Netherlands Antilles (Curacao) - Атлас этнических региональных автономий

Description of the autonomy

Former possessions of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. It was established as a result of the transformation of the Netherlands' colonies in the Caribbean Sea. The latter wished to maintain their relationships with the former metropolis. In 1954, the Charter of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was adopted, according to which parts of it became the Netherlands itself - a state in Western Europe, another part being former colonial possessions referred as “countries”. Among the latter - the Netherlands Antilles in the Caribbean Sea. In 2010, it split into several territorial entities, two of which - Curaçao and Sint-Martin - were given the status of separate autonomous entities ("countries") within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Curacao and Sint-Martin (the Netherlands, in this case, ruled over part of the island, the other belonged to France) are located at different ends of the Antilles archipelago, the distance between them is more than 1000 kilometers. The core industry of Curacao and Sint-Martin is tourism. The level and quality of life on these islands is quite high for Central America and comparable to the Netherlands itself.

Most of the inhabitants of the islands are of Afro-Caribbean origins. The population is characterized by multilingualism with English and Spanish playing the most significant role. However, there are also vast differences: a high proportion of Protestants live in Sint-Martin, a substantive number of recent settlers from the Netherlands (mainly pensioners) moved to Curacao, and so forth. Unlike Sint-Martin, in Curaçao, the issue of gaining independence is still quite salient on the political agenda.

Autonomy's characteristics

Year of the creation of the autonomy:

Geographic

Where is the autonomy situated:
Autonomy area: km²
Share of the autonomy in the area of the country: %
Autonomy population:the latest census thousands of people
Share of the autonomy in the population of the country: %

Country's characteristics

Level of economic development of the country:GDP per capita in 2015 in current price in $ in $
Political regime in the country:It is based on the Freedom House Index, 2015. All countries of the world are located on a scale from 1 (most free) to 7 (least free). Countries whose ratings fall between 1.0 and 2.5 are “Free”, between 3.0 and 5.0 are "Partly Free," and those between 5.5 and 7.0 are "Not Free."

Economic

Share of the autonomy in the economy of the country:GRP of the autonomy divided to GDP of the country (%) %
Level of economic development of the autonomy:relative to the country (%): GRP per capita of the autonomy divided to GDP per capita of the country %

Ethnic

Share of the dominant in the country ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the dominant in the country ethnic group divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Share of the titular ethnic group in the population of the autonomy:in %: population size of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy divided to overal population size of the autonomy (the latest census; expert estimations) %
Ethnic peculiarity:It indicates a key characteristic of autonomy's ethnic identity - language or religion or both
Diversity of ethnic composition:The presence of other (in addition to the titular group in the autonomy and the dominant group in the country) significant ethnic groups in the population of the autonomy

Political

Degree of self-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_selfrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of self-rule: institutional depth; policy scope; fiscal autonomy; borrowing autonomy; and the extent to which a region has an independent legislature and executive. The index takes value from 0 to 18
Degree of shared-rule of the autonomy:It is based on the Regional Authority Index project that aims at measuring the powers of all the regions in 81 countries. Here the index "tier_sharedrule" (2010) is used. It summarizes five dimensions of shared-rule: participation of a region in national law-making; intergovernmental meetings; the distribution of national tax revenues; borrowing; and constitutional change. The index takes value from 0 to 12
The presence of the "kin-state":"Kin-state" is a state whose main population shares the ethnic characteristics of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy
Linguistic preferences:It indicates how the language of the titular ethnic group of the autonomy is learned in secondary schools in the autonomy
Ethnic conflicts:It indicates whether the serious conflicts between the autonomy and the central government as well as between ethnic groups within the authority take place in 2001-2015. The level of conflict is determined on the basis of the annual reports of Conflict Barometer