Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati (Gilbertese: Ribaberiki Kiribati), is a country in Micronesia in the central Pacific Ocean. The sovereign state comprises 32 atolls and reef islands and one raised coral island, Banaba. They have a total land area of 800 square kilometers (310 sq mi) and are dispersed over 3.5 million square kilometers (1.3 million square miles). Their spread straddles both the equator and the 180th meridian, although the International Date Line goes round Kiribati and swings far to the east, almost reaching the 150°W meridian. This brings the Line Islands into the same day as the Kiribati Islands. Kiribati's easternmost islands, the southern Line Islands, south of Hawaii, have the most advanced time on Earth: UTC+14 hours.
