Demographics of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
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Population size and structure
According to the 2012 census, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines had a total population of 109,991, an increase of 969 since the 2001 census. While the country's population continues to increase, annual growth has slowed since the 1991 census.
The estimated population for 2021 is 104,332 (per the 2022 revision of the World Population Prospects).
Structure of the population
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Vital statistics
Ethnic groups
Saint Vincents's population is predominantly African (77,764 in 2012; 71.2% of the total population) or of mixed African-European descent (25,111; 27.6%). 1.1% of the population is East Indian (1,199 residents in 2001) and 1.5% white (753 Portuguese and 889 other white).
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines also has a small Indigenous (Amerindian/Carib) population. During the past decades the Indigenous population changed from 3,347 at the 1991 census (3.1% of the population) to 3,898 at the 2001 census (3.6% of the population) to 3,280 at the 2012 census (3.0% of the population).
Black Caribs are originally from the island of Saint Vincent, formed in the 18th century by the mixture between Kalinago and enslaved Africans who escaped. A part of their community (now known as Garifuna) was expelled from St. Vincent in 1797 and exported to the island of Roatán, Honduras, from where they migrated to the Caribbean coast of the mainland of Central America and spread as far as Belize and Nicaragua. While the Garifuna have retained their Kalinago language, the Black Caribs of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines speak Creole English.
The remaining 0.8% of the population includes Chinese and people from the Middle East.
Language
While the official language is English, most Vincentians speak Vincentian Creole, an English-based creole, as their mother tongue. English is used in education, government, religion, and other formal domains, while Creole (or "dialect" as it is referred to locally) is used in informal situations such as in the home and among friends.
Religion
Protestant 75% (Anglican 47%, Methodist 28%), Roman Catholic 13%, other (includes Hindu, Seventh-Day Adventist, other Protestant) 12%.
According to the 2001 census, 81.5% of the population of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is considered Christian, 6.7% has another religion and 8.8% has no religion or did not state a religion (1.5%).
According to the 2012 census, 82.3% of the population identifies as Christian (mainly Pentecostal, Anglican or Seventh-day Adventists); 7.5% have no religion, and there are groups of Rastafarians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews and Baha’is.
Between 1991 and 2001 the number of Anglicans, Brethren, Methodists and Roman Catholics decreased, while the number of Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Seventh-day Adventists increased.
Islam is followed by a minuscule minority. Due to secular nature of the country's constitution, Muslims are free to proselytize and build places of worship in the country. According to the United States Department of State, Islam is a minority religion in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, with 2,000 Muslims (approximately 1.5% of the total population) living in the island nation.