St. Vincent and the Grenadines are located west of Barbados, south of St. Lucia and north of Grenada in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, an island arc in the Caribbean Sea. The islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines comprise the main island of St Vincent (344 km2) and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines (45 km2), a chain of smaller islands extending south from St Vincent to Grenada. There are 32 islands and cays that make up St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). Nine of them are inhabited, including the islands on the mainland of St Vincent and the Grenadines: Young Island, Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Union Island, Mayreau, Petit St Vincent and Palm Island. The capital of St Vincent and the Grenadines is Kingstown, St Vincent.
The main island of St. Vincent is 26 km long, 15 km wide and 344 km2 in size. From the northernmost to the southernmost point, the Grenadine Islands belonging to St. Vincent extend over 60.4 km with a total area of 45 km2.
The island of St Vincent is volcanic and contains little flat terrain. The windward side of the island is very rocky and steep, while the leeward side has more sandy beaches and bays. The highest peak on St. Vincent is the volcano La Soufrière at 1,234 m.
The population was estimated at 103,220 in July 2013. The ethnic composition was 66% of African descent, 19% of mixed descent, 6% East Indian, 4% European (mainly Portuguese), 2% island Carib and 3% other. Most Vincentians are the descendants of Africans who were brought to the island to work on plantations. There are also other ethnic groups such as Portuguese (from Madeira) and East Indians, both of whom were brought to the island to work on the plantations after the British abolished slavery. There is also a growing Chinese population.
Religion
According to the 2001 census, 81.5% of the population of St. Vincent and the Grenadines are considered Christian, 6.7% have another religion and 8.8% have no religion or have not declared a religion (1.5%).
Anglicanism forms the largest religious category with 17.8 % of the population. Pentecostals are the second largest group (17.6%). The next largest group is Methodists (10.9% of the population), followed by Seventh-day Adventists (10.2%) and Baptists (10.0%). Other Christians are Jehovah’s Witnesses (0.6%), Roman Catholics (7.5%), Evangelicals (2.8%), Church of God (2.5%), Christian Brothers (1.3%) and Salvation Army (0.3%).
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.
The number of non-Christians is small. These religious groups include Rastafarians (1.5 % of the population), Hindus and Muslims.
St Vincent uses the North American style of area codes, where all local numbers are seven digits. The area code for the islands is 784, which makes all international numbers for St. Vincent in the form 1-784-XXX-XXXX
Agriculture, dominated by banana production, is the most important sector of this low- to middle-income economy. The service sector, based mainly on a growing tourism industry, is also important. The government has been relatively unsuccessful in introducing new industries, and the unemployment rate remains high, from 19.8% in the 1991 census to 15% in 2001. The continued dependence on a single crop is the biggest obstacle to the islands’ development, as tropical storms have destroyed large parts of the banana crop in many years.
There is a small manufacturing industry and a small offshore financial sector whose particularly restrictive secrecy laws have caused some concern internationally. In addition, Bequia locals are allowed to hunt up to four humpback whales per year under IWC subsistence quotas.