Population

At the 2010 census, Barbados had an estimated population of 277,821. The tabulated population was only 226,193 due to a high undercount (estimated at 18%). The estimated mid-year population of 2014 is 286,100 (medium fertility scenario of The 2012 Revision of the World Population Prospects).

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Ethnic groups

The population of Barbados is predominantly black (92.4%) or mixed (3.1%).[1] 2.7% of the population is white and 1.3% South Asian. The remaining 0.4% of the population includes East Asians (0.1%) and Middle Easterners (0.1%).

Languages

English is the official language of Barbados and is used for communications, administration, and public services all over the island. In its capacity as the official language of the country, the standard of English tends to conform to the vocabulary, pronunciations, spellings, and conventions akin to, but not exactly the same as, those of British English.

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 depends on the level of creolized vocabulary and idioms. A Bajan speaker may be completely unintelligible to an English speaker from another country. Bajan is influenced by other Caribbean English dialects.

Religion

According to the 2010 census, 75.6% of the population of Barbados is considered Christian, 2.6% have a non-Christian religion and 20.6% have no religion.

Anglicanism constitutes the largest religious group, with 23.9% of the population. It is represented by the Church in the Province of the West Indies, within which the island belongs to the Diocese of Barbados. Pentecostals are the second largest group (19.5%).

The next largest group are Seventh-day Adventists, 5.9% of the population, followed by Methodists (4.2%). 3.8% of the population are Roman Catholics. Other Christians include Wesleyans (3.4%), Nazarenes (3.2%), Church of God (2.4%), Jehovah's Witnesses (2.0%), Baptists (1.8), Moravians (1.2%), Brethren (0.5%), the Salvationists (0.4%) and Latter-day Saints ( 0.1%).

The number of non-Christians is small. 0.7% of the population are Muslims, most of whom are immigrants or descendants of Indian immigrants from the Indian state of Gujarat. There are three mosques and an Islamic centre. Other religious groups include the Rastafarians (1.0% of the population), which was introduced to Barbados in 1975, Hindus(0.5%), Jews (0.05%), the Baha is (0.04%) and Buddhists.

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