Barbados
Everything Palanor holds about Barbados, in one place: 43 public signals, what its economy runs on, how often America’s largest companies name it, the news that names it, and Country Posture. Every figure is computed from stored readings and carries its source and date.
North AmericaAmericasLatin America & Caribbean
Country Posture
What Barbados’s economy is doing
Momentum
2025Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.590 below 0.60; AUC 0.590 below the single-input baseline (0.624); 2010–2022: AUC 0.595 below 0.60; AUC 0.595 below the single-input baseline (0.641).
Inputs
| Real GDP growth | 2.7 |
| Growth against its three-year average | -4.3 |
| Change in unemployment | 0.1 |
| Change in the employment rate | -0.3 |
| Export volume growth | — |
| OECD leading indicator | — |
Resilience
2025Withheld: 1 of 5 core inputs reported for 2025.
Inputs
| Interest as a share of revenue | — |
| Budget balance | — |
| Reserves, months of imports | — |
| Current account | — |
| Governance (WGI mean) | 0.89 |
| External debt | — |
Pressure
2025Inputs only. Did not pass the pre-registered back-test: 1996–2009: AUC 0.657 below the single-input baseline (0.672).
Inputs
| Inflation | 0.8 |
| Change in inflation | -0.6 |
| Currency move against the dollar | 0.0% |
| Conflict deaths per million | 0.0 |
| Political stability | 1.28 |
| Private credit, three-year change | — |
| Bond spread over U.S. Treasuries | — |
Posture describes what an economy is doing; it is not a rating and never ranks countries. Each input is read against the country’s own history and against every other economy that year. An axis shows a score only after passing a back-test fixed before any result was computed. Method and back-test.
Passport reach
Where a Barbados passport opens doors
The share of world GDP, outside Barbados itself, in the economies whose published rules let a holder of this passport in, as of October 2026. Palanor records the rules of destinations holding 88% of world GDP, from each government’s own list, and weights them by World Bank GDP for 2025. Rank is among 199 passports.
Work
0.0%rank 114 of 199
the right to work (free movement in full; treaty and working-holiday routes at half); 0 destinations in full.
Recorded changes
Reach is shown here and not weighted into Country Strength: it rewards membership of a free-movement area or a treaty more than the strength of an economy. Entry is always at the border officer’s discretion, and conditions (length of stay, fees, age limits) vary. Method, sources and the full ranking: Passports and citizenship.
Palanor calculation from each destination government's published rules; GDP weights from the World Bank (CC BY 4.0), one year for the whole line, so it moves only when a list changes.
IMF World Economic Outlook
The IMF’s outlook for Barbados
The latest year before the October 2026 edition (often still an IMF estimate) and the IMF’s own projections. These are the IMF’s published forecasts, shown as published; Palanor does not project them further. Since the previous edition the IMF cut its growth forecast for this year by 0.7 percentage points (Palanor calculation).
| Measure | 2025 | 2026 IMF f’cast | 2027 IMF f’cast | 2031 IMF f’cast |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real GDP growth% | 2.7 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| Inflation, average consumer prices% | 0.9 | 2.6 | 2.8 | 2.4 |
| Unemployment rate% of labor force | 7.2 | 7.3 | 7.3 | 7.3 |
| GDP, current US dollarsUS$ bn | 7.9 | 8.3 | 8.7 | 10.4 |
| GDP at purchasing-power parityintl $ bn | 7.3 | 7.7 | 8.1 | 9.5 |
| GDP per person, US dollarsUS$ | 27,246 | 28,245 | 29,680 | 35,265 |
| Current account balance% of GDP | -5.9 | -6.3 | -6.2 | -4.9 |
| Government gross debt% of GDP | 96.2 | 93.8 | 88.4 | 72.8 |
| Government net debt% of GDP | 95.5 | 93.1 | 87.7 | 72.2 |
| Government overall balance% of GDP | -0.2 | -0.7 | -0.6 | 0.4 |
| Government primary balance% of GDP | 4.2 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 4.1 |
| Government net interest paid% of GDP · Palanor calc. | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.1 | 3.7 |
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database (edition on the projection). Dashed: the IMF's published projection.
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database (edition on the projection). Dashed: the IMF's published projection.
Source: IMF World Economic Outlook Database, October 2026. Provided by the IMF “as is” and free of charge from the IMF; the IMF does not endorse Palanor. Net interest paid is a Palanor calculation: the IMF's primary balance minus its overall balance.
News
In the news
- Barbados joins push for global panel to tackle inequality reut.rs/4yl6rRk
Reuters · Bluesky2026-10-14neutral
Headlines that name Barbados, matched by name with fixed rules (a wrong match is worse than a missing one). Tone is read from each headline’s own words; no model reads or summarizes an article, and other publishers’ stories link out.
Company graph
Companies headquartered in Barbados
Palanor’s company graph holds 20 entities headquartered here (GLEIF headquarters address, else legal address).
Signals
Every series about Barbados
Grouped by theme, the most-read first. All 43 in the Library.
Migration1 of 3
- U.S.-Born People Living in Barbados (UN)44th percentile since 1990; highest since 20051,054 people2024
Health and living standards4
- Barbados · Tertiary Enrollment Gender Gap · pts (women − men)44th percentile since 1971; lowest since 2018; 1y −4.06 pts32.82025
- Barbados · Tertiary Enrollment, Men · % gross50th percentile since 1971; lowest since 2019; 1y −0.726 pts34.6% gross2025
- Barbados · Tertiary Enrollment, Women · % gross50th percentile since 1971; lowest since 2019; 1y −4.79 pts67.4% gross2025
- Barbados · Deaths from Non-Communicable Diseases · % of all deaths79.2% of deaths2021
More about this country2
- Barbados · IMF Credit Outstanding · USD bn (IMF)95th percentile since Jan 1977; 1y −5.8%$0.53bn2026-09-01
- Barbados · IMF Credit Outstanding, % of GDP90th percentile since 1980; lowest since 2022; 1y −1.18 pts6.92% of GDP2025
Peers
Elsewhere in North America
Alphabetical. Palanor does not rank countries.
AnguillaAntigua and BarbudaArubaBahamasBelizeBermudaCanadaCayman IslandsCosta RicaCubaCuraçaoDominicaDominican RepublicEl SalvadorGreenlandGrenadaGuadeloupeGuatemalaHaitiHondurasJamaicaMartiniqueMexicoMontserratNicaraguaPanamaPuerto RicoSaint Kitts and NevisSaint LuciaSaint MartinSaint Pierre and MiquelonSaint Vincent and the GrenadinesSint MaartenTrinidad and TobagoTurks and Caicos IslandsUnited StatesVirgin IslandsVirgin Islands