Country Comments

Like its cousin St. Lucia to the North St. Vincent and the Grenadines are witnessing population levels four times greater than what is sustainable. Due to human activity and encroachment, forests are threatened by farming development and use of wood for commercial purposes. Coastal pollution from farm runoff and poor sewage management makes certain areas dangerous to swim. Fresh water resources are also limited.

Thanks to progress on women’s rights, total fertility rates have trended down and have been below 2 children per woman since 2015. However work still needs to be done to achieve gender equality. The UN reported that in February 2021 only 18% of seats in Parliament were held by women. All indicators are that population growth will remain fairly flat and may begin to decline in the future, which portends a better quality of life for its citizens and a slow restoration of its natural resources.