Demographics of Trinidad and Tobago

Population

The total population of Trinidad and Tobago was 1,328,018 according to the 2011 census,

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"

! width="70pt"|Total population (x 1000)

! width="70pt"|Proportion aged 0–14 (%)

! width="70pt"|Proportion aged 15–64 (%)

! width="70pt"|Proportion aged 65+ (%)

| 1950

| 646||39.9||56.1||4.0

| 1955

| 740||42.2||54.2||3.7

| 1960

| 848||42.8||53.7||3.5

| 1965

| 912||43.4||53.2||3.4

| 1970

| 946||41.4||54.3||4.2

| 1975

|1 011||37.6||57.5||4.8

| 1980

|1 085||34.0||60.6||5.5

| 1985

|1 171||34.3||60.2||5.6

| 1990

|1 222||33.6||60.7||5.8

| 1995

|1 255||30.8||63.2||6.1

| 2000

|1 268||25.6||67.9||6.5

| 2005

|1 297||21.8||70.9||7.2

| 2010

|1 328||20.7||71.0||8.3

Structure of the population

Population by Sex and Age Group (Census 09.I.2011):

{| class="wikitable"

! width="80pt"|Age group

! width="80pt"|Male

! width="80pt"|Female

! width="80pt"|Total

! width="80pt"|%

| align="right" | Total

| align="right" | 666 305

| align="right" | 661 714

| align="right" | 1 328 019

| align="right" | 100

| align="right" | 0–4

| align="right" | 47 847

| align="right" | 46 274

| align="right" | 94 121

| align="right" | 7.09

| align="right" | 5–9

| align="right" | 46 379

| align="right" | 44 952

| align="right" | 91 330

| align="right" | 6.88

| align="right" | 10–14

| align="right" | 44 953

| align="right" | 43 010

| align="right" | 87 963

| align="right" | 6.62

| align="right" | 15–19

| align="right" | 49 709

| align="right" | 48 670

| align="right" | 98 378

| align="right" | 7.41

| align="right" | 20–24

| align="right" | 57 407

| align="right" | 56 833

| align="right" | 114 240

| align="right" | 8.60

| align="right" | 25–29

| align="right" | 62 268

| align="right" | 61 250

| align="right" | 123 517

| align="right" | 9.30

| align="right" | 30–34

| align="right" | 53 897

| align="right" | 51 683

| align="right" | 105 580

| align="right" | 7.95

| align="right" | 35–39

| align="right" | 46 862

| align="right" | 45 677

| align="right" | 92 538

| align="right" | 6.97

| align="right" | 40–44

| align="right" | 43 491

| align="right" | 42 672

| align="right" | 86 163

| align="right" | 6.49

| align="right" | 45–49

| align="right" | 48 685

| align="right" | 47 429

| align="right" | 96 113

| align="right" | 7.24

| align="right" | 50–54

| align="right" | 43 981

| align="right" | 43 203

| align="right" | 87 184

| align="right" | 6.56

| align="right" | 55–59

| align="right" | 36 719

| align="right" | 36 496

| align="right" | 73 215

| align="right" | 5.51

| align="right" | 60–64

| align="right" | 29 645

| align="right" | 29 002

| align="right" | 58 647

| align="right" | 4.42

| align="right" | 65–69

| align="right" | 21 582

| align="right" | 23 055

| align="right" | 44 639

| align="right" | 3.36

| align="right" | 70–74

| align="right" | 14 209

| align="right" | 16 079

| align="right" | 30 289

| align="right" | 2.28

| align="right" | 75–79

| align="right" | 9 286

| align="right" | 11 463

| align="right" | 20 750

| align="right" | 1.56

| align="right" | 80+

| align="right" | 9 384

| align="right" | 13 966

| align="right" | 23 351

| align="right" | 1.76

! width="50"|Age group

! width="80pt"|Male

! width="80"|Female

! width="80"|Total

! width="50"|Percent

| align="right" | 0–14

| align="right" | 139 179

| align="right" | 134 236

| align="right" | 273 415

| align="right" | 20.59

| align="right" | 15–64

| align="right" | 472 665

| align="right" | 462 915

| align="right" | 935 580

| align="right" | 70.45

| align="right" | 65+

| align="right" | 54 461

| align="right" | 64 563

| align="right" | 119 024

| align="right" | 8.96

Due to decreasing fertility, the proportion of children below the age of 15 is decreasing, while the proportion of elderly is increasing. The median age has increased from 21.6 in 1980, 24.1 in 1990, 28.1 in 2000 to 32.6 in 2011.

{| class="wikitable sortable sort-under sticky-header-multi" style="text-align:right;"

! width="70pt"|Average population

! width="70pt"|Live births

! width="70pt"|Deaths

! width="70pt"|Natural change

! width="70pt"|Crude birth rate (per 1000)

! width="70pt"|Crude death rate (per 1000)

! width="70pt"|Natural change (per 1000)

! width="70pt"|TFR

| 1934

| 428,000

|12,743||7,970||4,773

|29.8||18.6||11.2

| 1935

| 435,000

|14,352||7,618||6,734

|33.0||17.5||15.5

| 1936

| 442,000

|14,625||7,230||7,395

|33.1||16.4||16.7

| 1937

| 450,000

|14,226||7,848||6,378

|31.6||17.4||14.2

| 1938

| 458,000

|15,119||7,283||7,836

|33.0||15.9||17.1

| 1939

| 466,000

|14,525||7,491||7,034

|31.2||16.1||15.1

| 1940

| 476,000

|16,535||7,499||9,036

|34.7||15.8||19.0

| 1941

| 492,000

|16,494||7,906||8,588

|33.5||16.1||17.5

| 1942

| 510,000

|17,729||9,028||8,701

|34.8||17.7||17.1

| 1943

| 525,000

|20,210||8,699||11,511

|38.5||16.6||21.9

| 1944

| 536,000

|20,944||8,055||12,889

|39.1||15.0||24.0

| 1945

| 547,000

|21,616||7,959||13,657

|39.5||14.6||25.0

| 1946

| 561,000

|21,767||7,734||14,033

|38.8||13.8||25.0

| 1947

| 578,000

|22,342||7,828||14,514

|38.7||13.5||25.1

| 1948

| 600,000

|23,940||7,293||16,647

|39.9||12.2||27.7

| 1949

| 616,000

|22,931||7,487||15,444

|37.2||12.2||25.1

| 1950

| 646,000

|23,722||7,665||16,057

|37.5||12.1||25.4

| 1951

| 659,000

|23,804||7,815||15,989

|36.7||12.0||24.6

| 1952

| 676,000

|22,923||8,000||14,923

|34.6||12.1||22.5

| 1953

| 695,000

|25,565||7,262||18,303

|37.7||10.7||27.0

| 1954

| 717,000

|29,253||6,807||22,446

|style="color:blue" |41.9||9.8||style="color:blue" |32.2

| 1955

| 740,000

|30,216||7,462||22,754

|41.9||10.3||31.6

| 1956

| 763,000

|27,447||7,136||20,311

|36.9||9.6||27.3

| 1957

| 786,000

|28,848||7,283||21,565

|37.7||9.5||28.2

| 1958

| 809,000

|29,667||7,288||22,379

|37.6||9.2||28.4

| 1959

| 829,000

|30,592||7,476||23,116

|37.4||9.2||28.3

| 1960

| 848,000

|32,858||6,608||26,250

|39.1||7.9||31.2

| 1961

| 865,000

|32,880||6,891||25,989

|37.9||7.9||30.0

| 1962

| 880,000

|style="color:blue" |34,107||style="color:blue" |6,465||style="color:blue" |27,642

|37.9||7.2||30.7

| 1963

| 893,000

|32,898||6,668||26,230

|35.6||7.2||28.4

| 1964

| 903,000

|32,955||6,675||26,280

|34.7||7.0||27.6

| 1965

| 912,000

|31,953||6,731||25,222

|32.8||6.9||25.9

| 1966

| 920,000

|30,079||7,060||23,019

|30.2||7.1||23.1

| 1967

| 926,000

|28,462||6,775||21,687

|28.2||6.7||21.5

| 1968

| 931,000

|28,107||7,116||20,991

|27.5||7.0||20.6

| 1969

| 938,000

|25,130||7,068||18,062

|24.4||6.9||17.6

| 1970

| 946,000

|25,151||6,956||18,120

|24.4||6.8||17.6

| 1971

| 956,000

|26,116||7,044||18,473

|24.6||6.8||17.9

| 1972

| 969,000

|28,049||6,955||20,099

|26.3||7.0||19.2

| 1973

| 983,000

|26,231||7,517||18,714

|24.8||7.1||17.7

| 1974

| 997,000

|26,138||6,716||19,422

|24.5||style="color:blue" |6.3||18.2

| 1975

|1,011,000

|25,673||6,899||18,774

|25.4||6.8||18.6

| 1976

|1,026,000

|27,149||7,388||19,761

|26.5||7.2||19.3

| 1977

|1,040,000

|27,895||7,311||20,584

|26.8||7.0||19.8

| 1978

|1,054,000

|28,295||6,824||21,471

|27.0||6.5||20.5

| 1979

|1,069,000

|29,698||7,060||22,638

|27.9||6.6||21.3

| 1980

|1,085,000

|29,869||7,506||22,363

|27.6||6.9||20.7

| 1981

|1,103,000

|32,177||7,355||24,822

|29.4||6.7||22.7

| 1982

|1,121,000

|32,537||7,641||24,896

|29.2||6.8||22.3

| 1983

|1,139,000

|33,208||7,546||25,662

|29.2||6.6||22.5

| 1984

|1,156,000

|31,599||7,819||23,780

|27.0||6.7||20.3

| 1985

|1,171,000

|33,719||8,026||25,693

|28.8||6.9||21.9

| 1986

|1,184,000

|31,886||7,699||24,187

|26.9||6.5||20.4

| 1987

|1,195,000

|29,167||8,054||21,113

|24.4||6.7||17.7

| 1988

|1,205,000

|26,983||8,036||18,947

|22.4||6.7||15.7

| 1989

|1,214,000

|25,072||8,213||16,859

|20.7||6.8||13.9

| 1990

|1,222,000

|23,960||8,196||15,764

|19.6||6.7||12.9

||2.45

| 1991

|1,230,000

|22,368||8,192||14,176

|18.2||6.7||11.5

||2.34

| 1992

|1,237,000

|23,064||8,533||14,531

|18.6||6.9||11.7

||2.23

| 1993

|1,244,000

|21,094||8,807||12,287

|17.0||7.1||9.9

||2.13

| 1994

|1,250,000

|19,682||9,265||10,417

|15.7||7.4||8.3

||2.04

| 1995

|1,255,000

|19,258||9,042||10,216

|15.3||7.2||8.1

||1.96

| 1996

|1,258,000

|17,992||9,376||8,616

|14.3||7.5||6.8

||1.90

| 1997

|1,261,000

|18,452||9,157||9,295

|14.6||7.3||7.4

||1.84

| 1998

|1,263,000

|17,898||9,365||8,533

|14.2||7.4||6.8

||1.80

| 1999

|1,265,000

|18,321||10,014||8,307

|14.5||7.9||6.6

||1.77

| 2000

|1,268,000

|18,160||9,478||8,682

|14.3||7.5||6.8

||1.75

| 2001

|1,272,000

|18,078||9,753||8,325

|14.2||7.7||6.5

||1.74

| 2002

|1,278,000

|16,990||9,797||7,193

|13.3||7.7||5.6

||1.74

| 2003

|1,284,000

|17,989||10,206||7,783

|14.0||7.9||6.1

||1.75

| 2004

|1,290,000

|17,235||9,872||7,363

|13.4||7.7||5.7

||1.76

| 2005

| align="right" |1,294,494

|17,264||9,885||7,379

|13.3||7.6||5.7

||1.77

| 2006

| align="right" |1,297,944

|18,090||9,668||8,422

|13.9||7.5||6.4

||1.78

| 2007

| align="right" |1,303,188

|18,889||9,654||9,235

|14.5||7.4||7.1

||1.79

| 2008

| align="right" |1,308,587

|19,888||10,463||9,425

|15.2||8.0||7.2

||1.80

| 2009

| align="right" |1,310,106

|17,499||9,693||7,806

|13.4||7.4||6.0

||1.80

| 2010

| align="right" |1,317,714

|19,092||10,477||8,615

|14.5||8.0||6.5

||1.81

| 2011

| align="right" |1,328,019

|18,141||10,007||8,134

|13.7||7.5||6.2

||1.80

| 2012

| align="right" |1,335,194

|19,801||9,627||10,174

|14.8||7.2||7.6

| align="right"|1.738

| 2013

| align="right" |1,340,557

|18,741||10,376||8,365

|14.0||7.7||6.3

| align="right"|1.741

| 2014

| align="right" |1,345,343

|18,431||10,642||7,789

|13.7||7.9||5.8

| align="right"|1.751

| 2015

| align="right" |1,349,667

|18,896||11,580||7,316

|14.0||8.6||5.4

| align="right"|1.678

| 2016

| align="right" |1,353,895

|18,373||11,145||7,228

|13.6||8.2||5.4

| align="right"|1.666

| 2017

| align="right" |1,356,633

|17,393||11,655||5,738

|12.8||8.6||4.2

| align="right"|1.506

| 2018

| align="right" |1,359,193

|17,218||11,658||5,560

|12.7||8.6||4.1

| align="right"|1.493

| 2019

|1,363,985

|16,058||11,266||4,792

|11.8||8.3||3.5

| 2020

|1,366,725

|~15,731||~12,984||~2,747

||11.5||9.5||2.0

| 2021

Ethnic groups

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: right;"

Population of Trinidad and Tobago according to ethnic group

|-bgcolor="#e0e0e0"

! Number || % || Number || % || Number || %|| Number || %|| Number || % ||Number || %|| Number || %

|align=left|Indian||195,747||35.1||301,946||36.5||373,538||40.1||426,660||40.3||453,069||40.3||446,273||40.0 ||468,524||35.43

|align=left|African||261,485||46.9||358,588||43.3||398,765||42.8||434,730||41.1||445,444||39.6||418,268||37.5||452,536||34.22

|align=left|Mixed||78,775||14.1||134,749||16.3||133,706||14.4||175,150||16.5||207,558||18.4||228,089||20.5||301,866||22.82

|align=left|European including Portuguese||15,283||2.7||20,202||2.4||11,383||1.2||9,850||0.9||7,254||0.6||7,034 ||0.6 ||8,669||0.65

|align=left|Chinese||5,641||1.0||8,361||1.0||7,962||0.9||5,670||0.5||4,314||0.4||3,800 ||0.3 ||4,003||0.30

|align=left|Amerindian|| || || || || || || || || || || || ||1,394||0.11

|align=left|Syrian, Lebanese or Arab||889||0.2||1,590||0.2|| || ||1,010||0.1||934||0.1||849 ||0.1 ||1,029||0.08

|align=left|Other|| || ||6,714||0.8||4,332||0.5||2,900||0.3||1,724||0.2||1,972 ||0.2 ||2,280||0.17

|align=left|Unknown or undeclared||150||0.0||291||0.0||1,385|| ||2,350||0.2||4,831||0.4||8,487 ||0.8 ||82,246||6.22

|align=left|Total||colspan="2"|557,970||colspan="2"|827,957||colspan="2"| ||colspan="2"|1,058,320||colspan="2"|1,125,128||colspan="2"|1,114,772||colspan="2"|1,322,546

Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians

Indo-Trinidadians make up the country's largest ethnic group (approximately 35.43%). Many Afro-Trinbagonians have ancestors hailing from West and West-central Africa, akin to numerous other Caribbean islands and in some cases a result of later migration between the islands. This would have been from many kingdoms, states, and peoples from a range of modern-day Senegal in the north to Angola in the south. The majority of the enslaved Africans were brought in the last few years of Trinidad's Spanish colonial era, and the beginning of the British colonial period. The Cedula of Population transformed a small colony of 1,000 in 1773 to 18,627 by 1797. In the census of 1777 there were only 2,763 people recorded as living on the island, including some 2,000 Arawaks. In 1807, the UK Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act 1807 that abolished the trading of enslaved persons, and the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 abolished the practice of slavery itself. Numerous staples of Trinbagonian culture have Afro-Trinbagonian roots, such as Calypso, Carnival, and traditional dishes such as callaloo.

European Trinidadian and Tobagonians

The European Trinidadian (or White Trinidadian) population is primarily descended from early settlers and immigrants. The recent census counted 8,669 people of European descent including those of Portuguese descent. The Europeans who remained in Trinidad live in areas in and around Port of Spain. Furthermore, British rule led to an influx of settlers from the United Kingdom and the British colonies of the Eastern Caribbean and descendants of English indentured workers brought in as overseers following the end of the Second World War.

The Portuguese came to Tobago and Trinidad as early as the 17th century, including groups of Jews, Catholics and Protestants. For over 140 years, from 1834 up to 1975, the ancestors of the modern Portuguese community in Trinidad and Tobago hailed mostly from the archipelago of Madeira, starting from 1846, with the earliest registers being from the Azores in 1834.

Most Portuguese came directly from Madeira, and also via Guyana, St Vincent, Antigua and St Kitts.

Important communities settled in Port of Spain, Arima, Arouca, Chaguanas, San Fernando and Scarborough.

In 2011, the Madeiran Portuguese Community of Trinidad and Tobago celebrated their 165th Anniversary of arrival of the first Madeirans in Trinidad back in 1846.

Recalling the presence of the Portuguese in the nation today are over 100 Portuguese surname, some of which have become street nomenclature. As an independent nation, the country has recognised several members of the Portuguese community, through official awards.

In Tobago, many white residents are retirees who have recently arrived there.

Mixed ethnicity

Given the large number of ethnic identities in Trinidad and Tobago, many citizens have a mixed ethnic heritage due to influences from European, West African, Indian or Han Chinese ancestry. Common ethnic mixtures include people of African and European descent (Mulatto-Creoles) 15-20% and African and Indian descent (often colloquially known as Dougla) 7-10%. This mixed population is estimated at 30%.

Notable Mixed Trinidadians and Tobagonians Include

Eric Willams
Anthony Carmona
George Maxwell Richards
Nicki Minaj
Giselle Laronde
Kees Dieffenthaller
Mervyn Dymally
Andre Rampersad
Gema Ramkeesoon

Chinese-Trinidadians and Tobagonians

There are groups of Chinese who, like the Indians, are descended from indentured labourers. They account for about 4,000 people and live mostly in Port-of-Spain and San Fernando.

<blockquote>In Trinidad there were, about twenty years ago [i.e. about 1886], 4,000 or 5,000 Chinese, but they have decreased to probably about 2,000 or 3,000, [2,200 in 1900]. They used to work in sugar plantations, but are now principally shopkeepers, as well as general merchants, miners and railway builders, etc.</blockquote>

Arab-Trinidadians and Tobagonians

There are also more than 1,000 Arabs, originating from Syria and Lebanon who live mostly in Port-of-Spain. The Syrian and Lebanese communities of Trinidad are predominantly Christian, migrating from the Middle East in the 19th century from the Ottoman Empire later landing in the Caribbean and Latin America. Other Lebanese and Syrians came in the early to middle 20th century to escape the war and turmoil in the region.

Indigenous (Caribs)

Finally, there are the mixed raced Caribs who are descended from the native, precolonial people of the islands. They are organized around the Santa Rosa Carib Community and live mostly in and around Arima.

Population

Structure of the population

Ethnic groups

Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonians

European Trinidadian and Tobagonians

Mixed ethnicity

Notable Mixed Trinidadians and Tobagonians Include

Chinese-Trinidadians and Tobagonians

Arab-Trinidadians and Tobagonians

Indigenous (Caribs)

Religion