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117 , f Netherlands Antilles SUPPLEJ>1ENT to A General Survey of Higher Education by Lloyd S. Braithwaite Jose F. Silvio ~Jffi/ED/HEP/85/l22(Supplement) 25 April 1985 \ ",' :.. '

118 GENERAL BACKGROUND OF THE COUNTRY 1. Geographical characteristics The Netherlands Antilles is a territory composed of a set of islands located in the Caribbean between North and South America, divided into two groups: the Southern Netherlands Antilles integrated by Aruba, Bonaire and Cura~ao, usually called the Leeward Islands; and the Northern Netherlands Antilles, formed by Saba, Saint Eustatius and Saint Maarten, usually called the Windward Islands and separated by 800 kms from the first group. The northern part of Saint Maarten is a French possession attached to the Department of Guadeloupe. Figure No. 43 shows the location of each island. The Leeward Islands are larger in size than the others and they extend along the Northern coast of Venezuela at a short distance. Aruba is about 30 kms from this coast, Bonaire 90 kms and Cura~ao about 70 kms. These three islands are located relatively close to each other: Aruba is separated by 70 kms from Cura~ao and Bonaire 52 kms. The average temperature is 27.5 C and fairly constant throughout the year. Average annual precipitation is 575 mm in Cura~ao and a little less in Aruba and Bonaire. The climate of the Windward Islands differs from that of the Leeward Islands mainly in one respect, the much heavier rainfull which allows the development of some tropical vegetation. 'I Water and mineral and natural resources are scarce in all islands. Other basic data on the Netherlands Antilles can be consulted in Figure No Politico-administrative characteristics During the 16th century, the Leeward Islands were occupied by Spain and conquered later during the 17th century by the Netherlands, occupying also other territories in the region including the Windward Islands and Surinam. In 1845, the six islands were constituted as one politico-administrative unit under the name of the Netherlands Antilles, with Cura~ao as the seat of the Central Government. Since 1954, the Netherlands Antilles is an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Holland. The set of islands have a Central Government autonomous a&tegards all internal affairs except in defence and foreign policy. Each islanq has its own local government autonomous with respect to the Central Government except in legislative matters. As regards the Central Government, the Queen of Holland is represented by a Governor General who also represents the Government of the Kingdom. A Minister Plenipotentiary represents the Government and is elected by vote

119 (ii) and ~ppoints a Cabinet composed of ministers for each department (the equivalent of ministry in other countries). The Council of Ministers is headed by the Prime Minister and is responsible to a body of elected representatives at present 12 from Cura~ao, 8 from Aruba, 1 for Bonaire and 1 for the Windward Islands. In general, the administration is highly decentralized in all matters including, of course, education in all levels and branches. However, the Netherlands Antilles is not at present an homogenous politico-administrative entity mainly because Aruba intends to have a separate status (Status Aparte) to constitute in 1986 another entity within the Kingdom of Holland. In 1996, Aruba will consider the option of independence from Holland. The official language is Dutch, but a large part of the population speaks also English, Papiamento and Spanish. Papiamento is a local language which developed from Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish. The Portuguese were mainly devoted to slave trade in the islands, especially in Cura~ao during the Dutch colonial rule. Instruction is given in Dutch but there exists a project, though not yet approved, to establish Papiamento, Dutch and English as official languages. However, there is a difference between the Leeward and the Windward Islands with respect to linguistic matters. In the Windward Islands English dominates over the other languages besides Dutch, especially due to the proximity of Saint Maarten to the Englishspeaking islands of that part of the Caribbean, and the development of tourism oriented to English-speaking countries especially the United States of America. Spanish and Papiamento are not widely spoken. In the Leeward Islands, besides Dutch, English, Spanish and especially papiamento are widely spoken; Papiamento is already used as a language in newspapers, radio and TV. Anyway, one can say that the population of the Netherlands Antilles has the enviable condition of being a multilingual community which can be a great advantage, especially for communication with other cou~tries. 3. Demographic characteristics According to the National Census of 1981, the Netherlands Antilles has a total population of 231,932 inhabitants, although other sources like the Statistical Bulletin published also by the Central Bureau of Statistics give a figure of 256,578 inhabitants for the same year l According to information from the same Bureau, and other sources, the difference comes from the fact that many Antillean were absent from the territory at the time the census was carried out. However, in order to avoid ambiguities and confusion data from the National Censu~.9f 19~1 has been used for the purposes of this report. ' 1 See Statistiche Medelingen (Statistical Bulletin). December Central Bureau of Statistics. The Netherlands Antilles.

120 (iii) Figure No. 45 shows the general demographic structure by age and sex, and it is a relatively young population with about 59% of the total having less than 30 years of age. The population is unequally distributed as can be observed in Figure No. 46, and it concentrates mainly in Cura~ao and Aruba, where 63.5% and 26% respectively of the total population live. The islands are also of unequal size and population density. It is notorious that Bonaire, which is about 40% larger than Aruba and much larger that Saint Maarten, gathers only 3.8% of the total population, and has a density of 30 inhabitants per square kilometre. Aruba has a density of 387 inhabitants per km 2, with 5.7% of the total population. Cura~ao is the largest island geographically and demographically speaking, and the second after Saint Maarten in population density. With respect to population growth, and on the basis of the evolution between the years 1972 and 1981, the Netherlands Antilles is relatively stationary. During these years, the growth has been only of 3.9% in nine years, which represents only an average annual growth of 0.4%, and was not uniform in all the islands. In Saba and Saint Eustatius, the population decreased, Cura~ao remained more or less stationary, Aruba and Bonaire experienced an increase close to the national average. But, away from this pattern, the most important increase of the population occurred in Saint Maarten, where the growth was of about 68.5% with respect to the year 1972, being at present the most dense island in this aspect. It is evident that rapid development of the tourism industry, and trade related to it, in this island, attracted many workers not only from the Netherlands Antilles but from other neighbouring countries of the Caribbean as well. 4. Economy and labour The distribution of the employed population and of the economically active population give some indications about the structure of economic activities in the Netherlands Antilles. Figure No. 47 shows the evolution of the employed population from the year 1961 through the year 1981, with the respective increments for each economic branch. From the point of view of labour intensity, in 1961 the principal activity of the Netherlands Antilles was oil refining through two refineries located in Aruba and Cura~ao, gathering 22.7% of the labour force. Then followed the branch trade and tourism (14.7%), public service (12.3%), construction (8.4%) and a small number of other industries (7.8%). Agriculture and related activities, and mining, were, and as they still are, practically inexistent activities, employing only 3.3% of the total labour force. Twenty years later, in 1981, the situation has completely changed. The most important increments of the labour force took place in the branches of banking, insurance, etc. (735% between 1961 and 1981) which employed only 1.3% in 1961, and passed to 6.1% in 1981; then the branch trade and tourism (287% between 1961 and 1981) and public service (214% between 1961 and 1981). At present, the oil industry is no longer th~ main source of employmerit and the personnel, foreign as well as 'national, has been reduced almost by half, employing only 10.4% of the labour force, reflecting clearly the effects of automation and the evolution of the oil market for these territories which cannot compete in a favourable manner with other oil countries. The majority of the labour force concentrates at present in the Government (37.4% cf. community, social and personnel services) and the tourist industry (trade and tourism) represents now, after the Government, the main source of employment, where we find 27.4% of the labour force. The agriculture, fishing and mining activities decreased even more.

121 (iv) The distribution of the economically active population by economic branches, and islands, shown in Figure No. 48, presents some variations between the islands but close to the national average, excepting the smaller islands which have a less diversified economic structure. If we compare Aruba and Cura~ao, some differences appear, though not marked, in the branches Wholesale, retail trade, restaurants and hotels", "Manufacturing', "Transport, storage and communications" and "Finance, insurance, etc.. In the trade and tourism branch (Wholesale, etc.), Aruba surpasses Cura~ao, concentrating 32.7% against 22.1% of Cura~ao, of the total economically active population of each island. In "Manufacturing", the activities in both islands are small, but more intense in Cura~ao (12.9% of the labour force) than Aruba (8.6%). In "Finance, insurance, etc." and "Transport, storage and communications", Cura<;ao surpasses Aruba. The structure of the active population of Bonaire can be placed half way between Aruba and Cura~ao. In the smaller islands, the structure of economic activities is less diversified and much more dependent on one or two activities. In Saint Maarten, about 74% of the economically active population is concentrated in the Government, and the tourism branch, both together, and is the only island in which the branch of trade and tourism occupies the relative majority of the labour force (43.7%). Saba and Saint Eustatius have a very small population working mostly in the Government branch. However, there is also an important growing tourisn activity in them, especially in Saba, closely related to the tourist industry of Saint Marrten. i It is also interesting to examine the structure of the active population by occupational groups but unfortunately we did not find chronological data for this aspect. We are particularly interested in the group of "Professionals, technical and related workers", and according to Figure No. 7 very small variations exist between the islands as regards the proportion of workers belonging to this group, Cura~ao having the highest concentration of professionals. In order to insert our considerations and findings in a more general context, it is useful to compare the Netherlands Antilles with other countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and the American continent in general. With respect to the structure of the economically active population we can take as a base of comparison the branches in which the Netherlands Antilles is more outstanding: Trade and Tourism; Transport; Storage and Communication; and Finance, Insurance; Banking (besides public service). In "Trade and tourism", the Netherlands Antilles has the highest percentage of the labour ~prce in this branch (22.8%), even higher than that of the United States of America (20.3%), witnessing the importance of this branch as a source of employment in the country. After the Netherlands Antilles follows Puerto Rico (18.4%), and Trinidad and Tobago (18.1%). In the branch "Transport, storage and communications", the Netherlands Antilles comes after Trinidad and Tobago (7.8%), Venezuela (7.3%) and Chile (6.5%). Finally, in the branch d"finarlc'e, insurance and related activities" where we find 5.2% of the active population, the Netherlands Antilles follows after Brazil (16.2%), which has the highest percentage in the whole continent and the United States of America (8.6%). These three branches are undoubtedly closely related to the dynamics of the economy and the labour market of the country and will possibly play a more important role in them than the oil industry twenty years ago, as a source of employment and national income.

122 Cv) \ From a strictly economical point of view, without considering the labour market, the economic branch that contributes most to the national income or gross domestic product of the Netherlands Antilles is still the oil industry, but also "Trade and Tourism" and "Transport, storage and communication". The branch "Agriculture, mining, fishing and industry" generates 37.9% of the GDP (see Figure No. 50). This could be very surprising, but possibly in this table the oil industry is grouped together with other branches for which we did not find more detailed information. But given the absence of any agriculture and mining activity in the country, we can assume that the majority of the income generated comes from the oil industry and other manufacturing activities. The available information was not sufficiently disaggregated to isolate the oil industry and manufacturing activities for the remaining economic branches, at least in this aspect. The second branch is "Trade and Tourism", from which comes 23.9% of the GDP and the third is "Transport, storage and communications" with 11.8% of the GDP. These findings corroborate more or less the previous ones based on the structure of the labour force. The economy of the Netherlands Antilles is highly dependent on international economic development in all its branches and hence highly vulnerable to fluctuations, especially the branch of Trade and Tourism. In the last five years, as a consequence of the world economic situation, the economy has entered a recession period and high unemployment of about 19% has appeared affecting mainly manual workers. It is somewhat risky to formulate precise hypotheseis about the future development of the economy of the Netherlands Antilles, but according to the appreciations of the Department of Economic Affairs of the country "Caution is needed when looking to the future with resepct to national income, sectorial developments and employment. There exists no economic model which under various assumptions about the world economy, can simulate what will happen to the Antillean economy. However, on the basis of qualitative analysis it is possible to conclude that the Antilles will experience a decline in national income and growing unemployment in the immediate future. This conclusion is based on developments in the leading sectors of the Antillean economy, which are largely determined by external and partly by internal factors." 1 1 Economic Outlook on Netherlands Antilles: economic developments and prospects for Department of Economic Affairs. The Netherlands Antilles. March p. 24.