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Barbados
Barbados, situated just east of the Caribbean Sea, is a West Indian continental island-nation in the western Atlantic Ocean.
Located at roughly 13° North of the equator and 59° West of the prime meridian, it is considered a part of the Lesser Antilles.
Its closest island neighbours are Martinique, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the west. To the south lies Trinidad and Tobago - with which Barbados now shares a fixed official maritime boundary - and also the mainland of South America.
Barbados's total land area is about 430 square kilometres (166 square miles), and is primarily low-lying, with some higher in the country's interior. The highest point in Barbados is Mount Hillaby in the parish of Saint Andrew.
The population is 284,000.
The capital is Bridgetown.
Barbados's Human Development Index ranking is consistently among the top 75 countries in the world. In report published in 2009, it was ranked 37th in the world, and third in the Americas, behind Canada and the United States. Although Barbados' history is heavily influenced by its mainstay of sugar production, the economy is now dominated by services and tourism. The country is one of the largest global domiciles of insurance companies, and a growing number of companies have been expanding call centres to Barbados.
Barbados is divided into eleven parishes, almost all named after Christian Saints.
Close to 90% of all Barbadians (also known colloquially as Bajan) are of African descent.
English is the sole official language of Barbados, and is used for communications, administration, and public services all over the island.
A regional variant of English, referred to locally as Bajan, is spoken by most Barbadians in everyday life, especially in informal settings. In its full-fledged form, Bajan sounds markedly different from the Standard English heard on the island. The degree of intelligibility between Bajan and general English varies depending on the speakers' origins and accent. (In rare instances, a Bajan speaker may be completely unintelligible to an outside English speaker if sufficient slang terminology is present in a sentence.) Spanish is considered the most popular second language on the island, followed by French.
In religion, most (95%) of Barbadians are Christians, chiefly of the Anglican Church.
Education
Education in Barbados is fashioned after the British model (in particular, of England). The government of Barbados spends roughly 20% of its annual national budget on education. All young people in the country must attend school until age sixteen. Barbados' literacy rate is ranked close to 100%, with the Minister of Education stating that Barbados was in the top 5 countries worldwide for literacy rate thus placing the country alongside many of the industrialised nations of the world.
Barbados has over 70 primary schools, and over 20 secondary schools throughout the island. There are also a number of private schools catering to various teaching models including Montessori and International Baccalaureate.
Higher Education
Degree level education in the country is provided by the Barbados Community College (BCC), the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP), and a local Cave Hill campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).