Society of Saint Lucia

society

KEY FACTS 2015

Population per sq km: 303

Life expectancy: 75 years

Net primary enrolment: 87%


Population: 184,000 (2015); 19% of people live in urban areas; growth 0.7 per cent p.a. 1990–2015; birth rate 15 per 1,000 people (41 in 1970); life expectancy 75 years (64 in 1970).

St Lucia’s population is mostly of mixed African and European descent.

Language: English is the official language; a French-based Creole is widely spoken.

Religion: Mainly Christians (Roman Catholics 62 per cent, Seventh Day Adventists ten per cent, Pentecostals nine per cent, Anglicans two per cent); Rastafarians two per cent (2010 census).

Media: There are no daily newspapers in St Lucia. The main newspapers are The Star and The Voice (both three times weekly); and The Crusader, The Mirror and The Vanguard (all weekly).

St Lucia’s broadcast media is mostly privately owned. Only the radio network, Radio Saint Lucia, is state owned.

Some 86 per cent of households have TV sets (2010).

Public holidays: New Year (two days), Independence Day (22 February), Labour Day (1 May), Carnival (two days in July), Emancipation Day (early August), Thanksgiving Day (early October), Saint Lucia Day (13 December), Christmas Day and Boxing Day. Religious and other festivals whose dates vary from year to year include Good Friday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday and Corpus Christi.