Pre-Trip Information

 

The population of Barbados numbers just less than 300,000. The people of Barbados are called Barbadians or, in the local jargon, "Bajans."

 

Most of Barbados' population, close to 80 percent, is of African ancestry. About four percent is of European, predominantly British, ancestry, and most of the remaining 16 percent is of mixed descent, but there are also small communities of Indian, Chinese and Middle Eastern extraction.

 

Reflecting Barbados' heavy British colonial influence, the official language is English, and almost the entire population is Christian, with Anglicanism the most widely practiced denomination. There are also congregations of Catholics, Methodists, Baptists and Moravians and, outside the orbit of Christianity, small Jewish and Muslim communities.

 

 

 

On this island referred to as the "Pearl of the Caribbean," the strength of the British legacy and its enduring influence on Barbadian culture and society are unmistakably present. Indeed, the country is often colloquially referred to as "Little England." In contrast to many Caribbean islands, Barbados has abundant springs, creeks, and other fresh water sources. At least an imaginable resemblance exists between the low, green rolling hills that characterize much of its landscape and the English countryside. Further reinforcing the similarity, a significant portion of the colonial infrastructure remains, notably including small stone Anglican churches in virtually every community.

 

Culturally, nearly three and a half centuries of unbroken British colonial rule, from 1627 to independence in 1966, have left an impression that seems strikingly "English" to many observers. Cr icket is a national passion, and Barbados reputedly boasts more world-class cricket players per capita than any other country -- but a match in Barbados carries a lively tropical flair quite at odds with the sedate atmosphere of a match in England.

 

Amidst all the British influences on Barbadian culture, though, profoundly African traditions intertwine to form the tapestry of Bajan life. African-influenced aspects of Barbadian culture include calypso music, arts and crafts, and traditional foods that combine some English elements with a decidedly un-English spiciness. Most significantly, the local Bajan dialect incorporates African linguistic patterns with English.

 

 

 

Sugar cane was, for centuries, the mainstay livelihood on the island. It was, as well, the source of profit that motivated establishment of a plantation system extractin g labor from tens of thousands of African slaves whose descendants are now the country's principal ethnic group. Even now, the most important local celebration is called "Crop Over," a commemoration of the completion of the extraordinarily arduous annual sugar harvest. Another stark reminder of plantation life are so-called "chattel houses," built in the British Jacobean style, where the slaves were housed. Even after slavery was abolished in 1834, the bulk of Bajans remained sugar cane laborers attached to and economically dependent on the island's large sugar estates.

 

Increasingly in recent decades and overwhelmingly since the 1980s, tourism came to replace sugar as the main driver of Barbados' economy. Today, the island is one of the most politically stable and successfully developed Caribbean countries.

 

 

 

In terms of health and welfare, the smalll island nation enjoys a remarkably high quality of life, especially in comparison to much larger and more wealthy countries.  Barbados has an infant mortality rate of 12.09 deaths per 1,000 live births. According to recent estimates, life expectancy is about 74  years of age.

 

Barbados also enjoys high educational standards, with school attendance compulsory through age 16. Barbados is the seat of one of the campuses of the University of the West Indies.  Reflecting this national commitment to education, the literacy rate is almost universal at an impressive 99.7 percent -- one of the highest literacy rates in the world.

About 6.7 percent of GDP is spent on education in this country; about 6.8 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Access to water and sanitation is regarded as excellent.

Another quality-of-life indicator that reflects favorably on Barbados is the Human Development Index (HDI), compiled annually since 1990 by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The HDI is a composite of several indicators, which measure a country's achievements in three main arenas of human development: longevity, knowledge and education, as well as economic standard of living. In a ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Barbados in the very high human development category, at 42nd place. 

Although the concept of human development is complicated and cannot be properly captured by values and indices, the HDI, which is calculated and updated annually, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.