Trinidad and Tobago

Background:

The islands came under British control in the 19th century; independence was granted in 1962. The country is one of the most prosperous in the Caribbean thanks largely to petroleum and natural gas production and processing. Tourism, mostly in Tobago, is targeted for expansion and is growing.

Geography Trinidad and Tobago

Location:
Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela

Geographic coordinates:
11 00 N, 61 00 W

Map references:
Central America and the Caribbean

Area:
total: 5,128 sq km
land: 5,128 sq km
water: 0 sq km

Area - comparative:
slightly smaller than Delaware

Land boundaries:
0 km

Coastline:
362 km

Maritime claims - as described in UNCLOS 1982 (see Notes and Definitions):
measured from claimed archipelagic baselines
exclusive economic zone: 200 NM
continental shelf: 200 NM or to the outer edge of the continental margin
contiguous zone: 24 NM
territorial sea: 12 NM

Climate:
tropical; rainy season (June to December)

Terrain:
mostly plains with some hills and low mountains

Elevation extremes:
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: El Cerro del Aripo 940 m

Natural resources:
petroleum, natural gas, asphalt

Land use:
arable land: 14.6%
permanent crops: 9.2%
other: 76.2% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land:
30 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards:
outside usual path of hurricanes and other tropical storms

Environment - current issues:
water pollution from agricultural chemicals, industrial wastes, and raw sewage; oil pollution of beaches; deforestation; soil erosion

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note:
Pitch Lake, on Trinidad's southwestern coast, is the world's largest natural reservoir of asphalt

People Trinidad and Tobago

Population:
1,096,585 (July 2004 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 21.4% (male 120,153; female 114,205)
15-64 years: 70.6% (male 403,202; female 370,498)
65 years and over: 8.1% (male 39,762; female 48,765) (2004 est.)

Median age:
total: 30.4 years
male: 30 years
female: 30.9 years (2004 est.)

Population growth rate:
-0.71% (2004 est.)

Birth rate:
12.75 births/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Death rate:
9.02 deaths/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Net migration rate:
-10.83 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2004 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.09 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.82 male(s)/female
total population: 1.06 male(s)/female (2004 est.)

Infant mortality rate:
total: 24.64 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 22.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2004 est.)
male: 26.58 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 69.28 years
male: 66.86 years
female: 71.82 years (2004 est.)

Total fertility rate:
1.77 children born/woman (2004 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate:
2.5% (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS:
17,000 (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths:
1,200 (2001 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Trinidadian(s), Tobagonian(s)
adjective: Trinidadian, Tobagonian

Ethnic groups:
East Indian (a local term - primarily immigrants from northern India) 40.3%, black 39.5%, mixed 18.4%, white 0.6%, Chinese and other 1.2%

Religions:
Roman Catholic 29.4%, Hindu 23.8%, Anglican 10.9%, Muslim 5.8%, Presbyterian 3.4%, other 26.7%

Languages:
English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 98.6%
male: 99.1%
female: 98% (2003 est.)

Government Trinidad and Tobago

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
conventional short form: Trinidad and Tobago

Government type:
parliamentary democracy

Capital:
Port-of-Spain

Administrative divisions:
8 counties, 3 municipalities*, and 1 ward**; Arima*, Caroni, Mayaro, Nariva, Port-of-Spain*, Saint Andrew, Saint David, Saint George, Saint Patrick, San Fernando*, Tobago**, Victoria

Independence:
31 August 1962 (from UK)

National holiday:
Independence Day, 31 August (1962)

Constitution:
1 August 1976

Legal system:
based on English common law; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Suffrage:
18 years of age; universal

Executive branch:
chief of state: President George Maxwell RICHARDS (since 17 March 2003)
head of government: Prime Minister Patrick MANNING (since 24 December 2001)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed from among the members of Parliament
elections: president elected by an electoral college, which consists of the members of the Senate and House of Representatives, for a five-year term; election last held 14 February 2003 (next to be held in 2008); the president usually appoints as prime minister the leader of the majority party in the House of Representatives
election results: George Maxwell RICHARDS elected president; percent of electoral college vote - 43%

Legislative branch:
bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (31 seats; members appointed by the president for a maximum term of five years) and the House of Representatives (36 seats; members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms)
elections: House of Representatives - last held 7 October 2002 (next to be held by October 2007)
note: Tobago has a unicameral House of Assembly with 15 members serving four-year terms
election results: House of Representatives - percent of vote - PNM 55.5%, UNC 44.5%; seats by party - PNM 20, UNC 16

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court of Judicature (comprised of the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeals; the chief justice is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister and the leader of the opposition; other justices are appointed by the president on the advice of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission); High Court of Justice; Court of Appeals the highest court of appeal is the Privy Council in London

Political parties and leaders:
National Alliance for Reconstruction or NAR [Lennox SANKERSINGH]; People's Empowerment Party or PEP [leader NA]; People's National Movement or PNM [Patrick MANNING]; Team Unity or TUN [Ramesh MAHARAJ]; United National Congress or UNC [Basdeo PANDAY]

Political pressure groups and leaders:
Jamaat-al Muslimeen [Yasin BAKR]

International organization participation:
ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-24, G-77, IADB, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ISO, ITU, LAES, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO

Diplomatic representation in the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Marina Annette VALERE
chancery: 1708 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036
consulate(s) general: Miami and New York
FAX: [1] (202) 785-3130
telephone: [1] (202) 467-6490

Diplomatic representation from the US:
chief of mission: Ambassador Roy L. AUSTIN
embassy: 15 Queen's Park West, Port-of-Spain
mailing address: P. O. Box 752, Port-of-Spain
telephone: [1] (868) 622-6372 through 6376, 622-6176
FAX: [1] (868) 628-5462

Flag description:
red with a white-edged black diagonal band from the upper hoist side to the lower fly side

Economy Trinidad and Tobago

Economy - overview:
Trinidad and Tobago, the leading Caribbean producer of oil and gas, has earned a reputation as an excellent investment site for international businesses. Tourism is a growing sector, although not proportionately as important as in many other Caribbean islands. The economy benefits from low inflation and a growing trade surplus. Prospects for growth in 2004 are good as prices for oil, petrochemicals, and liquified natural gas are expected to remain high, and foreign direct investment continues to grow to support expanded capacity in the energy sector. The government is coping with a rise in violent crime.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $10.6 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4.5% (2003 est.)

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $9,600 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.6%
industry: 43.2%
services: 55.2% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line:
21% (1992 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
3.7% (2003 est.)

Labor force:
564,000 (2000)

Labor force - by occupation:
construction and utilities 12.4%, manufacturing, mining, and quarrying 14%, agriculture 9.5%, services 64.1% (1997 est.)

Unemployment rate:
10.9% (2003)

Budget:
revenues: $1.54 billion
expenditures: $1.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $117.3 million (1998)

Industries:
petroleum, chemicals, tourism, food processing, cement, beverage, cotton textiles

Industrial production growth rate:
5.2% (2003 est.)

Electricity - production:
5.315 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 99.8%
hydro: 0%
other: 0.2% (2001)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption:
4.943 billion kWh (2001)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)

Oil - production:
136,200 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
24,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Oil - proved reserves:
990 million bbl (1 January 2004)

Natural gas - production:
25 billion cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - consumption:
13.76 billion cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - exports:
11.79 billion cu m (2003 est.)

Natural gas - imports:
0 cu m (2001 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves:
589 billion cu m (1 January 2004)

Agriculture - products:
cocoa, sugarcane, rice, citrus, coffee, vegetables; poultry

Exports:
$4.9 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Exports - commodities:
petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, steel products, fertilizer, sugar, cocoa, coffee, citrus, flowers

Exports - partners:
US 54.4%, Jamaica 6.7%, France 4.2% (2002)

Imports:
$3.917 billion f.o.b. (2003 est.)

Imports - commodities:
machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods, food, live animals

Imports - partners:
US 35.8%, Venezuela 12.7%, Brazil 5.1%, Cote d'Ivoire 4.7%, UK 4.3% (2002)

Debt - external:
$2.7 billion (2003 est.)

Economic aid - recipient:
$24 million (1999 est.)

Currency:
Trinidad and Tobago dollar (TTD)

Currency code:
TTD

Exchange rates:
Trinidad and Tobago dollars per US dollar - 6.29 (2003), 6.25 (2002), 6.23 (2001), 6.3 (2000), 6.3 (1999)

Fiscal year:
1 October - 30 September

Communications Trinidad and Tobago

Telephones - main lines in use:
325,100 (2002)

Telephones - mobile cellular:
361,900 (2002)

Telephone system:
general assessment: excellent international service; good local service
domestic: NA
international: country code - 1-868; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); tropospheric scatter to Barbados and Guyana

Radio broadcast stations:
AM 4, FM 18, shortwave 0 (2004)

Radios:
680,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:
2 (2004)

Televisions:
425,000 (1997)

Internet country code:
.tt

Internet hosts:
7,209 (2002)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
17 (2000)

Internet users:
138,000 (2002)

Transportation Trinidad and Tobago

Railways:
minimal agricultural railroad system near San Fernando; common carrier railway service was discontinued in 1968 (2001)

Highways:
total: 8,320 km
paved: 4,252 km
unpaved: 4,068 km (1999 est.)

Waterways:
none

Pipelines:
condensate 253 km; gas 1,117 km; oil 478 km (2003)

Ports and harbors:
Pointe-a-Pierre, Point Fortin, Point Lisas, Port-of-Spain, Scarborough, Tembladora

Merchant marine:
total: 5 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 7,178 GRT/3,633 DWT
by type: cargo 1, passenger 1, passenger/cargo 1, petroleum tanker 1, short-sea/passenger 1
registered in other countries: 4 (2003 est.)
foreign-owned: United States 1

Airports:
6 (2003 est.)

Airports - with paved runways:
total: 3
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2003 est.)

Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 3
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 2 (2003 est.)

Military Trinidad and Tobago

Military branches:
Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force: Ground Force, Coast Guard, and Air Wing

Military manpower - availability:
males age 15-49: 326,447 (2004 est.)

Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15-49: 232,234 (2004 est.)

Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$66.7 million (2003)

Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
0.6% (2003)

Transnational Issues Trinidad and Tobago

Disputes - international:
Barbados will assert its claim before UNCLOS that the northern limit of Trinidad and Tobago's maritime boundary with Venezuela extends into its waters; Guyana has also expressed its intention to challenge this boundary as it may extend into its waters as well

Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for South American drugs destined for the US and Europe; producer of cannabis