Trinidad and Tobago's people are mainly of African or East Indian descent. Virtually all speak English. Small percentages also speak Hindi, French patois, and several other dialects. Trinidad has two major folk traditions: Creole and East Indian. Creole is a mixture of African elements with Spanish, French, and English colonial culture. Trinidad's East Indian culture came to the island with indentured servants brought to fill a labor shortage created by the emancipation of the African slaves in 1833. Most remained on the land, and they still dominate the agricultural sector, but many have become prominent in business and the professions. East Indians have retained much of their own way of life, including Hindu and Muslim religious festivals and practices.

Population: 1,175,523 (July 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 25% (male 151,736; female 146,135)
15-64 years: 68% (male 410,668; female 389,303)
65 years and over: 7% (male 34,559; female 43,122) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: -0.49% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 13.84 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 8.84 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: -9.92 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.8 male(s)/female
total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 25.76 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 67.97 years
male: 65.45 years
female: 70.59 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.83 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Trinidadian(s), Tobagonian(s); informally Trinbagonian(s), Trini(s) (for people from either island)
adjective: Trinidadian, Tobagonian; informally Trinbagonian, Trini (for people from either island)

Ethnic groups: East Indian/Indo-Trinidadian (a local term - primarily immigrants from Northern India) 40.3%, black/African/Afro-Trinidadian 39.5%, mixed 18.4%, white 0.6%, Chinese and other 1.2% (including descendants of the indigenous Caribs).

Religions: Roman Catholicism 29.4%, Hinduism 23.8%, Anglicanism 10.9%, Muslim 5.8%, Presbyterianism 3.4%, other 26.7%

Languages: English (official), Hindi, French, Spanish, Chinese

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 97.9%
male: 98.8%
female: 97% (1995 est.)

See also : Trinidad and Tobago