Dominica
Commonwealth of Dominica
Capital: Roseau
History
Dominica was the last of the Caribbean islands to be colonized by Europeans due chiefly to the fierce resistance of the native Caribs. France ceded possession to Great Britain in 1763, which made the island a colony in 1805. In 1980, two years after independence, Dominica's fortunes improved when a corrupt and tyrannical administration was replaced by that of Mary Eugenia CHARLES, the first female prime minister in the Caribbean, who remained in office for 15 years. Some 3,000 Carib Indians still living on Dominica are the only pre-Columbian population remaining in the eastern Caribbean.
Geography
Metric Units
Economy
Budget & Debt
Trade
| Exports |
$41 million |
| Export Items |
bananas, soap, bay oil, vegetables, grapefruit, oranges |
| Export Partners |
Japan 46.2%, Antigua and Barbuda 8.3%, Jamaica 7.3%, Guyana 7%, Trinidad and Tobago 4.5% (2011) |
| Imports |
$218.6 million |
| Import Items |
manufactured goods, machinery and equipment, food, chemicals |
| Import Partners |
Japan 34.2%, US 15.7%, Trinidad and Tobago 13.9%, China 5.7%, Singapore 5.5% (2011) |
People
| Population |
73,286 |
| Population Growth |
0.22% |
| Ethnic Groups |
black 86.8%, mixed 8.9%, Carib Amerindian 2.9%, white 0.8%, other 0.7% (2001 census) |
| Religion |
Roman Catholic 61.4%, Protestant 20.6% (Seventh-Day Adventist 6%, Pentecostal 5.6%, Baptist 4.1%, Methodist 3.7%, Church of God 1.2%), Jehovah's Witnesses 1.2%, other Christian 7.7%, Rastafarian 1.3%, other or unspecified 1.6%, none 6.1% (2001 census) |
| Life Expectancy |
76.39 years |
| Infant Mortality |
1.02 deaths/1,000 live births |
| Maternal Mortality |
0.3 deaths/100,000 live births |
Energy
