Current government officials

Language: English

Ethnicity/race: predominantly black; some British, Portuguese, and Lebanese

Religions: Anglican, other Protestant, Roman Catholic

Literacy rate: 97.8% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $952 million; per capita $16,300. Real growth rate: 1.9%. Inflation: 2.2%. Unemployment: 4.5% (1997). Arable land: 19.23%. Agriculture: sugarcane, rice, yams, vegetables, bananas; fish. Labor force: 18,170 (June 1995). Industries: tourism, cotton, salt, copra, clothing, footwear, beverages. Natural resources: arable land. Exports: $57.3 million (2013 est.): machinery, food, electronics, beverages, tobacco. Imports: $355.4 million (2013 est.): machinery, manufactures, food, fuels. Major trading partners: U.S., Canada, Bangladesh, Italy, Germany, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago (2012).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 20,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 84,000 (2012). Radio broadcast stations: 15 (2007). Radios: 28,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 2 (plus 3 repeaters) (2003). Televisions: 10,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 54 (2012). Internet users: 17,000 (2009).

Transportation: Railways: total: 50 km (2008). Highways: total: 383 km; paved: 163 km; unpaved: 220 km (2006 est.). Ports and harbors: Basseterre, Charlestown. Airports: 2 (2013).

International disputes: Joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuelas claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under United Nations 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