President: Maxwell Richards Prime minister: Kamla Persad-Bissessar
Population
313,847,465
1,226,383
Life Expectancy
78.490 years
71.670 years
Capital City
Washington, DC
Port-of-Spain
Largest city
New York City (population: 8,008,280)
Chaguanas (population: 72,159)
Human Development Index
0.95
0.833
GDP per capita
$49,000 US
$20,300 US
Literacy Rate
99%
98.6%
Corruption Perception Index
7.3
3.6
Percentage of Women in Parliament
16.6%
33.3%
Wealthiest Citizens
William Gates III ($40.0bn US)
NA
Unemployment Rate
9.000%
6.400%
Death Penalty
Legal
Legal
Political System
Constitution-based federal republic; strong democratic tradition
parliamentary democracy
Independence date
4 July 1776 (from Great Britain)
31 August 1962 (from UK)
Religions
Protestant 51.3%, Roman Catholic 23.9%, Mormon 1.7%, other Christian 1.6%, Jewish 1.7%, Buddhist 0.7%, Muslim 0.6%, other or unspecified 2.5%, unaffiliated 12.1%, none 4% (2007 est.)
Roman Catholic 26%, Hindu 22.5%, Anglican 7.8%, Baptist 7.2%, Pentecostal 6.8%, Muslim 5.8%, Seventh Day Adventist 4%, other Christian 5.8%, other 10.8%, unspecified 1.4%, none 1.9% (2000 census)
Languages
English 82.1%, Spanish 10.7%, other Indo-European 3.8%, Asian and Pacific island 2.7%, other 0.7% (2000 census) note: Hawaiian is an official language in the state of Hawaii
English (official), Caribbean Hindustani (a dialect of Hindi), French, Spanish, Chinese
petroleum and petroleum products, liquefied natural gas (LNG), methanol, ammonia, urea, steel products, beverages, cereal and cereal products, sugar, cocoa, coffee, citrus fruit, vegetables, flowers
External Debt
$14,710,000,000,000 $
$4,483,000,000 US
Exchange Rate
Trinidad and Tobago dollars (TTD) per US dollar - 6.3228 (2008 est.), 6.3275 (2007), 6.3107 (2006), 6.2842 (2005), 6.299 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
4.060%
0.300%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
110
2
Location
North America, bordering both the North Atlantic Ocean and the North Pacific Ocean, between Canada and Mexico
Caribbean, islands between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela
Area
9,826,675 km sq
5,128 km sq
Coastline
19,924 km
362 km
Climate
mostly temperate, but tropical in Hawaii and Florida, arctic in Alaska, semiarid in the great plains west of the Mississippi River, and arid in the Great Basin of the southwest; low winter temperatures in the northwest are ameliorated occasionally in January and February by warm chinook winds from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains
