Antigua and Barbuda is part of a broader demographic shift sweeping the Caribbean, as the nation's median age reaches 35.5 years — placing it among the majority of CARICOM member states now older than the global median age of 30, according to Antigua News Room.
The figures, drawn from the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs' World Population Prospects 2024, reveal a region divided into two distinct demographic tiers. Median age across CARICOM's fifteen member states ranges from 23.5 in Haiti to 41.5 in Montserrat.
Only four economies remain demographically young, with median ages below the global average: Haiti (23.5), Guyana (25.6), Belize (25.9), and Suriname (28.1). Higher birth rates, particularly in Haiti and Guyana, sustain younger populations even as fertility rates decline across most of the region. These economies face the challenge of absorbing expanding working-age cohorts into their labour markets.
The remaining eleven CARICOM states sit above the global median. Montserrat (41.5), Barbados (38.9), and Trinidad and Tobago (36.7) anchor the older end of the spectrum, a trend shaped by long-running fertility decline and sustained emigration. Eight member states cluster between 31 and 36 years, occupying the middle ground between the two tiers.
The consequences of an aging population are significant. As reported by Antigua News Room, economies with older median ages face rising pension and healthcare demands alongside shrinking working-age populations — pressures that strain public finances and social systems.
Median age directly influences the size of a country's workforce, its consumer base, and the burden placed on social services. As fertility rates continue to fall across the region, demographic analysts expect more CARICOM economies to shift into the older tier over time, deepening the challenges already confronting governments from Bridgetown to Port of Spain.
