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Caribbean Islands Population
In mid-1985 the population of Antigua and Barbuda was about
80,000, of which 78,500 lived on Antigua and 1,500 on Barbuda. The
annual growth rate was 1.3 percent, based on a crude birth rate of
15 births per 1,000 inhabitants and a crude death rate of 5 deaths
per 1,000. Infant mortality was twice that for the population as a
whole, at 10 deaths per 1,000 live births. In 1981 about 34 percent
of Antigua's population was classified as urban. This segment was
almost completely concentrated in the capital, St. John's. Rural
settlements tended to be compact villages of varying sizes,
concentrated along major or secondary roadways. Nearly all of the
population of Barbuda lived in the town of Codrington; the island
of Redonda was uninhabited.
The people of Antigua and Barbuda were mostly black,
descendants of African slaves. But the population also included
some whites, descendants of British, Spanish, French, or Dutch
colonists or of Portuguese, Lebanese, or Syrian immigrants. An
exchange of residents had occurred between Antigua and Barbuda on
the one hand and Europe and North America on the other hand as job
seekers emigrated from, and retirees immigrated to, the Caribbean
islands.
About 75 percent of the population belonged to the Anglican
Church in the mid-1980s. The Anglican Church was acknowledged as
the official church, but church and state were legally separated.
The remaining 25 percent of the population included members of
different Protestant denominations--Methodist, Presbyterian, and
fundamentalist--as well as Roman Catholics and Rastafarians (see Glossary).
In the colonial era, Antiguan society was stratified on the
basis of race. Europeans and those of European descent held the
respected positions in society, They were the plantation owners and
the political elites. On the other end of the spectrum were the
black slaves or those of African ancestry, who lacked both
political leverage and economic independence. The middle class was
composed of mulattoes, who participated in commerce as merchants
yet had little political clout. The abolition of slavery did little
to change the class structure; nevertheless, the trade union
movement and the associated transfer of political and economic
power into workers' hands did much to weaken class barriers. In the
late 1980s, society was divided along flexible class lines based on
economic standing rather than the rigid racial criteria of the
previous century.
The upper class in the late 1980s consisted mostly of
foreigners but also included local investors or businessmen from
the private sector. The higher positions in the party system, the
civil service, the state-run enterprises, and the private sector
professions were filled by the upper middle class, while the lower
middle class consisted of other professionals, party functionaries,
technicians, and skilled laborers. The lower class encompassed the
rest of society.
Data as of November 1987
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