Although sighted by Christopher COLUMBUS in 1493 and claimed for Spain, it was the Dutch who occupied the island in 1631 and began exploiting its salt deposits. The Spanish retook the island in 1633, but the Dutch continued to assert their claims. The Spanish finally relinquished the island of Saint Martin to the French and Dutch, who divided it between themselves in 1648. The establishment of cotton, tobacco, and sugar plantations dramatically expanded African slavery on the island in the 18th and 19th centuries; the practice was not abolished in the Dutch half until 1863. The island’s economy declined until 1939 when it became a free port; the tourism industry was dramatically expanded beginning in the 1950s. In 1954, Sint Maarten and several other Dutch Caribbean possessions became part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as the Netherlands Antilles. In a 2000 referendum, the citizens of Sint Maarten voted to become a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, effective October 2010. On 6 September 2017, Hurricane Irma hit Saint Martin/Sint Maarten, causing extensive damage to roads, communications, electrical power, and housing. The UN estimated the storm destroyed or damaged 90% of the buildings, and Princess Juliana International Airport was heavily damaged and closed to commercial air traffic for five weeks.
land: 34 sq km
water: 0 sq km
note: Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin
border countries (1): Saint Martin (France) 16 km
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
note 2: Simpson Bay Lagoon (aka as Simson Bay Lagoon or The Great Pond) is one of the largest inland lagoons in the West Indies; the border between the French and Dutch halves of the island of Saint Martin runs across the center of the lagoon, which is shared by both of the island’s entities
45,677 (2023 est.)
Saint Maarten 29.9%, Dominican Republic 10.2%, Haiti 7.8%, Jamaica 6.6%, Saint Martin 5.9%, Guyana 5%, Dominica 4.4%, Curacao 4.1%, Aruba 3.4%, Saint Kitts and Nevis 2.8%, India 2.6%, Netherlands 2.2%, US 1.6%, Suriname 1.4%, Saint Lucia 1.3%, Anguilla 1.1%, other 8%, unspecified 1.7% (2011 est.)
note: data represent population by country of birth
English (official) 67.5%, Spanish 12.9%, Creole 8.2%, Dutch (official) 4.2%, Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) 2.2%, French 1.5%, other 3.5% (2001 est.)
Protestant 41.9% (Pentecostal 14.7%, Methodist 10.0%, Seventh Day Adventist 6.6%, Baptist 4.7%, Anglican 3.1%, other Protestant 2.8%), Roman Catholic 33.1%, Hindu 5.2%, Christian 4.1%, Jehovah’s Witness 1.7%, Evangelical 1.4%, Muslim/Jewish 1.1%, other 1.3% (includes Buddhist, Sikh, Rastafarian), none 7.9%, no response 2.4% (2011 est.)
0-14 years: 18.52% (male 4,379/female 4,082)
15-64 years: 67.18% (male 15,157/female 15,530)
65 years and over: 14.29% (2023 est.) (male 3,019/female 3,510)
total dependency ratio: 27.2
youth dependency ratio: 14.9
elderly dependency ratio: 12.3
potential support ratio: 8.1 (2021)
total: 41.1 years (2023 est.)
male: 39.3 years
female: 42.8 years
1.19% (2023 est.)
12.4 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
6.2 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
5.8 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
most populous areas are Lower Prince’s Quarter (north of Philipsburg), followed closely by Cul de Sac
urban population: 100% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 1.16% annual rate of change (2020-25 est. est.)
1,327 PHILIPSBURG (capital) (2011)
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.98 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.86 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2023 est.)
total: 7.8 deaths/1,000 live births (2023 est.)
male: 8.6 deaths/1,000 live births
female: 7 deaths/1,000 live births
total population: 79.5 years (2023 est.)
male: 77.2 years
female: 82 years
1.98 children born/woman (2023 est.)
0.97 (2023 est.)
NA
improved: total: 95.1% of population
unimproved: total: 4.9% of population (2017)
NA
NA
improved: urban: NA
rural: NA
total: 98.8% of population
unimproved: urban: NA
rural: NA
total: 1.2% of population (2017)
NA
NA
total population: NA
male: NA
female: NA
total: 12 years
male: 12 years
female: 12 years (2014)
scarcity of potable water (increasing percentage provided by desalination); inadequate solid waste management; pollution from construction, chemical runoff, and sewage harms reefs
tropical marine climate, ameliorated by northeast trade winds, results in moderate temperatures; average rainfall of 150 cm/year; hurricane season stretches from July to November
urban population: 100% of total population (2023)
rate of urbanization: 1.16% annual rate of change (2020-25 est. est.)
high-income, tourism-based Dutch autonomous constituent economy; severe hurricane- and COVID-19-related economic recessions; multilateral trust fund helping offset economic downturn; no property taxation; re-exporter to Saint Martin
$1.44 billion (2018 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars
$1.436 billion (2018 est.)
$1.538 billion (2017 est.)
-6.6% (2018 est.)
-5.8% (2017 est.)
1.9% (2012 est.)
$35,300 (2018 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars
$35,342 (2018 est.)
$37,914 (2017 est.)
$304.1 million (2014 est.)
2.19% (2017 est.)
0.7% (2009 est.)
agriculture: 0.4% (2008 est.)
industry: 18.3% (2008 est.)
services: 81.3% (2008 est.)comparison rankings:
sugar
tourism, light industry
23,200 (2008 est.)
12% (2012 est.)
10.6% (2008 est.)
-$294.32 million (2021 est.)
-$290.458 million (2020 est.)
-$165.039 million (2019 est.)
$787.981 million (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$527.044 million (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$1.091 billion (2019 est.)
sugar
$992.658 million (2021 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$760.824 million (2020 est.) note: data are in current year dollars
$1.237 billion (2019 est.)
Netherlands Antillean guilders (ANG) per US dollar -
Exchange rates:
1.79 (2021 est.)
1.79 (2020 est.)
1.79 (2019 est.)
1.79 (2018 est.)
1.79 (2017 est.)
electrification - total population: 100% (2021)
0 bbl/day (2015 est.)
0 bbl/day (2015 est.)
10,440 bbl/day (2015 est.)
1 (2021)
1
note: paved runways have a concrete or asphalt surface but not all have facilities for refueling, maintenance, or air traffic control; the length of a runway required for aircraft to safely operate depends on a number of factors including the type of aircraft, the takeoff weight (including passengers, cargo, and fuel), engine types, flap settings, landing speed, elevation of the airport, and average maximum daily air temperature; paved runways can reach a length of 5,000 m (16,000 ft.), but the “typical” length of a commercial airline runway is between 2,500-4,000 m (8,000-13,000 ft.)
total: 53 km
major seaport(s): Philipsburg
oil terminal(s): Coles Bay oil terminal
manyapis