Trinidad And Tobago Case Study

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In order to understand and compare Trinidad and Tobago’s economic and social development, one must understand its geographical location, economy and its history. Trinidad and Tobago is a twin island located in the Caribbean Region which was controlled by the Spanish, French, Dutch and then the English between the 1400s and the mid-1900s (Edmonds, 2010). Finally, in 1962, Trinidad and Tobago gained their full independence from their colonizers England, forming their own country.
Geographically, Trinidad and Tobago is a twin island with a relatively small surface area like other countries located in the Caribbean region. Trinidad and Tobago is northeast of Venezuela in the Lesser Antilles of the region (White). This country shares the same characteristics with islands in the Caribbean as seen in data provided by the World DataBank. In 2012, Trinidad and Tobago’s land area was 5130 square kilometers which was basically half the size of Jamaica which had 10,830 square kilometers the same year (The World DataBank). Therefore, it is clearly seen that Trinidad and Tobago surface area is relatively smaller than that of Jamaica by more than 5000 square kilometers. Trinidad is one of the smallest countries in the Caribbean Region and Latin America. Comparisons between countries in this region will be discussed in order to show if the measures of Trinidad and Tobago are high or low.
Even though most countries in the Caribbean region are islands, their population characteristics differ in a significant way which have impacted development in many ways. In 2012, Trinidad and Tobago had a relatively lower population in the Caribbean region of 1,357,439 compared to neighboring country Jamaica which had 2,707,805 (World ...

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... developed as seen in the economic development, population characteristics and geographical location it is comprised of. While the country is similar to many other islands in the Caribbean region, it is quite different.
Trinidad and Tobago does not have a large surface area like some islands in the region. However, the twin island is relatively a high income country when compared with other countries in the region as seen in its GDP composition in industry and the GNI per capita PPP. Unfortunately, inequality is very high, surpassing Jamaica and the Caribbean region which may suggest inequality in income and education. Gender discrimination is well above the Caribbean region for Trinidad and Tobago, indicating that women share in the jobs and assets in the country. Lastly, there is still room for improvement in the Inequality adjusted HDI for Trinidad and Tobago.

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