The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; Chamorro: Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; Carolinian: Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas; formerly in Spanish: Islas Marianas del Norte, in German: Nördliche Marianen, Japanese: 北マリアナ諸島, romanized: Kita Mariana shotō), is an unincorporated territory and commonwealth of the United States consisting of 14 islands in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.[8] The CNMI includes the 14 northernmost islands in the Mariana Archipelago; the southernmost island, Guam, is a separate U.S. territory. The CNMI and Guam are the easternmost territories of the United States.
The United States Department of the Interior cites a landmass of 183.5 square miles (475.26 km2).[9] According to the 2010 United States Census, 53,883 people were living in the CNMI at that time.[10] The vast majority of the population resides on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota. The other islands of the Northern Marianas are sparsely inhabited; the most notable among these is Pagan, which for various reasons over the centuries has experienced major population flux, but formerly had residents numbering in the thousands.[11][12]
The administrative center is Capitol Hill, a village in northwestern Saipan. However, most[quantify] publications[which?] consider Saipan to be the capital because the island is governed as a single municipality.
