POPULATION GROWS 16%
By NIKIA DEVEAUX
Guardian Staff Reporter
nikia@nasguard.com
The population of The Bahamas has increased by 16.48 percent over the past decade compared to 19 percent growth during the 1990 to 2000 period, according to preliminary results coming out of the 2010 Census.
Statistics show that the country's population went from 303,611 in 2000 to 353,658 in 2010.
Director of Statistics Kelsie Dorsett revealed yesterday that growth declines in the main population centers-New Providence and Grand Bahama-played a significant role on the slowing of the country's population growth rate.
New Providence saw an increase of roughly 28 percent during the period of 1990 to 2000, but recorded only an 18 percent increase over the last decade.
The island's population currently stands at 248,948 compared to the previous decade's population of 210,832.
Grand Bahama dropped from a 15 percent increase in the previous census period to a 10 percent increase between 2000-2010.
"Even though these two islands still account for a substantial percentage of the population, the growth on these islands has slowed significantly,"Dorsett said.
According to the statistics director, the greatest population decline was found on Cat Island, which recorded a nine percent decrease.
San Salvador saw a major change in its population, going from over a 100 percent increase in the 1990s to a four percent decline over the past ten years.
The director said she believes that significant turnaround is due to the closing of the Club Med resort on that island.
"During the decade of 1990 to 2000 Club Med was up and running, hence all the auxillary services like car rentals, restaurants, etc., and it opened opportunities for people to have businesses and attracted people there. But with the closing, that meant that many people were no longer employed and they sought work elsewhere,"Dorsett said.
Exuma's population has more than doubled in the past decade.
The island's population grew from 3,571 in 2000 to 7,314 in 2010.
Dorsett attributes this population boom to the opening of the new Emerald Bay Sandals resort, among other developments on the island.
She said the trends in Exuma and San Salvador clearly demonstrate the role that economic development plays in population growth.
Acklins and Abaco also saw noteable increases in their populations.
According to Dorsette, statisticians worked painstakingly to ensure the accuracy of the numbers; however, the numbers are still subject to change because of several factors.
The numbers were tallied by hand, and do not yet include necessary adjustments.
"We as statisticians have adjustments to make, because unfortunately there are people out there who do not cooperate, and there are people who may have been away for the entire exercise,"she explained.
"The second and hopefully final round[of counting]will be done electronically when we have actually processed all of the data."
Dorsett said statisticians are currently in the process of coding the data, and no additional details will be available until the entire process is done.
Once the extensive and arduous coding process is done, the director said, information on population by age group, occupation, industry, religion, country of birth, country of citizenship, etc., will be made available.
The director said that the department's goal is to have all the information available within a year at the earliest.
"We will be very far ahead of previous years if we can get it all done within a year. We have set high goals for ourselves and we are hoping that within a year's time we will have all this done,"said Dorsett.
10/20/2010
thenassauguardian
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