St. Vincent and the Grenadines

	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
	St. Vincent and the Grenadines
flag	coat of arms
	Motto : Pax et Justitia. ; Latin , "Peace and Justice"
Official language	English
Capital	Kingstown
Form of government	Parliamentary monarchy
Head of state	Queen Elizabeth II; represented by Governor General Susan Dougan
Head of government	Ralph Gonsalves
surface	389 km²
population	111,000
Population density	301 inhabitants per km²
gross domestic product Total (nominal); Total ( PPP ); GDP / inh. (nominal); GDP / inh. ( KKP );	2016 $ 775 million ( 179. ) ; $ 1,241 million ( 180. ) ; 7,038 USD ( 82. ) ; 11,271 USD ( 105. ) ;
Human Development Index	0.719 (91.)
currency	East Caribbean Dollar (XCD)
independence	October 27, 1979 ; (from the UK )
National anthem	St. Vincent Land So Beautiful
Time zone	UTC − 4
License Plate	WV
Internet TLD	.vc
Telephone code	+1 (784) see NANP

Kingstown

Georgetown

Soufrière

GRENADA

ATLANTIC

CARIBBEAN SEA

St. Vincent

Bequia

Canouan

Mayreau

Mustique

Union Island

St. Vincent and the Grenadines ( listen ^?^/^I ), officially English Saint Vincent and the Grenadines , is an independent island state in the Caribbean in the area of the West Indies . He is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations and the Bolivarian Alliance for America .

geography

The islands are south of St. Lucia and north of Grenada . The island of Barbados is about 180 km to the east .

The island state includes the island of St. Vincent and the 32 islands of the northern Grenadines , which belong to the Lesser Antilles . The southern Grenadines with the islands of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique do not belong to St. Vincent and the Grenadines , but to the national territory of Grenada . The capital and largest city of the country is Kingstown .

population

Population development

A total of around 117,000 people live in the island state. The annual growth rate of the population is 0.3%. As of 2002, 43% of the total population live in rural areas, while the remaining 57% live in cities.

year	population
1950	66,998
1960	80,949
1970	90,452
1980	100.505
1990	107.505
2000	107,898
2010	109,315
2017	109,897

Source: UN

ethnicities

The population is made up of around 65.5% blacks of African origin and around 19% of mulattos . There are also 5.5% Indian and 3.5% white.

religion

Approx. 80% of the residents profess Protestantism (including about 40% Anglicans and 30% Methodists ), about 11% to the Roman Catholic Church ; 0.5% are Jehovah's Witnesses .

history

Port Elizabeth at Bequia

St. Vincent is on an immigration route from North America to South America. The island has probably been around since the 5th millennium BC. At least temporarily settled. From 700 BC The Arawak settled the island. They were expelled from the Caribs around 800 AD . The Caribs called the island Hairoun ("home of the blessed").

Christopher Columbus sighted the island on January 22nd, 1498, the day of St. Vincent of Valencia , after whom he named her.

In the early 17th century, the island was claimed by both Great Britain and France . The rule over the island changed again and again between the two kingdoms and the Caribs in the following decades. In 1783, France ceded St. Vincent to Great Britain.

European colonists soon began growing sugar cane throughout the Caribbean , with most of the work being done by African slaves . In 1635 a slave ship ran aground off St. Vincent. The “black” Caribs were formed from the descendants of the survivors and the native “yellow” Caribs.

Over time, more and more Africans were brought to work in the plantations on the island. Soon the Africans, and no longer the Europeans or Caribs, made up the majority of the population. To feed the rapidly growing population, new crops were introduced to the island, such as the breadfruit brought to the island by William Bligh , previously in command of the famous Bounty , on his second breadfruit voyage in 1793.

Kingstown in the 1890s

Kingstown (2005)

In 1838 slavery was abolished on St. Vincent and a new society developed in which the now free descendants of the slaves formed the majority of the population. The big landowners brought Indian contract workers to the island. A number of Portuguese immigrated in the middle of the 19th century . Today's "Vincentians" were formed through the mixing of the many cultures.

Active and passive women's suffrage was introduced on May 5, 1951. The principles of universal, equal, secret and direct suffrage had been in effect since the 1951 House of Assembly elections .

St. Vincent remained a British colony until 1969 before it was given wide-ranging autonomy . From 1958 to 1962 St. Vincent was a member of the West Indian Federation . In 1975 the country became an associated state and became independent on October 27, 1979 under the new name of St. Vincent and the Grenadines , but remained in the Commonwealth . The women's suffrage was confirmed at independence 1979th

The movie Pirates of the Caribbean was later shot in St. Vincent.

politics

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a member of the UN , CARICOM , OECS , OAS , CELAC and in the Commonwealth of Nations . The country is also one of the sponsors of the University of the West Indies .

St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a Commonwealth Realm and thus a parliamentary monarchy with the British Queen Elizabeth II as head of state. Since Frederick Ballantyne's resignation on July 31, 2019, she has been represented by Governor General Susan Dougan . The head of government is Ralph Gonsalves .

Parliament is called the House of Assembly and consists of 21 members, 15 of whom are elected and 6 appointed every five years. All persons over the age of 18 are entitled to vote. The last election took place on December 13, 2010. The United Labor Party ULP won 8 seats and the New Democratic Party 7 seats.

On June 24, 2009, St. Vincent and the Grenadines joined the Bolivarian Alliance for America . The Iran , which has observer status in this organization, engages in St. Vincent and the Grenadines with economic aid and loans at low interest rates. During the civil war in Libya in 2011 , the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines joined Hugo Chávez's negotiation proposal .

Administrative division

The state is divided into six administrative districts ( parishes ). The six parishes are:

Infrastructure

MQS Airport

economy

General

Shop on Mustique Island

Beach on Mustique

The country exported goods worth $ 42.2 million in 2002 . Of this, 31% was bananas , 16% flour , 11% rice . The four most important trading partners are here with 40% Great Britain , 10% Trinidad and Tobago , 9% St. Lucia and 9% Barbados .

An important economic factor is tourism , which creates many jobs. 61% of employment comes from the service sector , followed by 20% from industry and 15% from agriculture .

A major problem is the high unemployment rate of 22%.

The gross national product in 2002 was EUR 282.5 million. That corresponds to 2416 euros per inhabitant.

The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is a member of the economic alliance Bolivarian Alternative for America .

On January 28, 2016, the EU Commission presented a package of measures to combat tax evasion , in which St. Vincent and the Grenadines appear on the black list of tax havens .

State budget

The state budget included expenditures in 2016 of the equivalent of 222.2 million US dollars , which were income equivalent to 222.2 million US Dollar against. This results in a balanced budget .
The national debt was 79.2% of GDP in 2016.

The expenditure was distributed (in% of GDP) as follows:

Health : 8.6% (2014)
Education : 5.1% (2010)
Military : k. A. (St. Vincent and the Grenadines have no military in the strict sense).

Means of communication

Fixed line and mobile telephony

In 2005 the country had 22,500 landline telephone lines. In 2004 there were already 57,000 cell phones in St. Vincent and the Grenadines . In 2015, 24,865 residents had a landline telephone connection, but at the same time there were 113,000 cell phones, which is more than 1,000 residents. The connections are provided by two providers - Digicel and Flow.

media

The country has nine radio stations (as of 2007) and one television station. All radio stations broadcast on FM and can therefore not be received internationally. According to the Freedom of the Press report by the non-governmental organization Freedom House , the press in St. Vincent and the Grenadines is considered "Free". According to the report, the country even has one of the freest presses on the entire American continent. (As of 2017)

literature

Saskia Thorbecke: St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In: Wolfgang Gieler , Markus Porsche-Ludwig (Hrsg.): State dictionary America: Geography, history, culture, politics and economy. Peter Lang, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-631-77017-7 , pp. 403-410.