Barbados

Facts & Figures

Map of Barbados
  • Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

    Governor-General: Sir Elliot Belgrave (2012)

    Prime Minister: Freundel Stuart (2010)

    Land area: 166 sq mi (430 sq km); total area 166 sq mi (431 sq km)

    Population (2014 est.): 289,680 (growth rate: 0.33%); birth rate: 11.97/1000; infant mortality rate: 10.93/1000; life expectancy: 74.99

    Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Bridgetown, 122,000

    Monetary unit: Barbados dollar

    Current government officials

    Language: English (official), Bajan (English-based creole language, widely spoken in informal settings)

    Ethnicity/race: black 92.4%, white 2.7%, mixed 3.1%, East Indian 1.3%, other 0.2%, unspecified 0.2% (2010 est.

    Religions: Protestant 66.3% (includes Anglican 23.9%, other Pentecostal 19.5%, Adventist 5.9%, Methodist 4.2%, Wesleyan 3.4%, Nazarene 3.2%, Church of God 2.4%, Baptist 1.8%, Moravian 1.2%, other Protestant .8%), Roman Catholic 3.8%, other Christian 5.4% (includes Jehovah's Witness 2.0%, other 3.4%), Rastafarian 1%, other 1.5%, none 20.6%, unspecified 1.2% (2010 est.)

    National Holiday: Independence Day, November 30

    Literacy rate: 99.7% (2012 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $7.004 billion; per capita: $25,100. Real growth rate: –0.8%. Inflation: 2.1% (2011 est.). Unemployment: 11.4% (2011 est.). Arable land: 27.91%. Agriculture: sugarcane, vegetables, cotton. Labor force: 141,800 (2013 est.); services 75%, industry 15%, agriculture 10% (1996 est.). Industries: tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly for export. Natural resources: petroleum, fish, natural gas. Exports: $1.051 billion (2013 est): sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components. Imports: $1.674 billion (2013 est.): consumer goods, machinery, foodstuffs, construction materials, chemicals, fuel, electrical components. Major trading partners: U.S., UK, Trindad and Tobago, St. Lucia, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, China (2012).

    Member of Commonwealth of Nations

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 144,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 347,000 (2012). Broadcast media: government-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) operates the lone terrestrial TV station; CBC also operates a multi-channel cable TV subscription service; roughly a dozen radio stations, consisting of a CBC-operated network operating alongside privately owned radio stations (2007). Internet hosts: 1,524 (2012). Internet users: 188,000 (2008).

    Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 1,600 km; paved: 1,600 km (2012). Ports and harbors: Bridgetown. Airports: 1 (2013).

    International disputes: Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago abide by the April 2006 Permanent Court of Arbitration decision delimiting a maritime boundary and limiting catches of flying fish in Trinidad and Tobago's exclusive economic zone; joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which permits Venezuela to extend its Economic Exclusion Zone/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

    Major sources and definitions

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