The Caribbean Development Context: Past, Present and Future

Abstract

The islands of the Caribbean have made significant progress in economic and social development in the relatively short time that they have been independent countries. At the time of writing only two of the countries included in this study had been independent for more than 50 years – Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago – and one had been independent for only 35 years (Saint Lucia). Nevertheless, from the 1960s onwards they have made good progress in social and economic development. The 2014 Human Development Report (UNDP 2014) considers all except Guyana to have ‘high human development’. These human development indices were well above the average for other countries of ‘high human development’ for every year that the report was produced until 2008, when Jamaica and Saint Lucia started to slip behind. The year 2008 appears to be a turning point in the development progress of the region. While the average index score for countries of ‘very high human development’ and ‘high human development’ continued to increase, the countries of the Caribbean plateaued or started to dip (except Guyana, which remained on an upward trajectory).