Statia population going down, growth on Saba and Bonaire

Between January 2011 and January 2016, the population of St. Eustatius declined by 13 per cent to 3,200 residents. On January 1, 2015, Statia still had 3,900 inhabitants. In that year, the Civil Registry of the island was cleaned up and the number of residents was revised downwards as a result. Around 600 residents were recorded as migrants. Central Bureau for Statistics (CBS) reported that in the same period the population of Saba increased by six per cent to 1,900 inhabitants.

In the 2011-2015 period, more persons migrated to Statia than those who left among them people from China and the European Netherlands.

The number of people listed as emigrants who left for the United States and Central and South America was remarkably high. This is due to the abovementioned clean-up, CBS said. Many people from the US and Central and South America were still erroneously registered as residents. They have since been recorded as emigrants. Their actual emigration most likely took place over the previous years.

Between January 2011 and January 2016, Saba’s population increased by six per cent which was predominantly the result of immigration, CBS reported.

In that period Saba’s immigrants outnumbered emigrants by 150. Many medical students from North American pursue part of their training on Saba raising immigration figures. The largest groups were from Canada with 750 immigrants, followed by the United States with 550 immigrants. In the same period, 300 Saba inhabitants emigrated to the US and 550 to Canada. The destination country of some 35 per cent of emigrants is unknown. The majority are likely medical students who returned to their country of origin.

Saba’s Civil registry was cleaned up between 2011 and 2013. As the clean-up showed, a number of people who were registered as island residents were no longer residing there. They were subsequently recorded as emigrants resulting in a negative net migration rate for 2013 and 2014. Their actual emigration probably took place spread over previous years.

Between January 2011 and December 2015 more people settled in Bonaire, Saba and Statia than those who left. Net migration stood at 2,700. In the same period, around 10,000 people moved to one of the three islands while slightly over 7,000 people left the islands. The Caribbean Netherlands is especially popular among residents of the European Netherlands, Central and South America, Curaçao, the US and Canada.

On Bonaire, the population grew by over 20 per cent to 19,400 residents between January 2011 and January 2016, CBS stated.

The Daily Herald.