TUVALU

Where Funafuti is the capital

• Another non-U.N. member

• Ellice Islands, now

• Island group N of Fiji

• Least populous U.N. member

• Nation consisting of nine coral islands

• Second-smallest member of the United Nations, by population

• Smallest UN member by population

• West Pacific country

• A group of coral islands in Micronesia southwest of Hawaii

• A small island republic on the Tuvalu islands

• Formerly part of the British colony of Gilbert and Ellice Islands until it withdrew in 1975 and became independent of the United Kingdom in 1978