# The World Factbook (1982)/Trinidad and Tobago
## TRINIDAD AND TOBAGOTRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

* (See reference map III)

### LANDLAND

5,128 km$^2$; 41.9% in farms (25.7% cropped or fallow, 1.5% pasture, 10.6% forests, and 4.1% unused or built on), 58.1% outside of farms, including grassland, forest, built-up area, and wasteland

### WATERWATER

Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 12 nm
Coastline: 362 km

### PEOPLEPEOPLE

Population: 1,203,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 1.5%
Nationality: noun—Trinidadian(s), Tobagonian(s); adjective—Trinidadian, Tobagonian
Ethnic divisions: 43% Negro, 40% East Indian, 14% mixed, 1% white, 2% other
Religion: 26.8% Protestant, 31.2% Roman Catholic, 23.0% Hindu, 6.0% Muslim, 13.0% unknown
Language: English
Literacy: 95%
Labor force: 393,800 (July 1975), 13.5% agriculture, 20.0% mining, quarrying, and manufacturing, 17.4% commerce; 15.7% construction and utilities; 7.5% transportation and communications; 23.0% services, 2.9% other
Organized labor: 30% of labor force

### GOVERNMENTGOVERNMENT

Official name: Republic of Trinidad and Tobago
Type: independent state since August 1962; in August 1976 country officially became a republic severing legal ties to British crown
Capital: Port-of-Spain
Political subdivisions: 8 counties (29 wards, Tobago is 30th)
​Legal system: based on English common law; constitution came into effect 1976; judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: 31 August
Branches: legislative branch consists of 36-member elected House of Representatives and 31-member appointed Senate; executive is Cabinet led by the Prime Minister; judiciary is headed by the Chief Justice and includes a Court of Appeal, High Court, and lower courts
Government leaders: Prime Minister George CHAMBERS, President Ellis CLARKE
Suffrage: universal over age 18
Elections: elections to be held at intervals of not more than five years; last election held 9 November 1981
Political parties and leaders: People's National Movement (PNM), George Chambers; United Labor Front (ULF), Basdeo Panday; Organization for National Reconstruction (ONR), Karl Hudson-Phillips; Democratic Action Congress (DAC), Arthur Napoleon Raymond Robinson; Tapia House Movement, Lloyd Best
Voting strength (1981 election): 55% of registered voters cast ballots; PNM captured 26 seats in House of Representatives, ULF 8, and DAC the 2 Tobago seats
Communists: not significant
Other political pressure groups: National Joint Action Committee (NJAC), radical anti government Black-identity organization; Trinidad and Tobago Peace Council, leftist organization affiliated with the World Peace Council; Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce; Trinidad and Tobago Labor Congress, moderate labor federation; Council of Progressive Trade Unions, radical labor federation
Member of: CARICOM, Commonwealth, FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IBRD, International Coffee Agreement, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB, IFC, ILO, IMCO, IMF, ISO, ITU, IWC—International Wheat Council, NAM, OAS, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WTO

### ECONOMYECONOMY

GDP: $6,708 million (1980 prov.), $5,719 per capita; 42% private consumption, 17% government consumption, 28% investment, 13% foreign; growth rate (1980), 10%
Agriculture: main crops—sugarcane, cocoa, coffee, rice, citrus, bananas; largely dependent upon imports of food
Fishing: catch 4,823 metric tons (1978); exports $1.1 million (1975), imports $4.5 million (1975)
Major industries: petroleum, tourism, food processing, cement
Electric power: 555,000 kW capacity (1981); 2.0 billion kWh produced (1981), 1,697 kWh per capita
Exports: $4.0 billion (f.o.b., 1980 prelim.); petroleum and petroleum products, ammonia, fertilizer
Imports: $3.1 billion (c.i.f., 1980); crude petroleum (31%), machinery, fabricated metals, transportation equipment, manufactured goods, food, chemicals
Major trade partners: imports—US 27%, UK 10%, Japan 7%, crude oil for refineries supplied almost exclusively from Saudi Arabia and Indonesia; exports—US 58%, CARICOM 8%
Aid: economic—bilateral commitments including Ex-Im (FY70-80), US, $295.2 million; (1970-79) other Western countries, ODA and OOF, $100 million
Budget: (1978) central government revenues $1.3 billion, expenditures $1.2 billion (current $618 million, capital $560 million)
Monetary conversion rate: tied to US dollar in 1976; 2.40 Trinidad and Tobago dollars=US$1
Fiscal year: calendar year

### COMMUNICATIONSCOMMUNICATIONS

Railroads: none
Highways: 7,900 km total; 3,600 km paved, 1,100 km improved earth, 3,200 km unimproved earth
Pipelines: 1,032 km crude oil and refined products; 832 km natural gas
Ports: 3 major (Port of Spain, Chaguaramas Bay, Point Tembladora), 6 minor
Civil air: 19 major transport aircraft
Airfields: 8 total, 6 usable; 3 with permanent-surface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 3 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: excellent international service via tropospheric scatter links to Barbados and Guyana; good local service; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station; 75,000 telephones (7.0 per 100 popl.); 2 AM, 2 FM, and 3 TV stations

### DEFENSE FORCESDEFENSE FORCES

Military manpower: males 15-49, 331,000; 235,000 fit for military service
Supply: mostly from UK
Military budget: proposed for fiscal year ending 31 December 1979, $105.0 million; 4.8% of central government budget