KEY FACTS

Joined Commonwealth: 1979
Population: 181,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.3% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 88
Official language: English
Time: GMT minus 4hr
Currency: Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$)

Geography

Area: 616 sq km
Coastline: 158 km
Capital: Castries

Saint Lucia is part of the Windward Islands group, which form an arc jutting out from the Eastern Caribbean into the Atlantic. It lies south of Dominica and north of Barbados.

Main towns: 

Castries (capital, pop. 67,700 in 2010, including Bexon, Babonneau, Ciceron and La Clery), Dennery (3,700), Laborie (3,500), Monchy (3,100), Vieux Fort (3,000), Grande Rivière (2,700), Augier (2,500), Micoud (2,200), Soufrière (1,500) and Anse La Raye (1,400).

Society

KEY FACTS 2012

Population per sq km: 294
Life expectancy: 75 years
Net primary enrolment: 82%

Population:

181,000 (2012); 17 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 1.2 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 16 per 1,000 people (41 in 1970); life expectancy 75 years (64 in 1970). Saint Lucia’s population is mostly of mixed African and European descent.

Language: 

English is the official language; a French-based Creole is widely spoken.

Education:

Public spending on education was four per cent of GDP in 2012. There are ten years of compulsory education startingat the age of five. Primary school comprises seven years and secondary five, with cycles of three and two years. Some 92 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2010). The school year starts in September. The Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, at Castries, offers a diverse range of courses – including associate degree, diploma and certificate courses – and 89 per cent of its students are female (2011). Saint Lucia shares in the regional University of the West Indies, which has its main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. The female–male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 1.70:1 (2011).