LOCATION:

Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean, north of Trinidad and Tobago

AREA:

total: 389 sq km (Saint Vincent 344 sq km)
land: 389 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative:
  
twice the size of Washington, DC

POPULATION:

117,534

(July 2005 est.)

AGE STRUCTURE:

0-14 years: 27.1%
(male 16,208/female 15,621)
 
15-64 years: 66.5%
(male 40,287/female 37,883)
 
65 years and over: 6.4%
(male 3,280/female 4,255)

(2005 est.)

MEDIAN AGE:

total: 26.36 years
male: 26.21 years
female: 26.53 years

 (2005 est.)

POPULATION GROWTH:

0.27%

(2005 est.)

INFANT MORTALITY RATE:

total: 14.78 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 16.09 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 13.44 deaths/1,000 live births

(2005 est.)

HIV/AIDS-ADULT PREVALENCE RATE:

1.7 %

HIV/AIDS- PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS :

No information available

HIV/AIDS-DEATH

No information available

ETHNIC GROUPS:

black 66%,
 mixed 19%,
 East Indian 6%,
 Carib Amerindian 2%,
other 7%

RELIGIONS:

Anglican 47%,
Methodist 28%,
 Roman Catholic 13%,
 Hindu, Seventh-Day Adventist,
 other Protestant

LANGUAGES:

English, French patois

LITERACY:

definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school  
total population: 96%
 
male: 96%
female: 96%

(1970 est.)

GOVERNMENT TYPE:

parliamentary democracy; independent sovereign state within the Commonwealth

CAPITAL:

Kingstown

ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISIONS:

6 parishes; Charlotte, Grenadines, Saint Andrew, Saint David, Saint George, Saint Patrick

INDEPENDENCE:

27 October 1979 (from UK)

ECONOMY:

Economic growth in this lower-middle-income country hinges upon seasonal variations in the agricultural and tourism sectors. Tropical storms wiped out substantial portions of crops in 1994, 1995, and 2002, and tourism in the Eastern Caribbean has suffered low arrivals following 11 September 2001. Saint Vincent is home to a small offshore banking sector and has moved to adopt international regulatory standards. Saint Vincent is also a large producer of marijuana and is being used as a transshipment point for illegal narcotics from South America.

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $342 million

 (2002 est.)

POPULATION BELOW POVERT LINE:

NA

INFLATION RATE:

-0.4%

(2001 est.)

UNEMPLOYMENT:

15%

(2001 est.)

EXCHANGE RATES:

East Caribbean dollars per US dollar - 2.7 (2004),
 2.7 (2003),
 2.7 (2002),
2.7 (2001),
2.7 (2000)

ILLICIT DRUGS:

transshipment point for South American drugs destined for the US and Europe; small-scale cannabis cultivation