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Their geographic location together with their historic ties to Great Britain, the
Commonwealth Caribbean countries share multiple similarities (See Table 1, p. 12). Sharing the same geographic location enables all countries to share same tropical climatic conditions and similar, with minor variations the “Caribbean culture.” The Commonwealth Caribbean countries are considered small size countries since their surface area range from 214, 970 square kilometres - Guyana being the largest, to 260 square kilometres - St. Kitts and Nevis being the smallest. Their small surface area also compliments their small population. The most populous country amongst the Commonwealth Caribbean country is Jamaica with 2.9 million people and the least populous country is St. Kitts and Nevis with .054 million people.
English is the official language of all twelve countries and nine Commonwealth Caribbean countries still maintain the same government type as Britain- parliamentary democracy with a Commonwealth Realm. In terms of religion, Christianity continues to be the dominant religion with the most believers and followers in all the Commonwealth Caribbean countries.
1.3 Economic Growth and Development
The introduction of the production and cultivation of sugar cane as an export commodity by Dutch traders in the 16th century marked the birth of trading relations of Commonwealth Caribbean countries to the rest of the world. The following Tables 2, 3 and 4 provide the evolution of the composition of economies of Commonwealth Caribbean
countries since 1980.
In Table 2 (p. 14), we can observe the share of agriculture in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of all Commonwealth Caribbean countries. With the exception of Guyana, since the 1980s, there has been a consistent overall decrease in the share of agriculture in the GDP of countries. In 1980, almost a quarter of Guyana’s GDP was composed of agricultural products.
Since 1990, agricultural products, mainly rice and sugar, compose a third of Guyana’s GDP.
Amongst the Commonwealth Caribbean countries, this makes Guyana as the country with the highest shares of agriculture in their GDP. As of 2015, Guyana continued to have the highest agriculture share in their GDP with 34.5% followed by Dominica 16.91% and Belize 14.91%.
The main agricultural export in Belize are sugar, banana and citrus, while in Dominica the main agricultural export is banana. The remaining countries have below 9% agriculture share in their GDP with most notable, Trinidad and Tobago and Bahamas having less than 1%.
Most of these decreases can be attributed to two reasons. One, many are small island
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Table 2. Share of Agriculture* in GDP (%)
Country 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015
*Agriculture includes farming, fishing, hunting, and forestry.
Source: World Bank (2018), World Development Indicators.
countries that have limited arable land and two, this limitation pushes them to diversify their economies and as such explore other venues.
Table 3. Share of Manufacturing* in GDP (%)
Country 1980 1990 2000 2010 2015
*Manufacturing includes mining, energy production, and construction.
Source: World Bank (2018), World Development Indicators.
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Unlike agriculture, which played an integral role in the economies of many
Commonwealth Caribbean countries even before independence, the manufacturing sector is relatively less. Table 3 (p. 14) shows the manufacturing share in GDP and from here we can observe that in 1980, Belize, Guyana and St. Kitts and Nevis possessed largest share of manufacturing in GDP with 23.91%, 12.13% and 10.02% respectively. In the years that followed 1980, all countries, including Belize, Guyana and St. Kitts and Nevis, saw decreases in the share of manufacturing in GDP. As of 2015, all these countries, with the exception of Guyana, had their share of manufacturing in GDP less than 10%. Manufacturing in Guyana has gained a remarkable 45.93% GDP share making Guyana the country with the largest share of manufacturing in GDP. Gold, bauxite, food processing are the main manufacturing industries in Guyana.
Table 4. Share of Services* in GDP (%)
*Services include government activities, communications, transportation, finance, and all other private economic activities that do not produce material goods. Source: World Bank (2018), World Development Indicators.
As seen in Table 4, the services sector has overtaken the economies of all countries and thus become the chief economic activity of almost all Commonwealth Caribbean countries. Unlike agriculture and manufacturing, the services sector has since portrayed a steady rise since 1980. This increase might be attributed as the Caribbean’s rise as a tourist destination. As of 2015, most Commonwealth Caribbean countries have the share of service in their GDP greater than 70%. The increase in the services sector is because many countries
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are venturing into financial services and tourism. Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago are the only countries that have less than 60% share of service in their GDP.
As seen in previous Tables 2, 3 and 4, all Commonwealth Caribbean Countries have grown and diversified their economies to survive in the competing world markets. However, despite having similar economic activities (See Appendix A), there still exist varying degrees in economic growth.
Table 5. GNI per capita and income levelas of 2016 (Ranking from lowest to highest GNI)
Country GNI per capita
(USD) Income Level
Guyana $4,240 Upper middle
income
Belize $4,360 Upper middle
income
Jamaica $4,630 Upper middle
income St. Vincent and the Grenadines $6,770 Upper middle
income
Dominica $7,110 Upper middle
income
St. Lucia $8,400 Upper middle
income
Grenada $9,100 Upper middle
income
Antigua and Barbuda $13,560 High-Income
Barbados $15,210 High-Income
St. Kitts and Nevis $15,690 High-Income
Trinidad and Tobago $16,240 High-Income
Bahamas, The $26,490 High-Income
Source: World Bank (2018), World Development Indicators.
According to the World Bank (WB) (2017), five of the twelve Commonwealth
Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, and Trinidad and Tobago) are High-Income Countries (HIC) while the remaining seven (Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines) are Upper-Middle Income Countries (UMIC). The World Bank’s classification of HIC means that these countries have a Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of $12,236 USD or more
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and enjoy a large economy, high quality of life, up-to-date technological advancement and best infrastructure amongst others when compared to other countries outside the range. These five countries have gone far beyond in ensuring that they achieve optimum growth and development. (See Table 5, p. 16).
In regards to the GDP per capita, it is no lie that all countries have undoubtedly experienced an increase in the GDP per capita since their independence. For the twelve countries in the study, Table 6 compares their GDP per capita in constant 2010 USD from the year of their independence to the year 2016. Additionally, the table posits the percent change between the years aforementioned.
Table 6. Comparison of GDP per capita at year of Independence to year 2016 (Ranking from lowest to highest GDP per capita in 2016)
Country Year of
St. Vincent and the
Grenadines 1979 $ 2,287 $ 6,677 192%
Note: GDP per capita in constant 2010 USD a: Data for the year 1966;
b: Data for the year 1977;
c: Data for the year 1965
Source: World Bank (2018), World Development Indicators (WDI).
Compiled by author.
Similar to the GNI per capita in 2016, Antigua and Barbuda ($13,316), St. Kitts and Nevis ($15,657), Barbados ($16,243), Trinidad and Tobago ($16,259) and The Bahamas
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($19,991) are positioned on the upper top of the list with a GDP per capita in 2016.
Conversely, Guyana ($3,784), Belize ($4,328), Jamaica ($4,790), St. Vincent and the Grenadines ($6,677), Dominica ($6,881), St. Lucia ($8,152) and Grenada ($8,676) are positioned on the lower bottom of the list with a GDP per capita in 2016.
As it regards to percent change of GDP per capital from the year of their
independence to the year 2016, interestingly most countries have more than doubled their GDP per capita. St. Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines have seen the highest percent increase in their GDP per capita with over 190%, while Barbados, Jamaica and Belize have experience the lowest percent increases in their GDP per capita since their independence.
The differences in economic patters have greatly affected the development of countries. Table 7 (p. 19) provides and overview of the standings of Commonwealth
Caribbean Countries across multiple social indicators. As of 2015, Dominica had the highest infant mortality rate while Antigua and Barbuda had the lowest with 30.20% and 5.30%
respectively. In terms of enrolment rate in educational institutions, Dominica had the highest enrolment rate in primary school – 116.01%, St. Vincent and the Grenadines had the highest enrolment rate in secondary school – 106.44% and Grenada had the highest enrolment rate in tertiary school – 91.15%. Almost all countries, with the exception of Guyana, had a life expectancy above 70 years. In terms of unemployment rate, St. Lucia had the highest unemployment rate with 24.10% while Trinidad and Tobago had the lowest with 3.40%.
Despite having similar performances in the indicators, the huge disparity comes from the Human Development Index (HDI) ranking. As for 2015, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago have the best standings compared to their counterparts as they rank in the top 65 in the HDI rankings amongst 192 countries in the world. All other countries rank lower than 65, with the lowest ranking being Guyana in the 127 position.
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Table 7. Social Indicators for Commonwealth Caribbean Countries (Figures for 2015 unless otherwise stated)
Country
St. Vincent and the
Grenadines 15.70 104.52 106.44 - 73.06495 18.20 99
Trinidad and Tobago 17.00 106.16* - - 70.58885 3.40 65
*Data for 2010.
** Data from United Nations Development Report 2016. Source: World Bank (2018), World Development Indicators
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Table 8 (p. 21) summarizes the similar characteristics that the Commonwealth Caribbean countries share. These similarities are what make the Commonwealth Caribbean countries a peculiar set of countries. All countries are located in the Caribbean region with the same tropical climatic conditions, are past British colonies, gained their independence in the years between 1960 and 1980, have English as their official language, and are CARICOM member states. We can also observe the two differences amongst these countries is the
system of government and the population size. Nine countries have a Parliamentary system with a Commonwealth Realm while the remaining three countries have a Presidential system of government. Population size as explained before is relatively the same across all countries, except for Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago that have over two million and one million people respectively.
In summary, this section provides an overview of the economic growth and development the Commonwealth Caribbean countries have underwent since their
independence. We have observed how the composition of the economies and the economic activities of these countries have evolved over the years and how such change have effect their economic growth and development.
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Table 8. Similar characteristics amongst the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries.
(In Alphabetical Order)
Source: Compiled by author
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