Barbados

Barbados

When one thinks of Barbados, one thinks of luscious, turquoise blue waters; soft white sand beaches; blue, white clouded skies; fresh fruits; exotic, delicious dishes and honeymoons. One, however, tends to forget the formation of this land. This Caribbean luxury Island has much history and great heritage. In this report, I will detail Barbados's location, history, labor relations, population size and structure, industries, plus add a little zest with the beauty of the Island.

Let's begin with the location of Barbados. Barbados is an Island of a cluster of Caribbean Islands. Its location is on the boundary of the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, in a somewhat strange location, if you may. The Island is 166 square miles and is located 13 degrees North, 59 degrees West, leaving it at around 270 miles north-east of Venezuela. Closest to the Island are the nations Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Barbados is generally a flat island, with a central highland; the highest point being Mount Hillaby which stands at 336 meters tall. Barbados is also known as "Little England" by the British. Barbados was named by Pedro A. Campos, a Portuguese explorer, who originally named the Island "Os Barbados' (The Bearded Ones) because he believed that the islands fig trees looked like beards due to their drooping aerial roots. The capital of Barbados is Bridgetown.

Barbados holds a fairly reasonable climate, not assumed by many. The climate is tropical with few months of rainy weather from June to October. Assumptions by many lead one to believe that the weather may bring about hurricanes and tropical storms. In reality, storms do not hit except every 3.09 years, while hurricanes are not seen except for once every 26.6 years.

Barbados's flag was chosen with much meaning and significance. The flag represents freedom and the breakaway from a colonized past. The flag holds three equal bands, blue, gold, and blue respectively. The middle band being gold, holds a trident head, this head is what represents independence, freedom and past disconnection.

The flag is shown below:

Source: ExxUN.com

The nationals of Barbados are known as Barbadians or Bajans. Barbados holds a population of 278,289 (July 2004 est.) according to ExxUN.com. The population density is spread out over an area, with 646 people per square Kilometer.

Age structure is as follows:

* 0-14 years old: 21% (male 29,294; female 29,020)

* 15-64 years old: 70.3% (male 95,675; female 99,864)

* 65 years and over: 8.8% (male 9,370; female 15,066)

The population growth is at 0.36% with 12.98 births/1,000 population.

Infant mortality rate as follows:

* Male: 14.26 deaths/1,000 live births

* Female: 10.94 deaths/1,000 live births

Total-12.61 deaths/1,000 lives births

Life expectancy at birth is as follows:

* Male: 69.51 years

* Female: 73.81 years

Total population: 71.64 years

Sex ratio is as follows:

* At birth: 1.01 males/females

* Under 15 years: 1.01 males/females

* 15-64 years: 0.96 males/females

* 65 years and over: 0.62 males/females

Total population: 0.93 males/females

Ethnic Groups:

* Black 90%

* White 4%

* Asian and mixed 6%

Religions:

* Protestant 67% (Anglican 40%, Pentecostal 8%, Methodist 7%, and Other 12%)

* Roman Catholic 4%

* None 17%

* Other 12%

Source: ExxUN.com (2004 est.)

Labor relations in Barbados are vast. Once, the sugarcane industry was the biggest form of economic income for the Barbadians, now, however, manufacturing and tourism have topped the charts of the economic growth in Barbados. Sugar and molasses still are an important factor of export income for the economy, just not as largely as they once were. Today, manufacturing has boomed in many areas, chemicals, electronics, clothing, rum and machinery being the largest hits.

Unemployment is an issue that still lingers, as does it in any country, but the government continues to make immense efforts in the reduction of this dilemma. Many steps have been taking to tackle this area. Some very important steps include direct foreign investment and the privatizing of state-owned enterprises. A whopping 14 % as been reduced to a fairly clean number of under 10% on the unemployment scale.

As stated by Wikipedia, "...Trading partners include: Canada, the Caribbean Community (especially Trinidad and Tobago), the United Kingdom, and the United States." (Wikipedia)

Due to the aftershocks of 9/11 the economy of Barbados lost out on tourism benefits during the years of 2001 and 2002. However, a bounce back occurred throughout 2003-2004. Business and investments opportunities took a twist for the better through