Grenada

WITH AN AREA OF 344 square miles and a population of less than 90,000 people, the Caribbean island of Grenada has a poverty level of 32 percent and an unemployment rate of 12.5 percent. Although Grenada is considered an upper-middle-income nation, it is severely indebted. Close to one-fourth of the labor force is involved in agriculture, mostly in tropical fruits.

However, tourism has become the dominant revenue producer for Grenada, and the addition of an international airport in 1985 substantially increased the numbers of tourists who visit the island. Grenada's diversified economy also includes construction and manufacturing and an offshore financial industry. Analyzing poverty in Grenada is made more difficult by the fact that data on important social indicators are often not reported.

Grenada has developed its healthcare system according to guidelines established by the World Health Organization. The projected life span in Grenada has been steadily rising over the past decades, and Grenadians experience a life expectancy of 62.74 years. Women generally outlive men by four years. The median age is 21.26 years. Over one-third of Grenadians are under the age of 14, and 3.4 percent have lived to see the age of 65. About 95 percent of the population have access to safe drinking water, and 93 percent have access to proper sanitation. There are 81 physicians for every 100,000 residents, and 95 to 100 percent of Grenadians have access to affordable essential drugs.

The infant mortality rate is rapidly declining in Grenada. Out of every 1,000 live births, 14.62 infant deaths occur. Between 1990 and 2003, infant mortality dropped from 30 to 18 deaths per 1,000 live births while the mortality rate of all children under 5 decreased from 37 to 23. Nine percent of all babies are underweight at birth. Officials place strong emphasis on improving the health of the island's children, and childhood immunization rates on the island are almost universal, ranging from the mid-to high 90s.

Estimates for 2000 show that on the average, women on the island produce 2.37 children each. The fertility rate has declined since 2003 when a rate of 3 children per woman was reported. Out of every 1,000 births, 77 infants are born to females between the ages of 15 and 19. As a result, the government has developed programs to combat teenage pregnancy. Some 54 percent of Grenadian women use contraceptives to prevent pregnancy. Only one percent of all births on the island take place outside the province of trained medical staff. No data are available on maternal mortality.

Grenadians are highly literate, and only two percent of the population over the age of 15 cannot read and write. There is no gender difference in literacy rates. In 2000 the net primary school enrollment rate was 89 percent for males and 80 percent for females, as compared to 96 and 94 percent rates for the Latin American and Caribbean area as a whole.

Human Development Index Rank: 66 Human Poverty Index Rank: Not included.