Countries & territories / Compare
Fifteen CARICOM member states, compared on one basis.
Every figure below uses the same source, definition and reference year, so the columns are genuinely comparable. Most published Caribbean comparisons are not — they mix WHO and IDF estimates, crude and age-standardised bases, and reference years four years apart.
Country comparison
Sorted by network tier, then by adult obesity prevalence. Country names link to the full country pages.
| Country | Population | Obesity | Ovwt+ob | Diabetes | Hypert. | HTN ctrl | NCD deaths | Prem. NCD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anchor site | ||||||||
| Barbados | 282,623 | 38.3% | 68.3% | 27.9% | 41.8% | 33.7% | 87.3% | 14.0% |
| Jamaica | 2,837,077 | 34.0% | 61.4% | 24.0% | 46.3% | 19.1% | 78.2% | 20.2% |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 1,367,764 | 31.0% | 61.5% | 30.3% | 42.4% | 20.9% | 81.5% | 20.3% |
| Core network site | ||||||||
| The Bahamas | 403,033 | 47.1% | 76.4% | 20.6% | 44.5% | 22.4% | 73.1% | 20.4% |
| Belize | 417,072 | 41.7% | 71.8% | 16.5% | 38.0% | 21.4% | 70.5% | 15.4% |
| Saint Lucia | 180,149 | 33.7% | 63.1% | 20.4% | 39.8% | 22.0% | 82.1% | 15.5% |
| Grenada | 117,303 | 30.4% | 60.4% | 21.6% | 46.6% | 19.0% | 84.2% | 17.1% |
| Suriname | 634,431 | 29.3% | 58.5% | 20.6% | 42.9% | 21.1% | 78.6% | 18.7% |
| Guyana | 831,087 | 28.1% | 55.6% | 21.1% | 40.0% | 20.2% | 69.6% | 25.4% |
| Network capacity | ||||||||
| Saint Kitts and Nevis | 46,922 | 46.5% | 76.7% | 22.0% | 45.1% | 22.3% | — | — |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 94,209 | 34.0% | 64.2% | 22.4% | 42.6% | 23.2% | 87.3% | 12.1% |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 99,924 | 33.6% | 62.5% | 16.6% | 39.3% | 20.5% | 81.6% | 23.6% |
| Dominica | 65,871 | 31.4% | 59.8% | 25.5% | 47.7% | 17.6% | — | — |
| Coverage only | ||||||||
| Montserrat | 4,386 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Under review | ||||||||
| Haiti | 11,772,557 | 10.1% | 29.2% | 21.3% | 42.9% | 8.1% | 64.7% | 31.6% |
Obesity, overweight+obesity and diabetes: crude prevalence, adults 18+, 2022. Hypertension and control: age-standardised, adults 30–79, 2019. NCD share of deaths: 2019. Premature NCD: probability of dying 30–70 from a major NCD, 2021. Source: WHO Global Health Observatory (NCD-RisC). Dashes indicate no published estimate — Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Montserrat fall below the WHO Global Health Estimates population threshold for mortality indicators, and Montserrat has no published NCD estimates at all.
What the table shows
Four things a sponsor should take from this.
- 1
The obesity gradient is extreme, and it is not where you would guess
The Bahamas (47.1%) and Saint Kitts and Nevis (46.5%) lead, with Belize (41.7%) close behind. Haiti sits at 10.1% — the lowest in the Americas. A “Caribbean” obesity strategy that treats the region as one population is wrong by a factor of four.
- 2
Hypertension is near-universal and almost universally uncontrolled
Every territory with published data sits between 38% and 48% prevalence. Control rates run from 33.7% in Barbados — the best in the network — down to 8.1% in Haiti. In most of the network, four in five hypertensive adults are uncontrolled and therefore protocol-eligible.
- 3
The sex gap in obesity is the region's defining feature
Where sex-disaggregated data exists, women carry roughly twice the obesity burden of men: 48.8% against 18.5% in Jamaica, 45.2% against 17.8% in Dominica, 51.8% against 31.6% in Belize. Any obesity protocol recruiting here needs a deliberate sex-balance strategy, and any national headline figure conceals it.
- 4
Prevalence and research readiness are not correlated
The territories with the highest prevalence are frequently the ones with the thinnest regulatory infrastructure. Barbados and Jamaica have the research capability; The Bahamas, Saint Kitts and Belize have the population. Getting both usually means a multi-country design anchored on the former — which is exactly what a single-network, single-contract operating model is for.
Reading the numbers honestly
Three caveats we would rather state than be asked
These are modelled estimates, not survey results. Several territories have not run a national risk-factor survey in over a decade, and their confidence intervals are correspondingly wide — Belize's diabetes estimate spans 8.2% to 27.7%. We quote intervals on request and always where they matter. Second, WHO and IDF figures are not interchangeable: they use different age bands and case definitions and can differ by a factor of two for the same country. Every figure above is WHO. Third, national prevalence is not site catchment. It tells you the population exists; it does not tell you your site can reach it. That is what feasibility is for.
Which of these populations does your protocol need?
Send us a synopsis and we'll give you an honest feasibility read, country by country — including the regulatory pathway each territory actually requires.
Send us a synopsisEvidence & sources
Prevalence figures use a single consistent basis across every country page. Obesity, overweight and diabetes: crude prevalence, adults 18+, 2022. Hypertension: age-standardised, adults 30–79, 2019. NCD share of deaths: 2019. Premature NCD mortality: probability of dying between 30 and 70 from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease, 2021. All are WHO/NCD-RisC modelled estimates and carry confidence intervals; we quote intervals on request and always where they are wide.
- WHO Global Health Observatory — prevalence and mortality indicators
- PAHO, NCDs at a Glance 2025
- PAHO Health in the Americas country profiles
- IDF Diabetes Atlas — quoted separately where used; IDF and WHO bases are not interchangeable
- CARPHA, Caribbean Regulatory System
- National regulator, ethics committee and hospital details from government and PAHO Pharmaceutical Country Profiles
Figures compiled August 2026. Verify figures before republication.