A view of the outer atoll economy

Abstract

In 1948, 76% of the population lived on the “rural” outer atolls of the Marshall Islands. Fifty-two years later, in 1999, only 30% of a much larger total RMI population lived there, the remainder residing in the two “urban centers” of Majuro and Kwajalein Atolls and on Kili Island and Enewetak Atoll. Changes in the distribution of population between rural and urban atolls are reflected in the data in Tables 1 and 2 and Figure 1 below. Note that outer atoll population figures in this analysis exclude inhabitants of Enewetak and Kili because migrations to and from these areas were not principally a function of normative economic considerations common to the other outer atolls of the Marshall Islands.