Districts of Saint Lucia


The island nation of Saint Lucia is divided into 10 districts. The name Quarters or Quartiers originally came from the French period in Saint Lucia. The 2001 and 2010 Census of Saint Lucia refers to the first level administrative divisions as districts. The FIPS and ISO standards regularly called these divisions quarters or quartiers in French. The former district of Dauphin Quarter was merged into Gros Islet District and the former district of Praslin Quarter was merged into Micoud District.

History

After the French claimed title of Saint Lucia in 1744, commandant de Rougueville divided Saint Lucia into districts and parishes. Quarters were administrative districts for the control of settlers and slaves. The French Surveyor General of Saint Lucia, M. Raussaim, initially divided Saint Lucia into seven quarters.
In 1844, Henry Breen describes how Saint Lucia was divided into two districts, the eastern district on the leeward side of Saint Lucia facing the Atlantic Ocean and the western district on the windward side facing the Caribbean Sea. It was further divided into eleven quarters or parishes, i.e. Castries, Anse Laraye, Soufriere, Choiseul, Laborie, Vieux Fort, Micoud, Praslin, Dennery, Dauphin, and Gros-ilet. Each quarter or parish had a town in the coastal bay within its territory that was named the same as the quarter. Breen further talks about stipendiary magistrates introduced during the period of the apprenticeship system. These magistrates were as follows:
  1. Castries, Gros-ilet, Daughpin, and Anse Laraye
  2. Soufriere, Choiseul, Laborie
  3. Vieux Fort, Micoud, Praslin, Dennery
Still later the number of stipendiary magistrates was increased to five:
  1. Castries and Anse Laray
  2. Gros-ilet and Sauphin
  3. Soufriere and Choiseul
  4. Vieux Fort and Laborie
  5. Micoud, Dennery, and Praslin
The magistrates did not survive. However, the quarters or parishes did survive, as such, with some mergers and changes in the names.

Districts

Since the 2001 Census of Saint Lucia there have been 10 districts in Saint Lucia.
#DistrictPopulationHouseholdsLand AreaPopulation density
1Anse la Raye6,0602,171161 per km2, 417 per mi2
2Canaries2,04478984 per km2, 218 per mi2
3Castries65,65623,296639 per km2, 1,656 per mi2
4Choiseul6,1282,077237 per km2, 612 per mi2
5Dennery12,7674,419177 per km2, 457 per mi2
6Gros Islet20,8729,804208 per km2, 539 per mi2
7Laborie7,3632,189218 per km2, 564 per mi2
8Micoud16,2845,623145 per km2, 376 per mi2
9Soufrière7,6572,886131 per km2, 340 per mi2
10Vieux Fort14,7545,665296 per km2, 768 per mi2
Saint Lucia165,59658,919268 per km2, 695 per mi2

Political divisions

Saint Lucia electoral boundaries are based, generally, on the districts. There are 17 constituencies in Saint Lucia that are represented in the House of Assembly of Saint Lucia. A study was done in 2014 to look into variations in census and boundaries and possible expansion of the number of constituencies.
DistrictConstituency NamePopulation
Gros IsletGros Islet23,242
CastriesBabonneau12,844
CastriesCastries East11,782
CastriesCastries South9,463
CastriesCastries Central7,742
CastriesCastries South East14,516
CastriesCastries North11,463
Anse la Raye and CanariesAnse la Raye and Canaries8,363
SoufrièreSoufrière8,424
LaborieLaborie8,588
Vieux FortVieux Fort North7,201
Vieux FortVieux Fort South9,336
MicoudMicoud North7,173
MicoudMicoud South7,330
DenneryDennery South4,896
DenneryDennery North7,570
ChoiseulChoiseul6,130