I was recently asked how many enslaved workers were needed to operate a sugar plantation. The answer is not straightforward—similar to asking, “how long is a piece of string?” By the peak of the sugar industry on St. Croix, the original 150-acre Danish plantations had been subdivided or merged, making plantation sizes highly variable. Additionally, much of the land on these estates was unsuitable for sugar production, and not every estate had its own sugar processing factory, reducing the demand for labor.
Between 1795 and 1800, St. Croix’s sugar industry peaked with 30,000 acres dedicated to sugar cultivation. At that time, the island had an enslaved population of 18,000 to 20,000, alongside 1,500 to 2,000 Europeans and approximately 150 operating sugar mills.
Based on an estimated labor ratio of 1 worker per 1.5 acres, we can approximate that each original 150-acre plantation required about 100 enslaved laborers for sugar cultivation and processing.