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Sub-region of Oceania · Country Index 2026

Micronesia

How are the countries of Micronesia doing?

Kiribati is the only country in Micronesia placed in the Country Index 2026, at 109th of 183, which places the region 17th of 22 sub-regions. 6 more of its 7 countries and territories are not placed.

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MicronesiaUN M49 057

Micronesia, shown in red on a map of the world

109th

median position of 183 · 17th of 22 sub-regions

Oceania →median 97th

01Who is in it

The countries of Micronesia

Alphabetical, with each country’s own banner photograph. The position is its place in the whole world ranking, never within the region.

02The region

About Micronesia

The small island states of the north-western Pacific.

Micronesia is a scatter of small islands and atolls in the western Pacific, most of them north of the equator: Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Kiribati, with the US territories of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. Many of its islands are low coral atolls only a few metres above the sea.

Its islands were settled by seafarers thousands of years ago and were later ruled in turn by Spain, Germany and Japan, and after the Second World War by the United States, Australia or Britain. Most of its states became independent between the 1960s and the 1990s, several of them in free association with the United States. Its low-lying atolls are among the places most exposed to rising seas.

03Where

Micronesia on the map

Each member shaded by its position in the Country Index 2026, darkest for the best placed; the countries across its land borders in grey. Hover a country for its position, or select it to open its profile.

Beyond this frame, across the date line: Kiribati.

Country Index position: 1st183rdMember, not placedAcross the border, another regionNot a country this site tracks

04Country Index 2026

Where Micronesia’s countries place

Best placed first. Every position is a place in the whole world ranking of 183, never a second list within the region; “=” marks a position shared with another country. Hover the ⓘ for where a country would sit if any one key statistic were dropped.

The full Country Index 2026
Micronesia’s 1 placed countries by their Country Index 2026 position, best placed first.
In regionCountryIn the world1st183rd
1Kiribati109 / 183between 100th and 122nd if any one key were dropped · standings on 12 of 16 topics

A further 6 of its countries and territories are not placed: the Country Index 2026 places a country only once it holds a standing on 12 of its 16 voting topics. Guam, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands and Palau.

Micronesia among the 22 sub-regions with a median

17th of 22. Nothing is weighted by population or size.

  1. Western Europe8thPlaced countries run from Switzerland 1st to France 19th.
  2. Northern Europe11thPlaced countries run from Denmark 2nd to Latvia 26th.
  3. Australia and New Zealand17thPlaced countries run from Australia 17th to New Zealand 19th.
  4. Northern America24thPlaced countries run from Canada 24th to United States 37th.
  5. Southern Europe31stPlaced countries run from Slovenia 14th to Bosnia and Herzegovina 62nd.
  6. Eastern Asia42ndPlaced countries run from South Korea 13th to Mongolia 75th.
  7. Eastern Europe43rdPlaced countries run from Czechia 10th to Russia 73rd.
  8. Central America80thPlaced countries run from Costa Rica 40th to Nicaragua 134th.
  9. Caribbean81stPlaced countries run from Barbados 67th to Haiti 173rd.
  10. South America83rdPlaced countries run from Uruguay 35th to Venezuela 133rd.
  11. South-eastern Asia86thPlaced countries run from Singapore 25th to Myanmar 159th.
  12. Polynesia89thPlaced countries run from Samoa 89th to Tonga 97th.
  13. Western Asia95thPlaced countries run from Cyprus 33rd to Yemen 181st.
  14. Central Asia102ndPlaced countries run from Kazakhstan 61st to Turkmenistan 158th.
  15. Southern Asia106thPlaced countries run from Bhutan 52nd to Afghanistan 175th.
  16. Melanesia107thPlaced countries run from Fiji 64th to Papua New Guinea 144th.
  17. Micronesia109thPlaced countries run from Kiribati 109th to Kiribati 109th.
  18. Northern Africa116thPlaced countries run from Tunisia 104th to Sudan 179th.
  19. Southern Africa121stPlaced countries run from South Africa 93rd to Eswatini 147th.
  20. Western Africa148thPlaced countries run from Cabo Verde 94th to Guinea-Bissau 171st.
  21. Eastern Africa153rdPlaced countries run from Mauritius 45th to South Sudan 183rd.
  22. Middle Africa166thPlaced countries run from São Tomé and Príncipe 115th to Chad 180th.
  23. Oceania, the whole continent97th
  24. The world’s midpoint91st
1st183rdmedian

The square is each region’s median position; the grey bar runs from its best-placed to its lowest-placed country. Hover a row for their names.

05By subject

Topic by topic

Every country’s position on each topic, its shade darker the higher it sits in that topic’s field; select a cell for the country’s page on the topic. Strongest for Micronesia: Democracy & Civil Liberties, 5th of 22 sub-regions. Weakest: Digital & Technology, 22nd of 22.

All topics
Micronesia: each country’s position on each topic, with the region’s median and its place among sub-regions.
Democracy & Civil LibertiesEducation & KnowledgeMobility & TradeRisk & ResiliencePoverty & InequalityFood & AgricultureHealth & WellbeingDevelopment & Human CapitalEnergyGovernance & InstitutionsDigital & TechnologyEconomy & InnovationWork & LabourEnvironment & SustainabilityGender & EqualityPeace & SecurityMoney & Public FinancePeople & Population
Kiribati29 of 198116 of 198No standing101 of 19312 of 159126 of 184141 of 200139 of 19692 of 165157 of 194173 of 198162 of 176No standingNo standing47 of 183No standingNo standingNo standing
GuamNo standingNo standing75 of 177No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing133 of 165No standingNo standingNo standing56 of 182No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Marshall Islands24 of 19857 of 198No standing89 of 19372 of 159No standing162 of 200134 of 196No standing167 of 194196 of 198No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Micronesia43 of 198186 of 198No standing128 of 193137 of 159171 of 184148 of 200147 of 196No standing158 of 194195 of 198No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Nauru81 of 19866 of 198No standing43 of 193No standing110 of 184126 of 200125 of 196105 of 165147 of 194171 of 198No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Northern Mariana IslandsNo standingNo standing68 of 177No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Palau14 of 19878 of 198No standing52 of 193No standingNo standing138 of 20081 of 196No standing117 of 194184 of 198No standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standingNo standing
Region median29th of 19878th of 19868th of 17789th of 19372nd of 159126th of 184141st of 200134th of 196105th of 165157th of 194184th of 198———————
Among sub-regions5th of 229th of 2211th of 2211th of 2213th of 2117th of 2218th of 2219th of 2219th of 2121st of 2222nd of 22———————

Columns run from the topic where Micronesia places best among sub-regions to the one where it places lowest. A region’s median on a topic needs at least two members with a standing; a hatched cell has no standing.

06In numbers

Micronesia in 6 numbers

Each line is every country in the world at its published value; Micronesia’s countries are the red ticks, and the dashed line is the world median. There is no regional average: a region has countries, not a life expectancy of its own.

All statistics

  • Population

    people · log scale

    UN DESA Population Division · 2023 · 222 countries · no better end

    NauruPalauMarshall IslandsMNPMicronesiaKiribatiGuam496world median 6,541,4131,438,069,596

  • Land area

    km²

    FAO · 2024 · 221 countries · no better end

    NauruMarshall IslandsMNPPalau0.4world median 87,58916,376,870

  • GDP per person

    international $, PPP · log scale

    World Bank Group · 2025 · 185 countries · higher is better

    No reading: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands

    KiribatiMicronesiaMarshall IslandsNauruPalau1,067world median 17,265139,593

  • Life expectancy

    years at birth

    UN DESA Population Division · 2023 · 222 countries · higher is better

    NauruKiribatiMarshall IslandsMicronesiaPalauGuamMNP54.46world median 74.6386.37

  • Human development

    HDI, 0–1

    UNDP Human Development Report Office · 2023 · 193 countries · higher is better

    No reading: Guam, Northern Mariana Islands

    MicronesiaKiribatiNauruMarshall IslandsPalau0.388world median 0.7620.972

  • Unemployment

    % of the labour force

    ILO · 2025 · 182 countries · lower is better

    No reading: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands, Palau

    Guam0.13world median 5.08434.2
Every value for Micronesia’s countries
CountryPopulation 2023Land area 2024GDP per person 2025Life expectancy 2023Human development 2023Unemployment 2025
Guam166,506rank 186541rank 187—77.21rank 82—5.569rank 79
Kiribati132,530rank 187811rank 1793,364rank 16466.47rank 1840.644rank 140—
Marshall Islands38,827rank 211181rank 2067,660rank 13366.95rank 1810.733rank 108—
Micronesia112,630rank 190701rank 1843,935rank 15767.2rank 1780.615rank 149—
Nauru11,875rank 21821rank 21812,135rank 11462.11rank 2080.703rank 124—
Northern Mariana Islands45,143rank 206457rank 190—78.81rank 59——
Palau17,727rank 215460rank 18919,699rank 8369.27rank 1620.786rank 84—

07In records

Micronesia in records

The member at the extreme of each statistic, read from its newest edition. Where two members share the top, no record is named.

08Latest editions

Who rose and fell in the published ranks

The moves of Micronesia’s countries between each report’s two newest editions, in the publisher’s own ranks. A report whose field changed by more than 5% is left out.

Ranks as published by UNDP Human Development Report Office in the Human Development Index: reference years 2022 (192 countries ranked) → 2023 (193 ranked), both from its 2025 report.

Improved most

rank before → after
  1. Marshall Islands110 → 108+2
  2. Nauru125 → 124+1

Declined most

rank before → after
  1. Palau81 → 84−3
  2. Micronesia147 → 149−2
Every country in the Human Development Index

09Keep reading

Explore further

All regions

The rest of Oceania

10Method

Questions, method and sources

Which countries are in Micronesia?

7 countries and territories: Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Northern Mariana Islands and Palau. Membership follows the United Nations’ M49 classification. The region shares its name with one of its members, the Federated States of Micronesia, which this site lists as Micronesia.

Which country in Micronesia is placed highest?

Kiribati, 109th of 183 in the Country Index 2026. It is the only country in Micronesia the index places.

How does Micronesia compare with other regions?

Its one placed country sits 109th of 183, which places it 17th of 22 sub-regions. The median across Oceania is 97th. The middle of the whole field is 91st. Nothing is weighted by population or size.

How many people live in Micronesia?

525,238 in 2023, the sum of the UN DESA Population Division’s figures for its 7 countries and territories.

What is the largest country in Micronesia?

By land area, Kiribati: 811 square kilometres (2024). By population, Guam: 166,506 people (2023).

How a region’s figure is made
  1. Membership. Countries belong to regions by the United Nations’ M49 classification; each country declares its sub-region, and a continent is the sum of its sub-regions.
  2. Positions. Each country’s position is its Country Index 2026 result, unchanged. This page slices the world ranking by place; it does not re-rank anyone.
  3. The median. A region’s figure is the median of its placed countries’ positions: half sit at or above it, half below. With an even number of placed countries it takes the better of the two middle positions, since there is no country at a half place. Countries the index does not place are named, never counted in.
  4. A place among peers. Continents are compared with continents and sub-regions with sub-regions, never a part with the whole that contains it; regions sharing a median share a place. Nothing is weighted by population or size, and population and land area are the only figures ever added up.

Where the regions come from

United Nations Statistics Division, Standard country or area codes for statistical use (M49). M49’s middle level (Sub-Saharan Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean) is left out, so every sub-region sits directly under its continent. Kosovo, Northern Cyprus and Somaliland are not in M49 and are placed by geography.

Where the positions come from

Every position is a country’s result in the Country Index 2026 or one of its topics, unchanged. The population and land-area figures are the UN DESA Population Division’s and the FAO’s, added up and shown with their year; every other statistic names its publisher beside its numbers.

Photographs

Each country’s own banner from its profile: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.

Cite this page

Nations Inquiry (2026). Micronesia: countries, population and rankings, Country Index 2026. https://nationsinquiry.com/regions/micronesia

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