ESO compendium paints last year in numbers
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Compendium of Statistics 2021, which has now been released by the Economics and Statistics Office, pulls together all of the information collected by the ESO over the course of last year. Many of the figures have already changed dramatically since the data was sourced, not least the overall population. When the census was conducted in October last year, the population was said to be 71,105. But more recent figures reveal that the population is now much closer to 80,000.
Although many of the figures come from the census, the compendium pulls a range of statistics into one place and includes private sector information, painting a picture of the Cayman Islands for a specific twelve-month period, from the amount of garbage taken to the dump to the money held by banks. It also compares figures to 2020, which was a year distorted by the impact of the pandemic.
In social services, the total number of families who received assistance from the Needs Assessment Unit declined in 2021 to 1,783, down from 2,558 in 2020. While the COVID-19 lockdown forced many more families into poverty and increased the number of people in need, the number of people receiving poor relief in 2021 increased by 3.4%.
The Department of Environmental Health processed 128,078 tons of garbage in 2021, which was 5,321 less than in 2020, highlighting the impact of tourism on the amount of rubbish produced. While the amount of garbage generated may have declined slightly, there was only a small drop in the consumption of electricity. In 2021 across the three islands, residents and businesses burned 660,469 megawatt hours compared to 2019, a record-breaking year for electrical use in the Cayman Islands when 667,639 Mwh was used.
The statistics show that the local prison population had decreased by the end of 2021 to the lowest number since 2013. There were 189 people in jail at the end of the year, including 54 non-Caymanian inmates. This is a significant drop since the peak population at the end of 2018 when there were 240 people locked up.
Cayman’s love affair with the motor car also continued apace in 2021, reaching record-breaking levels. According to the compendium, 5,859 vehicles, both used and new, were imported into the Cayman Islands last year, even beating the record year of 2019, when 5,662 were imported.
The government also collected a record-breaking CI$107 million in work permit fees, even though the borders were closed throughout most of the year. That number also exceeded 2019, when the CIG collected $99 million from employers bringing in foreign workers.
See the full compendium on the ESO website.
- Fascinated
- Happy
- Sad
- Angry
- Bored
- Afraid
Category: Government Administration, Politics
And another HUGE question is just how many HUNDREDS of MILLIONS of dollars is being PUMPED OUT of the Cayman Is Economy via work permit workers (not to mention all other sources)
More than 15 yrs ago I got to learn from a former ESO worker that the most populous nationality of foreign workers(just one nationality alone) had sent more than 200 Million back to homeland.
5859 cars imported. Hmmmm, that means we can have 16 accidents a day that have cars written off, and still break even.
C’mon local drivers, I see you striving to make those 16 a reality, but let’s try harder. I want more speeding, tailgating, weaving, ignoring of rules of the road. We can do it!!!
The reality is, we have a much larger population than what the statistics tell us. Many expat households lied and hid when the census was being conducted. The traffic on our roads is a clear indication of this – Cars don’t drive themselves.
Why would expat houses lie?
Ummm, because the accommodation forms they filed with immigration as to where they are living are a lie?
Because the fact that they are living 5 to a room is a breach of various public health and planning regulations?
Because a number are illegal overstayers?
Because some entered illegally by boat?
Because they have undeclared dependents who should be in school?
Because their home has not been licensed to operate as a multi family rental unit?
Because they assume that with a billion dollars in income the Cayman Islands might actually be able to enforce its own laws, just occasionally?
Indeed. This is such a stupid comment. Even if an expat household did refuse to answer the door for the census takers there are a multitude of existing ways to track expat households, including dependents, (e.g. work permit disclosures, etc.) but very few ways to track Caymanian households – especially for households were no one is registered to vote, dependents are too young to have an ID, no one is on the dole, etc.
I’m Caymanian and quite happy to admit I would never give any info to a census, I am not registered to vote, I do not have dependents (e.g. that would list their place of dwelling on school records), and my drivers license has my old physical address on it. Thus, how would they even know where I live, if I have kids, etc.? They wouldn’t, as obviously we don’t have mail delivery to houses or taxes here to disclose physical address (or even marriage / dependent status) via that method. In any event, local tax returns would likely use a person’s P.O. box anyway (as does my U.S. tax filing).
The only exception may be if low-paid expat workers are living a dozen to a small condo / house illegally (e.g. fire code) and don’t want to disclose that fact by answering the door. Although I suppose the same could be true of Caymanians, though unlikely. The reality of the matter is the only people I have ever heard be willing to engage the census takers are expats.
lol. you can’t possibly know if either of your assertions are true. you’re making it up.
Reality?
Population goes up.
Crime goes up.
Number of police goes up.
Prison population goes down.
On what side of the looking glass does that make sense?
The PACT side.
Be fair. This is a hangover from Alden’s PPM.
Neither side of the aisle makes sense. All 19 MPs need to go. Clean sweep in 2025.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.
repeated by Mark Twain, Ben Disraeli and s host of others.
Nonsense. Quit hiding behind FOI exemptions and reveal the sources of your data, otherwise none of it is to be believed.
This is what happens when our neighbors outnumber us. It will only get worse. You think it is bad now just wait!
They already do. Details to follow.
As someone who has made Cayman my home and continues to live and provide for my family and assimilate into the local culture as much as possible, I want to say that that’s not true. you can’t disenfranchise yourself by saying we must go when what you need to say is jobs need to be scrutinized by immigration when it comes to Caymanian bosses. too much foolishness going on over here with people allowing them to come on island, pay their own permit and then work odd jobs that they’re definitely not qualified for.
Law firms, who bring foreign lawyers into Cayman to obtain PR and status grants, are a major problem.
Useless entitled Caymanian “lawyers” are the root cause.