Official estimate of population is almost 88,000
(CNS): As of June this year, the estimated population of the Cayman Islands had risen to 87,866, a more than 5% increase on the 2023 figure and a growth in headcount of around 3,000 people from December 2023, when the population stood at 84,738. The number of Caymanians rose by just 2.5% to 39,897, while the number of permanent residents grew to 7,822 from 6,433 in the spring of 2023. The non-Caymanian population is now estimated to be more than 40,000, a 4.8% increase from last year.
Cayman’s rapidly growing population is not a result of a growing birth rate but an increase in migrant workers. According to the Spring 2024 Labour Force Survey, more than 53% of the workforce (33,573 people) are expatriates. The overall population is made up of 44,936 men (up by 6.3% since last spring) and 42,930 women (up by 3.7%) — another sign that foreign workers are boosting the population.
Children under the age of 15 make up 14.6% of the population and people aged over 65 now make up more than 8.1%. Collectively termed as the ‘dependent population’, these two age groups accounted for 22.7% of the total population.
Non-Caymanians make up the largest proportion of the population, accounting for well over 54% of the population. Just under 9% of those are now permanent residents. Caymanians now make up 45.4% of the overall population.
Among the working population,, the largest group of workers is now in the construction sector, accounting for 12.3% of the workforce. Meanwhile, the financial sector is the fourth largest industry employer, with 7.7% of the workforce.
Despite government’s continued claims that small businesses are the backbone of the economy and a generator of jobs, in reality the vast majority of workers are employed in larger organisations with 50 or more employees. Almost one-third of the workforce and almost 40% of working Caymanians are employed by larger companies. By contrast, micro-business with five or fewer employees account for a quarter of the workforce.
The survey also revealed that the most people live in rented accommodation. Over 52% of households are rented while just over 44% are owned by residents. The vast majority of households, almost 98%, have cell phones, while just 17% still have landline telephones. 96% of the population has air-conditioning and 95% has internet connection, while 8% said they had domestic helpers.
In this survey the ESO also asked about rents and mortgage costs. The average rent paid by a tenant was $3,776, while the median was $3,000. The district of George Town recorded the highest figures, with anmean rent of approximately $4,009 and a median of $3,500. The Sister Islands had the lowest rents, with an average of $2,164 and a median of $2,000.
The estimated mean mortgage payment was $2,409, while the median was $2,000. Again George Town recorded the highest figures, approximately $2,637 and $2,150, respectively. The Sister Islands had the lowest estimates, with an average of $1,321 and a median payment of $1,138.
49% of households had housing structure insurance, while only 18.3% had content insurance.
See the full report on the ESO website.
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Category: Local News
the number is not the issue…..its the lack of devleopment plan for the island. 90% of people try to get to gt/smb every day.
this island could handle 200k easy with proper planning and infrastructure.
number of caymanians is much lower and number of non caymanians is much higher. Is a paper caymamian who hasn’t renounced their home country’s citizenship classified as a “caymanian” or foreigner ?
Police constantly dragging repeat offenders to court only to be frustrated by lenient sentences that release offenders after a few months.
There is no longer any fear of incarceration and deportation impeded by local MPS afraid of losing votes from the families of these criminals.
Do something Caymanians , if you want to have a safe community for your children.
It’s growing DAILY, even as over 800 hundred new graduates this week, as well as returning overseas students!
No jobs or housing for our OWN but cheap 3rd World Labor piles up!!
They are Willing to take slave labor wages of $4 to $5 hourly!!
Cayman is now untenable for local people.
All due to greed since we have “No Taxes” and most essential foods are Duty FREE!!
Destroying Cayman by land air and sea the population expansionist are wining Cayman to the detriment of our children’s future !
The onslaught continues unabated Cayman ! Stop electing imbeciles who preaching all these Caymanian whilst doing otherwise behind our backs stop supporting government officialdom from Cayman and elsewhere who are destroying the very fabric of Cayman with their hypocrisy agenda.
If you add part-time residents (persons here that own property but not on work permit), the population is over 100,000.
(Add to that the amount of stayover tourists at any given time to get a sense of the amount of people in Cayman at a point in time).
When I first arrived in the 90’s you could not change employers on a WP and you needed a full release from your existing employer. Also, you had two weeks to leave the island if you didnt have a WP. You could not just hang around without work. Why did we stop enforcing these rules?
Ask Alden, Saunders and John John.
Cruise ship dock building, will just lead to move overseas workers here, rather than using Cayman labor.
And 51% of buildings have no structural insurance, that is a huge risk for Government finances, as the owners are relying on Government payouts to fix buildings after a hurricane
Why can’t Cayman get back to the good old days of 95% Caymanian, fishing, hunting and gathering to get food and where no one had to lock their homes.
Be careful. Do not tempt the Caymanian people. Your offer is quite attractive.
Meanwhile, while our highly paid civil service provides its estimates, there are 100,000 people here. Too many of them shouldn’t be.
Less development = fewer workers looking to rent, clogging the road up, cheaper rents for everyone else.
Stop building gargantuan eyesores that benefit a tiny sliver of people here, be it residential or commercial.
we are literally drowning.. please, we just don’t have the capacity for so many people. Caymanians and long term PR/status holders need to be prioritised and looked after now.
If there are 37,500 people here on current valid work permits (and one assumes they are ALL expatriates and working or no work permit would be required); and
There are 7,822 people here as Permanent Residents (none of whom will be Caymanian and most of whom will be working); and
There are thousands of working age expatriate dependents on work permit holders, government contracted workers, Caymanians, and Permanent Residents who are seeking work or capable of working if the right opportunity arises;
Then HOW can the ESO possibly claim there are only 33,573 expatriates in the workforce?
They seem to be off by around 25%.
Are they saying there are at least 5,000 fraudulent work permits?
How much do we pay for this data?
need more housing.
Need fewer expats without full time employment. Then we would have more than enough housing.
Banning foreign investors from owning AirBNBs would certainly help as well.
Actually, if we actually looked at the data as to what is really happening in our housing market, and what will inevitably happen when whole categories of our expatriate workforce have little to nothing to do when the market shifts (construction, security, car cleaners) we almost certainly already have too much housing.
Who will stock the grocery stores, pump gas, build, wait tables etc……You?
Need fewer Jamaicans, and we need to deport those. (even if they have status) who are unemployed repeat and often violent offenders constantly in and out of Northward.
Get a grip on Cayman , Caymanians.
Don’t worry SMB condos will soon be taken over by the sea, that should clear out a few.
Would that really change inventory and availability of housing?
If many of the so called part time expats (minimum wage expats) are living many to a home to survive financially, what changes if there are only 6 persons living in a 1 or 2 bedroom place instead of the current 8 persons?
phantom problem …