Country Profile Barbados

Capital:  Bridgetown
Population: 284,589 (July 2009 est.)
Currency:  Barbadian dollars (BBD)                    
Language:  English
Time zone:  UTC-4
Government:  Parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm
Chief of State:  Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)
Represented by Governor General Sir Clifford Straughn HUSBANDS (since 1 June 1996)

 

  • GDP real growth rate :
    • 1.5% (2008 est.)
    • 3.3% (2007 est.) 
    • 3.9% (2006 est.)
  • Exports: $385 million (2006)
  • Main Export Partners(2007):
  • Imports:  $1.586 billion (2006)

  • Main Import partners(2007):

    • US 30.5%
    • Trinidad and Tobago 27.6%
    • UK 6.5%
  • Dialing Country code:  +1246
  • Emergency numbers:   211 for the police
  • Voltage:  115V

Detailed country profile

ECONOMY

GDP real growth rate:

  • 1.5% (2008 est.)
  • 3.3% (2007 est.)
  • 3.9% (2006 est.)

GDP-Composition by sector(2000)

  • Agriculture: 6%
  • Industry: 16%
  • Services: 78%

Labor force by occupation(1996):

  • Agriculture: 10%
  • Industry: 15%
  • Services: 75%

Agriculture products:

  • Sugarcane
  • Vegetables
  • Cotton

Industries:

  • Tourism
  • Sugar
  • Light manufacturing
  • Component assembly for export

Exports: $385 million (2006)

Export Commodities

  • Manufactures
  • Sugar and molasses
  • Rum
  • Other foods and beverages
  • Chemicals
  • Electrical components

Main Export Partners(2007):

  • Trinidad and Tobago 15.5%
  • Jamaica 13.5%
  • UK 9.4%
  • US 9.3%
  • Brazil 8.3%
  • Saint Lucia 7.2%
  • Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 4.5%

Imports:$1.586 billion (2006)

Import commodities:

  • Consumer goods
  • Machinery
  • Foodstuffs
  • Construction materials
  • Chemicals
  • Fuel
  • Electrical components

Import partners(2007):

  • US 30.5%
  • Trinidad and Tobago 27.6%
  • UK 6.5%

Ports and Terminal: Bridgetown

Unemployment rate: 10.7% (2003 est.)

GOVERNMENT

Government Type: Parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm

Executive Branch:

Chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952)
Represented by Governor General Sir Clifford Straughn HUSBANDS (since 1 June 1996)
Head of government: Prime Minister David THOMPSON (since 16 January 2008)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister
elections: the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the governor general; the prime minister recommends the deputy prime minister

Legal system: English common law; no judicial review of legislative acts; accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations

GEOGRAPHY

Climate:Tropical; rainy season (June to October)

Terrain:Relatively flat; rises gently to central highland region

Elevation Extremes:

  • Lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m
  • Highest point: Mount Hillaby 336 m

Natural resources:

  • Petroleum
  • Fish
  • Natural gas

Environment and international agreement:

Party to:

  • Biodiversity
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol
  • Desertification
  • Endangered Species
  • Hazardous Wastes
  • Law of the Sea
  • Marine Dumping
  • Ozone Layer Protection
  • Ship Pollution
  • Wetlands

signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Environment and current issues:

  • Pollution of coastal waters from waste disposal by ships
  • Soil erosion
  • Illegal solid waste disposal threatens contamination of aquifers

PEOPLE

Ethnic groups:

  • Black 90%
  • White 4%
  • Asian and mixed 6%

Languages: English

Religion(2008 set):

  • Protestant 63.4% (Anglican 28.3%, Pentecostal 18.7%, Methodist 5.1%, other 11.3%)
  •  Roman Catholic 4.2%
  • Other Christian 7%
  • Other 4.8%
  • None or unspecified 20.6%

HISTORY

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.

Source: The world factbook www.cia.gov

See also:

Barbados Trade Agreement

Embassies and Consulates in Barbados

 

 


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