Demography
The population of Antigua and Barbuda is estimated to be over 87,000. The islands that make up the country are low lying, except for a range of hills of modest elevation in southern Antigua; the country is relatively arid, characterized by mangrove and scrub vegetation.
Antigua, the more southerly of the country's namesake entities, is 108 square miles in area and the larger of the two islands. The majority of the country's inhabitants live in Antigua. The capital city of St. John's, Antigua, is home to approximately 30,000 people. The rest of Antigua's population is largely rural. Barbuda, 30 miles to its north, is 68 square miles in extent. Barbuda has only about 1,200 inhabitants, almost all of them living in the village of Codrington. There is also a third island, the uninhabited rocky islet of Redonda, along with some tiny barrier islands considered part of th e main island they adjoin.
Cultural Identity
Antiguans and Barbudans are predominantly of African ancestry, the descendants of slaves brought to the islands by British colonial sugar planters. In terms of religion, the people are predominantly Christian, and reflecting the long period of British influence, Anglicanism is the most widely practiced denomination. The official language is English, but many of the people speak a dialect combining English with West African and Romance language elements, known as Lesser Antilles patois.
Health and Welfare
According to recent estimates, the people of Antigua and Barbuda can expect an average life expectancy of 75.26 years of age. The infant mortality rate is 15.1 deaths per 1,000 live births. The literacy rate for this country, according to various sources, usually resides around 86 percent.
About 2.7 percent of GDP is spent on education in this country; about 5.1 percent of GDP is spent on health expenditures. Access to water and sanitation is regarded as good, although there may be some limits in certain rural areas.
Human Development
One notable indicator used to measure a country's quality of life is the Human Development Index (HDI), which is 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 recent ranking of 169 countries, the HDI placed Antigua and Barbuda 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 annuall y, offers a wide-ranging assessment of human development in certain countries, not based solely upon traditional economic and financial indicators.
Written by Dr. Denise Youngblood Coleman, Editor in Chief,
www.countrywatch.com; see Bibliography for references.