🇰🇮 Kiribati

Kiribati is a Pacific island nation of 120,000 people scattered across 3.5 million square kilometers of ocean — one of the most dispersed countries on earth. GDP is about $220 million. The country straddles the International Date Line and is the first place on earth to see each new day. Kiribati is ground zero for climate change — the average elevation is just 2 meters above sea level, and the government has already purchased land in Fiji as a potential relocation site. The country's exclusive economic zone is one of the largest in the Pacific, and fishing license fees are the main revenue source.

Fishing licenses (sold to foreign fleets, mainly from Asia) generate about 60-75% of government revenue. Copra (dried coconut) is the main export. Remittances from Kiribati seafarers working on international ships are significant. The Revenue Equalization Reserve Fund, built from phosphate mining revenue (now exhausted), provides a buffer. The country is heavily dependent on foreign aid, primarily from Australia, New Zealand, and Taiwan.

Kiribati's Phoenix Islands Protected Area was the world's largest marine protected area when established — 408,250 square kilometers of pristine ocean. The Battle of Tarawa (1943) was one of the bloodiest in the Pacific War — over 6,000 died in 76 hours on a tiny atoll. Kiribati is pronounced "Kiribas" — the "ti" makes an "s" sound in the Gilbertese language.

Kiribati faces the most existential climate threat of any nation — it may literally cease to exist as a habitable country within this century. The fishing revenue provides current income, but the long-term question is survival itself.