St. Vincent and the Grenadines
 

Area: 150 sq mi (389 sq km)

Population (2004 est.): 117,193 (growth rate: 0.3%); birth rate: 16.8/1000; infant mortality rate: 15.2/1000; life expectancy: 73.4; density per sq mi: 780

Capital: Kingstown

Monetary unit: East Caribbean dollar

Languages: English, French patois

Ethnicity/race: black 66%, mixed 19%, East Indian 6%, Carib Amerindian 2%, other 7%

Religions: Anglican 47%, Methodist 28%, Roman Catholic 13%, Hindu, Seventh-Day Adventist, other Protestant

Literacy rate: 96% (1970 est.)

Natural resources: hydropower, cropland. Exports: $38 million (2002 est.): bananas 39%, eddoes and dasheen (taro), arrowroot starch, tennis racquets. Imports: $174 million (2002 est.): foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers, minerals and fuels. Major trading partners: France, Greece, Spain, UK, U.S., Trinidad and Tobago, Singapore.

Member of Commonwealth of Nations

International disputes: protests Venezuela's claim to give full effect to Aves Island, which creates a Venezuelan EEZ/continental shelf extending over a large portion of the Caribbean Sea.

Symbolism of Flag

The green represents agriculture, the lush vegetation, and the enduring vitality of the population; gold symbolizes warmth, the bright spirit of the people, and the golden sands. Blue represents the sky and sea.

Government

Parliamentary democracy.

National Anthem

Saint Vincent! Land so beautiful,
With joyful hearts we pledge to thee
Our loyalty and love, and vow
To keep you ever free.

Whate'er the future brings,
Our faith will see us through.
May peace reign from shore to shore,
And God bless and keep us true.

Hairoun! Our fair and blessed Isle,
Your mountains high, so clear and green,
Are home to me, though I may stray,
A haven, calm, serene.

Our little sister islands are
Those gems, the lovely Grenadines,
Upon their seas and golden sands
The sunshine ever beams.