Poverty, some. Famine, no.

Katherine,
It's nice you are doing a report about the Virgin Islands. Since we are a U.S. Territory, many things here are similar to the way they are in the States. Because we have been under the flags of several countries in our history, some things are different. Proverty here is about the same as in the States. Some people think the people here are poorer, but because of the climate, our needs are less. Houses don't have to be insulated against the cold and we don't need winter wardrobes. We have no famine here.

I would say that poverty is significantly higher than in the US. The Virgin Islands poverty rate is 30.5% while the US average is 12.4% as of 2004. The child poverty rate on St. Croix is 45%. The cost of living is much higher in the Virgin Islands than in the US, although we do not need heat in the homes. Also, people who work in the territory tend to earn a lot less than if they performed the same job in the US.

There are many other Caribbean islands that don't have the economic privilege of being a territory of a developed nation where the poverty rate is much less than in the Virgin Islands. It's a much greater problem than you think...

I would not be so eager to compare the territory to the United States, we have a completely different culture and history here. Many people who relocate to the island make the same mistake of assuming that things in the VI are "they way they are in the States," and I think that is quite ignorant. It's not like God took a piece of the United States and dropped it in the Caribbean Sea and named it the US Virgin Islands. We have a totally different history, culture and destiny as a people that is more in common with the surrounding English-speaking islands and not America.

DL,

You state, "We have a totally different history, culture and destiny as a people that is more in common with the surrounding English-speaking islands and not America."

I would like to know where you found my "destiny" as I am unable to predict my future or the futures of other island residents or the futures of residents of other islands or the futures of residents of other parts of the Americas...

All I meant was that what Caribbean islands are striving towards is generally different from what America is striving towards.

Hmmm...right now...I don't even know what I'M striving for!

DL: Judging from all the illegals from other Caribbean islands who are paying big bucks and facing many dangers, even death, to get to the USVI, I would say that they want exactly what America is striving for.

IMHO.

Our vagabonds have it better then anyone in their station anywhere, I'mm amazed we're not innundated with more.
According to very old St. Johnians, there was never any hunger at all here, always lobsters waiting to be picked up, chicken and goats all over etc etc