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Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II
(1952)
Governor-General: Sir Clifford
Husbands (1996)
Prime Minister: David Thompson
(2008)
Current government officials
Land area: 166 sq mi (430 sq km); total
area 166 sq mi (431 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 281,968 (growth
rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 12.4/1000; infant mortality rate:
11.0/1000; life expectancy: 73.2; density per sq km: 654
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Bridgetown, 98,900
Monetary unit: Barbados dollar
Language:
English
Ethnicity/race:
black 90%, white 4%, Asian and mixed 6%
Religions:
Protestant 67% (Anglican 40%, Pentecostal 8%,
Methodist 7%, other 12%), Roman Catholic 4%, none 17%, other 12%
National Holiday:
Independence Day, November 30
Literacy rate: 97% (1995 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005
est.): $4.841 billion; per capita: $17,400. Real growth rate:
2.5%. Inflation: –0.5% (2003 est.). Unemployment:
10.7% (2003 est.). Arable land: 37.21%.
Agriculture: sugarcane, vegetables, cotton. Labor force:
128,500 (2001 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: $209 million (2004 est): sugar
and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical
components. Imports: $1.476 billion (2004 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, Japan (2004).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 135,700 (2004); mobile cellular: 200,100 (2004). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 6, shortwave 0 (2004).
Television broadcast stations: 1 (plus two cable channels)
(2004). Internet hosts: 241 (2005). Internet users:
150,000 (2005).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 1,600 km; paved: 1,600 km (2003). Ports
and harbors: Bridgetown. Airports: 1 (2005).
International disputes: in 2005,
Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago agreed to compulsory international
arbitration that will result in a binding award challenging whether
the northern limit of Trinidad and Tobago's and Venezuela's maritime
boundary extends into Barbadian waters and the southern limit of
Barbadian traditional fishing; 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 (UNCLOS), which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental
shelf over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea
Major sources and definitions
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