Society of Trinidad and Tobago

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KEY FACTS 2015

Population per sq km:  265

Life expectancy: 71 years

Net primary enrolment: 95% (2010)


Population: 1,360,000 (2015); some 54,000 on Tobago; 9 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 0.4 per cent p.a. 1990–2015; birth rate 14 per 1,000 people (27 in 1970); life expectancy 71 years (66 in 1970).

The population is of about 40 per cent Indian, 38 per cent African and 21 per cent mixed descent, with smaller numbers of people of European, Latin American and Chinese descent (2000 census).

Language: English is the official and national language; English-, French- and Spanish-based Creoles, Indian languages including Hindi, and Chinese dialects are also spoken.

Religion: Mainly Christians (Roman Catholics 22 per cent, Pentecostals 12 per cent, Anglicans six per cent), Hindus 18 per cent and Muslims five per cent (2011 census).

Media: English-language dailies include Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, Daily Express and Newsday; The Bomb, The T’n’T Mirror and Sunday Punch are weeklies.

The Caribbean New Media Group operates public radio and TV services, and there are a number of private radio stations and TV channels including Caribbean Communications Network’s TV6.

Some 88 per cent of households have TV sets (2006). There are 132 personal computers per 1,000 people (2007).

Public holidays: New Year’s Day, Spiritual Baptist Liberation Day (30 March), Indian Arrival Day (30 May, 1845), Labour Day (19 June), Emancipation Day (1 August, 1834 and 1838), Independence Day (31 August), Republic Day (24 September), Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Religious and other festivals whose dates vary from year to year include Carnival (Monday and Tuesday before Lent), Good Friday, Easter Monday, Corpus Christi, Eid alFitr (End of Ramadan) and Diwali (October/November). Carnival is celebrated during the month leading up to Carnival Monday and Tuesday