Population of St Eustatius revised downwards

Between January 2011 and January 2016, the population of St Eustatius declined by 13 percent to 3.2 thousand residents. On 1 January 2015, St Eustatius still had 3.9 thousand inhabitants; that year, however, the population register of the island was cleaned up and the number of residents was revised downwards as a result. Around 600 residents were recorded as emigrants, Statistics Netherlands (CBS) reports.

Migration balance on St Eustatius by country, 2011-2015
 Number of persons
United States-298
Central and South America-152
Canada-35
Curaçao-27
European Netherlands17
China18
Other/Unknown-20

In the period 2011 to 2015, positive migration (more immigrants than emigrants) only occurred among people from China and from the European Netherlands. The number of people listed as emigrants who left for the US and Central and South America was remarkably high. This is due to the abovementioned clean-up: many people from the US and Central and South America were still erroneously included as residents in the population register. They have since been recorded as emigrants. Their actual emigration most likely took place spread over previous years.

Population growth on St Eustatius, 2011-2015
 Birth surplusNet migration
201120106
20129130
20133385
20142-139
201525-679

Many moves to the Caribbean Netherlands

Between January 2011 and December 2015, more people settled in the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius) than left. Net migration stood at 2.7 thousand. In the same period, around 10 thousand people moved to one of the three islands while slightly over 7 thousand 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 between 1 January 2011 and 1 January 2016, the population grew by over 20 percent to 19.4 thousand residents. On St Eustatius the population declined by 13 percent to 3.2 thousand residents. This is related to a clean-up of the population register which took place in 2015.