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Guadeloupe - People

The Guadeloupean population remains very young compared to the national average with almost a third under the age of 20. The population of Guadeloupe is a blend of the Amerindian, black, white, and Indian populations who settled here over the course of centuries. Unlike in other Caribbean islands, the FDAs have no remaining indigenous (Amerindian) populations. On 1 January 2010, Guadeloupe’s population was 404,394 inhabitants, followed by Martinique, with 399,637, and French Guiana, with 232,223. The life expectancy in 2008 was 83.4 years for women and 75.6 for men. In Guadeloupe, foreigners account for 4% of the population, over half of them from Haiti.

Based on the 2000 Human Development Index, Guadeloupe enjoys a reasonable standard of living, ranking 33rd out of 176 countries which is considered to be a high by international standards. According to the World Health Organization in 2000, 79% of families lived in a single-family home; about 3.8% of dwellings had no running water or electricity and 20% of the population lived in precarious or unsanitary conditions. Guadeloupe was listed in the Human Development Report as one of those countries which provides safe sanitation for less than 70 percent of its population.

Guadeloupe is a young population department (31.6% of the population under 20 years of age). However, the proportion of elderly people increases substantially, requiring a greater supply of geriatric care. Guadeloupe is distinguished by the importance and precociousness of chronic respiratory insufficiency, and diseases such as dengue, leptospirosis specific to the Caribbean basin, sickle-cell anemia (a genetic disease very widespread in the West Indian population). Moreover, Guadeloupe remains one of the French departments most affected by the AIDS virus.

Analysis of the services offered by the healthcare facilities led the health authorities, the HRA and the DSDS to launch a comprehensive plan for the modernization of the medical and medico-social system over the period 2006-2010 (hospital plan 2007 extended by the Plan hospital 2012) within the framework of the regional scheme of the health organization. Thus, work is being carried out to upgrade all the infrastructures in the sector (hygiene and safety, medical surfaces, compliance with anti-seismic standards). A better distribution of care is also implemented.

As of 1 January 2006, Guadeloupe had 1,052 health professionals per 100,000 inhabitants (1,505 in metropolitan France), with a substantially equal density. Guadeloupe's equipment rate, measured by the number of beds and places per 1,000 inhabitants, is relatively comparable to that of the department of Martinique, but is still below the level recorded in metropolitan France.