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Commonwealth of Dominica
President: Nicholas Liverpool (2003)
Prime Minister: Roosevelt Skerrit
(2004)
Current government officials
Total area: 290 sq mi (751 sq km)
Population (2008 est.): 72,514 (growth
rate: 0.1%); birth rate: 15.7/1000; infant mortality rate:
14.1/1000; life expectancy: 75.3; density per sq km: 96
Capital and largest city (2003 est.):
Roseau, 20,000
Monetary unit: East Caribbean
dollar
Languages:
English (official) and French patois
Ethnicity/race:
black, mixed black and European, European,
Syrian, Carib Amerindian
National Holiday:
Independence Day, November 3
Religions:
Roman Catholic 77%, Protestant 15% (Methodist
5%, Pentecostal 3%, Seventh-Day Adventist 3%, Baptist 2%, other 2%),
none 2%
Literacy rate: 94% (2003 est.)
Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2003
est.): $384 million; per capita $5,500. Real growth rate:
–1%. Inflation: 1% (2001 est.).
Unemployment: 23% (2000 est.). Arable land: 7%.
Labor force: 25,000 (1999 est); agriculture 40%, industry and
commerce 32%, services 28%. Agriculture: bananas, citrus,
mangoes, root crops, coconuts, cocoa; forest and fishery potential
not exploited. Industries: soap, coconut oil, tourism, copra,
furniture, cement blocks, shoes. Natural resources: timber,
hydropower, arable land. Exports: $74 million f.o.b. (2004
est.): bananas, soap, bay oil, vegetables, grapefruit, oranges.
Imports: $234 million f.o.b. (2004 est.): manufactured goods,
machinery and equipment, food, chemicals. Major trading
partners: UK, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Guyana, Japan,
Trinidad and Tobago, U.S., China, South Korea (2004).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 23,700 (2002); mobile cellular: 9,400 (2002). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 4, shortwave 0 (2004).
Television broadcast stations: 1 (2004). Internet
hosts: 681 (2003). Internet users: 12,500 (2002).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 780 km; paved: 393 km; unpaved: 393 km (1999
est.). Ports and harbors: Portsmouth, Roseau.
Airports: 2 (2004 est.).
International disputes: joins other
Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island
sustains human habitation, a criterion under 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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