Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)

Governor-General: Sir Clifford Husbands (June 1996)

Prime Minister: Owen Arthur (1994)

Area: 166 sq mi (430 sq km)

Population (2001 est.): 275,330 (average annual rate of natural increase: 0.5%); birth rate: 13.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 12.0/1000; density per sq mi: 1,658

Capital and largest city (1990): Bridgetown, 6,700

Monetary unit: Barbados dollar

Language: English

Ethnicity/race: African 80%, European 4%, other 16%

Religions: Anglican 40%, Methodist 7%, Pentecostal 8%, Roman Catholic 4%

Literacy rate: 99% (1970)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (1998 est.): $2.9 billion; per capita: $11,200. Real growth rate: 4.4%. Inflation: 1.7% (1998). Unemployment: 12% (1998 est.). Arable land: 37%. Agriculture: sugarcane, vegetables, cotton. Labor force: 136,000; services, 75%; industry, 15%; agriculture, 10% (1996 est.). Industries: tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly for export. Natural resources: petroleum, fish, natural gas. Exports: $211.2 million (1998): sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components, clothing. Imports: $1.01 billion (1998): consumer goods, machinery, foodstuffs, construction materials, chemicals, fuel, electrical components. Major trading partners: UK, U.S., Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela, Jamaica, Japan, Canada.

Member of Commonwealth of Nations

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 90,000 (1995); mobile cellular: 4,614 (1995). Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 3, shortwave 0 (1998). Radios: 237,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations: 1 (plus two cable channels) (1997). Televisions: 76,000 (1997). Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 3 (1999).

Transportation: Railways: 0 km. Highways: total: 1,600 km; paved: 1,578 km; unpaved: 22 km (1998 est.). Ports and harbors: Bridgetown, Speightstown (Port Charles Marina). Airports: 1 (1999 est.).

International disputes: none.

Geography

An island in the Atlantic about 300 mi (483 km) north of Venezuela, Barbados is only 21 mi long (34 km) and 14 mi across (23 km) at its widest point. It is circled by fine beaches and narrow coastal plains. The highest point is Mount Hillaby (1,105 ft; 337 m) in the north-central area.

Parliamentary democracy.

Barbados is thought to have been originally inhabited by Arawak Indians. By the time Europeans explored the island, however, it was uninhabited.

Barbados was settled by the British in 1627. Slaves were brought in from Africa to work sugar plantations, and from the time of its settlement, the population was about 90% black. Slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1834, and in 1838 slaves on the island gained their freedom.

Barbados was the administrative headquarters of the Windward Islands until it became a separate colony in 1885. Barbados was a member of the Federation of the West Indies from 1958 to 1962. Britain granted the colony independence on Nov. 30, 1966, and it became a parliamentary democracy within the Commonwealth.

Since independence, Barbados has been politically stable. However, local anger over rulings by the final appeals court, appointed by Queen Elizabeth, led to the creation in 1997 of a constitutional commission to consider abandoning all ties to Great Britain. Prime Minister Arthur, who has seen Barbados's unemployment fall from 22% to 11%, was reelected in 1999 by a landslide. With one of the highest literacy rates in the world, 98%, Barbados has expanded its financial services and tourist industries, reducing reliance on sugar cane exports.

See Also: Barbados Statistical Services www.bgis.gov.bb/stats/

(Source: www.infoplease.com )

(this website was designed using Microsoft Notepad, and is best viewed using a computer of some kind.) - Alex Martindale, for Kerry McGregor, 7/11/2001