United States Minor Outlying Islands | |
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Flag | |
Motto: | |
Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner | |
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Administrative center | Washington, D.C. |
Largest village | Wake Island |
Official languages | English |
Demonym(s) |
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Government | |
Joe Biden (D) | |
• Governor | none |
• Lieutenant Governor | none |
Area | |
• Total | 34.2 km2 (13.2 sq mi) (190th) |
• Water (%) | 88.6 |
Population | |
• 2009 estimate | 300 (232nd) |
• 2000 census | 316 |
GDP (PPP) | estimate |
• Total | n/a (n/a) |
• Per capita | $46,381a (6th) |
Currency | United States dollar (USD) |
ISO 3166 code | UM |
Internet TLD | .us b |
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The United States Minor Outlying Islands are nine island territories of the United States. They are Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Johnston Atoll, Kingman Reef, Midway Atoll, Palmyra Atoll and Wake Island in the Pacific Ocean; and Navassa Island in the Caribbean Sea. The islands are grouped together for statistical reasons. They are not administered together.
As of 2008, none of the islands have any people living there permanently. The only human population consists of temporary scientific and military personnel. The 2000 census counted 315 people on Johnston Atoll and 1 person on Wake Island.[1] There has been no modern indigenous population, except at the 1940 census. In 1936, a colonization scheme began to settle Americans on Baker, Howland and Jarvis, but all three islands were evacuated in 1942 because of World War II.[2][3]
The islands are all together represented by the ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code UM. The ISO introduced the term "United States Minor Outlying Islands" in 1986. From 1974 until 1986, five of the islands (Baker Island, Howland Island, Jarvis Island, Palmyra Atoll and Kingman Reef) were grouped under the term "United States Miscellaneous Pacific Islands", with ISO 3166 code PU. The code of Midway Atoll was MI, the code of Johnston Atoll was JT, and the code of Wake Island was WK. The Pacific islands are surrounded by large Exclusive Economic Zones.