Demographics of Grenada

This article is about the demographic features of the population of Grenada, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.

Census population and average annual growth rate
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1871	37,684	—
1881	42,403	+1.19%
1891	53,209	+2.30%
1901	63,438	+1.77%
1911	66,750	+0.51%
1921	66,302	−0.07%
1946	72,387	+0.35%
1960	88,677	+1.46%
1970	92,775	+0.45%
1981	89,088	−0.37%
1991	85,123	−0.45%
2001	103,137	+1.94%
2011		—
Source:[1]

Population

According to the 2001 census Grenada has 103,137 inhabitants.^[1] The estimated mid-year population of 2014 is 106,300 (medium fertility scenario of The 2012 Revision of the World Population Prospects).^[2]

Vital statistics

	Average population (x 1000)[3]	Live births	Deaths	Natural change	Crude birth rate (per 1000)	Crude death rate (per 1000)	Natural change (per 1000)	Total fertility rate[4]	Infant mortality rate[4]
1950	77	2 962	1 056	1 906	38.6	13.8	24.9
1951	77	3 037	1 276	1 761	39.6	16.7	23.0
1952	77	3 119	1 255	1 864	40.4	16.3	24.2
1953	78	3 283	1 084	2 199	42.0	13.9	28.2
1954	79	3 507	793	2 714	44.2	10.0	34.2
1955	81	3 919	1 205	2 714	48.4	14.9	33.5
1956	83	3 627	1 179	2 448	43.8	14.2	29.6
1957	85	4 664	908	3 756	55.1	10.7	44.4
1958	86	4 253	973	3 280	49.2	11.2	37.9
1959	88	4 115	919	3 196	46.6	10.4	36.2
1960	90	4 016	1 032	2 984	44.7	11.5	33.2
1961	91	3 691	1 022	2 669	40.4	11.2	29.2
1962	92	3 419	840	2 579	37.0	9.1	27.9
1963	93	3 445	827	2 618	36.9	8.9	28.0
1964	94	3 374	804	2 570	35.9	8.5	27.3
1965	95	2 968	822	2 146	31.4	8.7	22.7
1966	95	2 820	852	1 968	29.7	9.0	20.7
1967	95	2 816	786	2 030	29.7	8.3	21.4
1968	95	2 994	822	2 172	31.6	8.7	22.9
1969	95	2 757	768	1 989	29.1	8.1	21.0
1970	94	2 741	743	1 998	29.0	7.9	21.2
1971	94	2 879	739	2 140	30.6	7.8	22.7
1972	94	2 939	660	2 279	31.3	7.0	24.3
1973	94	2 933	726	2 207	31.3	7.8	23.6
1974	93	2 734	734	2 000	29.4	7.9	21.5
1975	92	2 890	619	2 271	31.3	6.7	24.6
1976	91	2 712	678	2 034	29.7	7.4	22.2
1977	90	2 628	806	1 822	29.1	8.9	20.2
1978	89	2 521	765	1 756	28.3	8.6	19.7
1979	89	2 664	739	1 925	30.1	8.3	21.7
1993	98	2 220	745	1 475	22.6	7.6	15.0
1994	99	2 254	777	1 477	22.7	7.8	14.9
1995	100	2 286	807	1 479	22.8	8.0	14.8
1996	101	2 096	782	1 314	20.8	7.8	13.0
1997	101	2 191	707	1 484	21.7	7.0	14.7
1998	101	1 938	819	1 119	19.1	8.1	11.0
1999	101	1 791	794	997	17.7	7.8	9.8
2000	102	1 883	716	1 167	18.5	7.0	11.5
2001	102	1 899	727	1 172	18.6	7.1	11.5
2002	102	1 733	896	837	17.0	8.8	8.2
2003	102
2004	103
2005	104,441	1 804	834	970	17.3	8.0	9.3	2.2	9.4
2006	104,708	1 663	771	892	15.9	7.4	8.5	1.9	13.8
2007	104,981	1 825	765	1 060	17.4	7.3	10.1	2.2	7.1
2008	105,298	1 809	842	967	17.2	8.0	9.2	2.1	5.0
2009	105.175	1 800	781	1 019	17.1	7.4	9.7	2.0	7.8
2010	105,038	1 709	831	878	16.3	7.9	8.4	1.9	12.3
2011	106,667	1 812	795	1 017	17.0	7.5	9.5	2.2	15.5
2012	107,559	1 661	857	804	15.4	8.0	7.5	1.9	13.2
2013	108,580	1 838	822	1 016	16.9	7.6	9.4	2.1	17.4

Ethnic groups

The vast majority of the population of Grenada are of African descent (89.4% at the 2001 census).^[1] There is also a significant mixed population (8.2%), along with a small European origin minority (0.4%), East Indians (1.6%), and there are small numbers of Lebanese/Syrians (0.04%) and Chinese (0.02%).

Amerindians

Grenada has a small population of pre-Columbian native Caribs. According to the 2001 census there are only 125 Caribs remaining (0.12% of the total population).

Languages

Apart from a short 114-year period of French occupancy (1649-1763) English has been the country's official language. However, over time the minority of the population use a colloquial spoken language considered to be either English-based creole languages or (Grenadian Creole English) and which is said reflects the African, European and Indian heritage of the nation.^[5]

The Grenadian creoles originally influenced by French, now contain elements from a variety of Grenadian Creole and a little of the African languages. Grenadian Creole French is mainly spoken in smaller rural areas, but today it can only be heard in a few small pockets of the society. Grenadian Creole French is mainly known as Patois and may have similarities to the St. Lucian Kwéyòl.

It is believed that the one-time native or indigenous languages were Iñeri and Karina.

Religion

Historically the religious makeup of the islands of Grenada covers the period from first European occupation in the 17th century. This has always been predominantly Christian and largely Roman Catholic (due to the first occupants being French) and from the 1891 census we get a snapshot of the population and its religious proclivities - over half were Roman Catholic (55%), a third were Church of England (36%), others listed were Wesleyan (6%) and Presbyterian (0.88%).

More recently, according to the 2001 census, 89.1% percent of the population of Grenada is considered Christian, 1.5% is non-Christian and 3.6% has no religion or stated "other" (5.7%).^[1]

Roughly one half of Christians are Roman Catholics (44.6% of the total population), a reflection of early French influence on the island, and one half are Protestant. Anglicanism constitutes the largest Protestant group, with 11.5% of the population. Pentecostals are the second largest group (11.3%), followed by Seventh-day Adventists (10.5% of the population). Other Christians include Baptists (2.9%), Church of God (2.6%), Methodists (1.8%), Evangelicals (1.6%) Jehovah's Witnesses (1.1%), and Brethren Christian (0.5%).

The number of non-Christians is small. These religious groups include the Rastafarian Movement (1.1% of the population), Hinduism (0.2%) and Muslims (0.3%).

References

2. Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision
3. United nations. Demographic Yearbooks
4. Demographic Profile Grenada
5. Alleyne, Mervyn C. "A Linguistic Perspective on the Caribbean", Latin American Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 1985