Cuban doctors have reportedly provided a dramatic improvement to the field of medical care in Kiribati, reducing the child mortality rate in that country by 80 %, and winning the proverbial hearts and minds in the Pacific.

The islands which now form the Republic of Kiribati have been inhabited for at least seven hundred years, and possibly much longer.

As of 2010, there are 23 airports in Kiribati, of which 4 have paved runways, the only international ones being Bonriki International Airport and Cassidy International Airport.

Kiribati is the only developing nation in the Pacific never to have been a member of the Group of 77.

Recent projects and notable inputs by the EU have included telecommunications ( improvement of telephone exchanges and provision of radio and navigation equipment ), the development of seaweed as an export crop, solar energy systems for the outer islands, the upgrading of the Control Tower and fire fighting services at Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport, outer island social development, health services and extensive support for the Kiribati Vocational Training Programme.

In June 2008, the Kiribati president Anote Tong said that the country has reached " the point of no return "; he added: " To plan for the day when you no longer have a country is indeed painful but I think we have to do that.

The decision to hold off for weeks was possibly due to the strategic importance of the PRC's satellite tracking base on Kiribati, which had been used for Shenzhou V and thought to have been used to spy on a U. S. missile range in the Marshall Islands.

*: Articles 19 and 23 of the constitution provides, " Every person of I-Kiribati descent ... shall ... become or have and continue to have thereafter the right to become a citizen of Kiribati .... Every person of I-Kiribati descent who does not become a citizen of Kiribati on Independence Day ... shall, at any time thereafter, be entitled upon making application in such manner as may be prescribed to be registered as a citizen of Kiribati.

Tuvalu is on the western boundary of the Polynesian Triangle so that the northern islands of Tuvalu, particularly Nui have links to Micronesians from Kiribati.

When the Republic of China established diplomatic relations with Kiribati in 2003 the ROC officially declared that Kiribati could continue to have diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

In some situations, as in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, MPAs can also provide revenue, potentially equal to the income they would have generated without controls, as Kiribati did for its Phoenix Islands.

They have been observed feeding in the tidal passages between the lagoon and ocean in Tarawa, Kiribati.

The Gilbert Islands have been the major part of the nation of Kiribati since 1979, and the Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978.

South of Kiribati, the date line returns westwards but remains east of 180 °, passing between Samoa and American Samoa ; accordingly, Samoa, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna, Fiji, Tonga, and New Zealand's Kermadec Islands and Chatham Islands have the same date, while American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue, and French Polynesia are all one day earlier.

With its close link with Scouts Australia since 1986, Kiribati Scouts have been represented in international Scout events and leader training courses.

The biggest wins for Fiji and Vanuatu have been against Kiribati, 24 – 0 and 18 – 0 respectively.

Kiribati have yet to win an international match, and have never played at home, not least because there is no adequate playing ground suitable for an international match.

Of the 193 member states of the United Nations, only 17 are not party to the treaty: Andorra, Angola, Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea ), Federated States of Micronesia, Haiti, Iraq, Kiribati, Lebanon, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Nauru, South Sudan, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Turkmenistan and Tuvalu.

Kiribati has only one permanent mission abroad, the High Commission in Suva, Fiji.

The airline has been in dispute with the Export-Import Bank of the United States since 2002, and in December 2005 the High Court of Australia upheld an earlier decision to allow the bank to seize Air Nauru's only aircraft, registered VH-RON, leaving Nauru and the island nation Kiribati without air services.

Teraina differs from most other atolls in the world as it has a large freshwater lake ( Washington Lake ) concealed within its luxuriant Coconut Palm forest ; this is the only permanent freshwater lake in the whole of Kiribati.

Until 2008, it was the only airline to operate Kiribati domestic routes.

Moreover, Kiribati currently has only 1 patrol boat to monitor this proposed region.

As of April 2012, Kiribati has played only ten games in its history, all at the South Pacific Games, two in 1979, four in 2003, and four in 2011.

In the 22 August and 30 August 2007 House of Assembly of Kiribati elections, the party won only 7 seats.

South Pacific countries and dependencies that are more than 10 % Mormon include American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga.

The Republic of Kiribati, in the Central Pacific, introduced a change of date for its eastern half on, from time zones UTC − 11 and UTC − 10 to UTC + 13 and UTC + 14.

Kiribati has 10 consonants and 10 vowels ( 5 short, five long )

The central Pacific Republic of Kiribati introduced a change of date for its eastern half on 1 January 1995, from time zones − 11 and − 10 to + 13 and + 14, to avoid having the country divided by the date line.

The central Pacific Republic of Kiribati introduced a change of date for its eastern half on 1 January 1995, from time zones − 11 and − 10 to + 13 and + 14.

Despite being east of the 180 meridian, a 1995 realignment of the International Dateline by the Republic of Kiribati " moved " Christmas Island to west of the dateline.

* IATA airport code for Bonriki International Airport of South Tarawa, Kiribati

But as of 2005, most world atlases ignored the Kiribati dateline shift and continued to represent the International Date as a straight line in the Kiribati area.

In Tonga, Seventh Day Adventists ( who usually observe seventh-day Sabbath ) observe Sabbath on an official Sunday due to an anomaly in the International Date Line which places the line east of Tonga ; as Tonga lies east of the meridian of 180 ° longitude, Sunday as observed in Tonga ( as with Kiribati, Samoa, and parts of Fiji and Tuvalu ) is considered for this purpose to be the same day as Saturday observed in most other places.

* Cassidy International Airport ( Christmas Island, Kiribati )

* The easternmost point on land, according to the path of the International Date Line, would be Caroline Island, Kiribati < sup > 1 </ sup >

After participating in the Commonwealth Games for the first time in 1998, Kiribati started working towards membership of the International Olympic Committee.

Teirake Kaini Kiribati or Stand up, Kiribati is the national anthem of Kiribati.

Stand up, People of Kiribati!

On January 28, 2008, the government of Kiribati formally declared the entire Phoenix group and surrounding waters a protected area, making its the world's largest marine protected area.

Anote Tong (; born 11 June 1952 ) is an I-Kiribati politician with Chinese heritage who is the President of Kiribati.