The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is an island country in the western North Pacific Ocean that maintains a political union

Political union

A political union is a type of state which is composed of or created out of smaller states. Unlike a personal union, the individual states share a common government and the union is recognized internationally as a single political entity...

 with the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The Northern Mariana Islands comprise 15 islands about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 to the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, at 15°1′2"N 145°4′5"E. The United States Census Bureau

United States Census Bureau

The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

 reports the total land area of all islands as 179.01 sq mi (463.63 km²).

The Northern Mariana Islands has a population of 80,362 (2005 estimate).