Population growth on Bonaire mainly due to immigration

Between January 2011 and January 2016, the population of Bonaire increased by more than 20 percent to 19.4 thousand residents. This was largely attributable to immigration. In the period between January 2011 and December 2015, 7 thousand immigrants arrived on Bonaire while 4 thousand emigrants left. The largest influx was from the European Netherlands, Curaçao and the United States, according to figures released by Statistics Netherlands (CBS).

The 3 thousand immigrants from the European Netherlands who settled on the island between 2011 and 2015 formed the largest group. In the same period, 1.6 thousand residents of Curaçao, Aruba and St Maarten moved to Bonaire; nearly 80 percent were from Curaçao. Among the group who left the island in the same period, over 2 thousand moved to the European Netherlands and around 1.1 thousand to Curaçao, Aruba or St Maarten.

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.

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