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     The 1,191 businesses in the Northern Mariana Islands accounted for more than $1.3 billion in sales, employed 22,622 people and paid $246.1 million in annual payroll in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

     These numbers come from the 2007 Economic Census of Island Areas Geographic Area Series for the Northern Mariana Islands. The data include the number of establishments, sales, payroll, number of employees and other data items. Data are shown for the Northern Mariana Islands and its four municipalities, and only include businesses with paid employees.

     Other findings:

• The retail trade sector in the Northern Mariana Islands accounted for $272 million in sales, employed 2,770 people and paid $28.6 million in annual payroll in 2007.
• General merchandise stores made up the largest share of the retail sales in the Northern Mariana Islands, accounting for 33 percent ($89.1 million) of total retail sales in the commonwealth.
• Businesses in the Saipan municipality reported more than $1.2 billion in total sales -- nearly 97 percent of the total reported for the entire commonwealth.
• The Northern Mariana Islands had 200 businesses with 20 or more employees, representing 17 percent of all businesses. These businesses accounted for 67 percent ($866 million) of total sales.

     These data for the Northern Mariana Islands are available only in the Census Bureau's American FactFinder, an online data tool that allows users to access, filter, manipulate and extract data. Data for Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico will follow between May 2009 and September 2010. More information about the Economic Census of Island Areas is available at <http://www.census.gov/econ/islandareas/>.

     The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is located in the western Pacific Ocean and is made up of 14 islands.