Census reveals Cayman’s 2021 population figures

The 2021 Census survey preliminary report has been released and reveals that the total population of the country in 2021 stood at 69,656. Out of that total, 69,350 people were living in households and 306 were living in institutions such as prisons, dormitories and retirement homes.

These figures come from the first report to be published from the massive collection of data which took place from 10 October to 31 December 2021, with an additional three weeks in January 2022.

The overall response rate to the Census was estimated at 96.8 percent, with a non-response rate of 3.2 per cent which amounted to 958 households or approximately 2,300 individuals.

The non-institutional population in 2021 (69,350) grew by 26% over the 2010 Census count of 55,036. Caymanians made up 52.9% of the population, while non-Caymanians counted at 45.9%. The remaining 1.2% of those surveyed did not indicate their nationality.

Most people were living in George Town (49.6%) at the time of the survey, followed by West Bay (21.5%), Bodden Town (20.6%), the Sister Islands (3.1%), North Side (2.7%) and East End (2.5%). Compared to the 2010 population, Bodden Town recorded the highest growth rate at 35.3% and the other districts recorded double-digit population growth except for the Sister Islands, which saw a population decline.

There were 44,635 employed, with Caymanians accounting for 19,444 (43.6% of total employment), while non-Caymanians were counted at 25,097 (or 56.2% of the total). The unemployed reached 2,676 or 5.7% of the labour force. Unemployed Caymanians were counted at 1,795, while unemployed non-Caymanians was counted at 873, resulting in unemployment rates of 8.5% and 3.4%, respectively.

The number of households in the Cayman Islands increased to 29,502 from 22,760 in the 2010 Census, while the average household size remained relatively stable at 2.4 people in 2021.

Final 2021 Census numbers are expected in June of this year.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Finance & Economic Development Chris Saunders said that having accurate population data was vital in public health situations.

“I’m incredibly glad that we took a cautious approach and asked for a re-estimate of the population prior to determining our Covid-19 vaccination targets,” he said, stating it was important that government got it right to ensure the population was sufficiently protected prior to re-opening borders.

“We went with the higher updated estimate from the Labour Force Survey Fall 2020, which is estimated within a 5% margin of error, and the actual preliminary census population count of 69,656 falls well within this margin,” he stated. “If you factor in the 3.2% of households that did not respond to the Census survey for one reason or another, the preliminary population will be slightly higher than the Labour Force Survey 2020 estimated upper band.”