Population: 22,643 (July 2005 est.)
Capital: Road Town
Languages: English (official)
Religions: Protestant 86% (Methodist 33%, Anglican 17%, Church of God 9%, Seventh-Day Adventist 6%, Baptist 4%, Jehovah's
Witnesses 2%, other 15%), Roman Catholic 10%, none 2%, other 2% (1991)
Government: NA
Climate: subtropical; humid; temperatures moderated
by trade winds
Terrain: coral islands relatively flat; volcanic islands
steep, hilly
Geography: strong ties to nearby US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico
Ethnic groups: black 83%, white, Indian, Asian and mixed
Economy: The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in
the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism, generating an estimated 45% of the national income. An estimated 350,000
tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 1998. Tourism suffered in 2002 because of the lackluster US economy. In
the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and
incorporation fees now generate substantial revenues. Roughly 400,000 companies were on the offshore registry by yearend 2000.
The adoption of a comprehensive insurance law in late 1994, which provides a blanket of confidentiality with regulated
statutory gateways for investigation of criminal offenses, is expected to make the British Virgin Islands even more attractive
to international business. Livestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands'
ability to meet domestic food requirements. Because of traditionally close links with the US Virgin Islands, the British
Virgin Islands has used the dollar as its currency since 1959.
GDP per capita: purchasing power parity - $38,500
(2004 est.)
GDP real growth: 1% NA (2002 est.)
Unemployment rate: 3% (1995)
Internet country code: .vg
Dial code: +284
First settled by the Dutch in 1648, the
islands were annexed in 1672 by the English. The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to
the west; the US dollar is the legal currency.