THERE are no doctors. Electricity runs for just five hours a day. There’s no running water or sewerage system, with fresh water dropped off by the Colombian navy once every three weeks.

Welcome to Santa Cruz del Islote — and make sure you breathe in! This teeny tiny picturesque Caribbean island is insanely crowded. It’s just .012 square kilometres, but somehow 1200 people manage to inhabit it, making it four times as densely populated as Manhattan.

Located in the archipelago of San Bernardo, it lies two hours from Cartagena, Colombia. According to local legend, it was discovered about 150 years ago by a group of passing fishermen from the coastal town of Baru, 50 kilometres away.

They found something very attractive about the island — it had no mosquitoes, a rarity in the area. So they set up camp.

These days, there are 90 houses, two shops, one restaurant and a school. Space is so limited that many of the structures extend onto the water, and the isle is part artificial.

And with no high-rises, everyone is squished onto the ground level.

The only empty space for people to visit is a courtyard which is half the size of a tennis court.

Most of its residents work on nearby islands, and life here is described as peaceful, with children well-behaved and doors never locked.

“Life here is calm and delightful,” says 66-year-old Juvenal Julio, a descendant of the Islote’s founders, told the Toronto Star. “We don’t have violence, we don’t need police, we all know each other and we enjoy our days.”

Despite the lack of crime, there is a lone security guard. He’s stationed there because Colombia funds a school on the island which is attended by 80 children, and law states that there must be a guard for every school.

Not that they need it, with children described as “docile” by their teachers.

When death strikes, the bodies are taken to a neighbouring island for burial, as there’s no room for a cemetery.

But despite the squeeze, locals love the lifestyle, with one telling the Star “It’s a glorious life.”