by special-use
permit only and generally restricted to scientists and educators; a
cemetery and cemetery ruins located near the middle of the west coast
_*_Government
_#_Long-form name: none
_#_Type: unincorporated territory of the US administered by the Fish
and Wildlife Service of the US Department of the Interior as part of the
National Wildlife Refuge system
_*_Economy
_#_Overview: no economic activity
_*_Communications
_#_Ports: none; offshore anchorage only, one boat landing area along
the middle of the west coast
_#_Airports: 1 abandoned World War II runway of 1,665 m
_#_Note: there is a day beacon near the middle of the west coast
_*_Defense Forces
_#_Note: defense is the responsibility of the US; visited annually by
the US Coast Guard
_%_
_@_Bangladesh
_*_Geography
_#_Total area: 144,000 km2; land area: 133,910 km2
_#_Comparative area: slightly smaller than Wisconsin
_#_Land boundaries: 4,246 km total; Burma 193 km, India 4,053 km
_#_Coastline: 580 km
_#_Maritime claims:
Contiguous zone: 18 nm;
Continental shelf: up to outer limits of continental margin;
Exclusive economic zone: 200 nm;