Map:

Overview:
Guadeloupe has been a French possession since 1635. The island of Saint Martin is shared with the Netherlands; its southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles and its northern portion is named Saint-Martin and is part of Guadeloupe

The People:
Population: 448,713 (July 2005 est.)
Age structure:
0-14 years: 24% (male 55,072/female 52,677)
15-64 years: 66.9% (male 148,880/female 151,238)
65 years and over: 9.1% (male 17,032/female 23,814) (2005 est.)

Religions:
Roman Catholic 95%, Hindu and pagan African 4%, Protestant 1%

Government Type:
N/A

Leader(s) to pray for:
chief of state: President Jacques CHIRAC of France (since 17 May 1995), represented by Prefect Paul GIROT DE LANGLADE (since 17 August 2004)
head of government: President of the General Council Jacques GILLOT (since 26 March 2001); President of the Regional Council Victorin LUREL (since 2 April 2004)

Source: The World Factbook

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