POPULATION GROWTH DECLINES SAYS THE STATS INSTITUTE

The Bahamas National Statistical Institute announced its findings to the press for the last decade of Bahamian population growth and development.  It tells a story which we have known for some time. The population growth of The Bahamas and its absolute numbers are declining, in the ten years since the last census.  The growth in the country’s population was not by natural increase but by immigration.  The deaths are outpacing the births.  The rate of natural increase is 1.2 per cent down from 1.8 per cent the last time  The population is growing older with the median age now at 35 instead of 25.  This has implications for national insurance and its sustainability.  Of course, we have known this for years but in our country, we sleep walk until it just hits us in the face  Our guess is that nothing will be done about this either.