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Three islands south of Cuba: Grand Cayman, about 22 miles long and 5 miles wide, and two other islands, 9 and 12 miles long and about two miles wide.
Air temperatures: from November to April temperatures during the day range from 72 to 86 degrees, at night from 64 to 72; from May to October, 85 to 90 degrees during the day, 73 to 85 at night.
Capital: George Town
The Cayman Islands were a British dependency until independence in 1962.
Estimate per capita GDP:
2004 $43,800 (ranks 13th)
2003 $35,000
As of 2004, the Cayman Islands do not tax corporations. According to the 2004 CIA Factbook, "More than 40,000 companies were registered in the Cayman Islands as of 1998," including almost 600 banks and trust companies." The islands are an international financial center. Tourism accounts for around 70 percent of GDP. Fifty percent of the tourists are from the United States. Tourists in 1997 numbered 1.2 million. That might be around 800 per day in the tourist season - winter. Fifty percent of the tourists are from the United States.
Deaths: 4.98. Births: 12.6 down from 12.92 in 2005.
Estimated for July 2007: 46,600 up from 44,270 in 2005 and 43,103 fpr 2004
Density: 169 persons per square kilometer. (2005)
In 2007, more people arriving than leaving, a net gain of 17.34 per 1,000 population, down from 18.25 in 2005.
Infant deaths in 2007 before the age of one per 1,000 live births: 7.8, down from 8.19 in 2005
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2007: 80.2 years.
Ethnicities
Islanders of mixed race are 40 percent, white, 20 percent, black 20 percent and various others 20 percent. Their life expectancy, estimated for 2004, averaged at 79.81 years, up with the most advanced industrialized states and a couple of years more than the United States, at 77.4 years.
Crime has been described as "almost non-existent," attributed to low unemployment and a high standard of living. One website, with an interest in attracting tourists, states that tourists find no solicitation, rude or pushy street vendors, or beggars. The surrounding water is described as crystal clear and the beaches "powdery white."
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.