KEY FACTS
Joined Commonwealth: 1962
Population: 1,337,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 3.6% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 67
Official language: English
Time: GMT minus 4hr
Currency: Trinidad and Tobago dollar (TT$)
Geography
Area: 5,128 sq km
Coastline: 362 km
Capital: Port of Spain
The country, the most southerly of the West Indian island states, situated 11.2 km off the Venezuelan coast, consists of two islands: Trinidad and Tobago
Main towns:
Port of Spain (capital, pop. 50,300 in 2010), Chaguanas (77,400), San Fernando (57,300), San Juan (greater Port of Spain, 56,200), Arima (greater Port of Spain, 38,000), Marabella (greater San Fernando, 26,700), Tunapuna (greater Port of Spain, 19,100), Point Fortin (18,800), Sangre Grande (17,500) and Princes Town (11,000) on Trinidad; and Scarborough (4,800) on Tobago
Society
KEY FACTS 2012
Population per sq km: 261
Life expectancy: 70 years
Net primary enrolment: 95% (2010)
Population:
1,337,000 (2012); some 54,000 on Tobago; 14 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 0.4 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 15 per 1,000 people (27 in 1970); life expectancy 70 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.
Education:
There are six years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Primary school comprises seven years and secondary five, with cycles of three and two years. Some 89 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2009). The school year starts in September. Tertiary institutions include the St Augustine campus of the regional University of the West Indies (UWI), which also has main campuses in Barbados and Jamaica. At St Augustine, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in agriculture, education, engineering, humanities, law (the Hugh Wooding Law School), medical sciences, sciences and social sciences. The University of Trinidad and Tobago was established in 2004 and includes the Eastern Caribbean Institute of Agriculture and Forestry. Other tertiary institutions include the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts; and Polytechnic Institute, which provides adult education in the evenings and shares premises with the Sixth Form Government School. There is virtually no illiteracy among people aged 15–24.
