Sovereign: Queen Elizabeth II (1952)
Governor-General: Sir Clifford Husbands (1996)
Prime Minister: David Thompson (2008)
Land area: 166 sq mi (430 sq km); total area 166 sq mi (431 sq km)
Population (2009 est.): 284,589 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 12.5/1000; infant mortality rate: 12.3/1000; life expectancy: 73.9; 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
