Commonwealth realm of Barbados

Barbados
Commonwealth realm


Motto Pride and Industry
Anthem In Plenty and in Time of Need God Save The Queen
Location of Barbados

Capital	Bridgetown

Government	Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy
Monarch
- From 1966	Elizabeth II
Governor-General
- From 1996	Clifford Husbands
Prime Minister
- From 2010	Freundel Stuart

Legislature	Parliament
- Upper house	Senate
- Lower house	House of Assembly

History
- November 30, 1966	Independence from the United Kindom

Commonwealth accession	November 30, 1966

Area	431 km²

Population
- 2009	284,589
Density	660.2/km²

GDP	2009 (PPP)
- Total	US$ 6.4 billion
- Per capita	US$ 22,512

Currency	Barbadian dollar

Colony of Barbados
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Barbados is a commonwealth realm and a parliamentary democracy in the Caribbean.

Background

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.^[1]

Economy

Historically, the Barbadian economy was dependent on sugarcane cultivation and related activities. However, in recent years the economy has diversified into light industry and tourism with about three-quarters of GDP and 80% of exports being attributed to services. Growth has rebounded since 2003, bolstered by increases in construction projects and tourism revenues, reflecting its success in the higher-end segment, but the sector faced declining revenues in 2009 with the global economic downturn. The country enjoys one of the highest per capita incomes in the region. Offshore finance and information services are important foreign exchange earners and thrive from having the same time zone as eastern US financial centers and a relatively highly educated workforce. The government continues its efforts to reduce unemployment, to encourage direct foreign investment, and to privatize remaining state-owned enterprises. The public debt-to-GDP ratio rose to over 100% in 2009, largely because a sharp slowdown in tourism and financial services led to a wide budget deficit.^[2]