First study of well-being Caribbean Netherlands shows mixed picture

Following on the success of the annual national Monitor of Well-being & the Sustainable Development Goals, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy commissioned CBS to monitor well-being in the Caribbean Netherlands. The monitor published today maps well-being on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius using the SDGs as a starting point. Developments in trends for the period 2012 to 2021 show how, and how fast, the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands are moving towards a more sustainable economy and society.

The Monitor of Well-being & the Sustainable Development Goals in the Caribbean Netherlands is a work in progress. This first edition focuses on topics related to the economy. Subsequent editions of the monitor will broaden to include additional aspects of well-being. This edition examines seven of the 17 SDGs.
The format of the monitor means that data for the other islands in the Kingdom can be incorporated when they become available.

Disposable income up

While the trend in median disposable income is rising on Bonaire and Saba, on Sint Eustatius it remains stable. In 2020, median disposable income on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius was 17,500 US dollars, 21,200 US dollars and 18,400 US dollars respectively.
As the very highest incomes have an upwards effect on average income, the median is a better reflection of disposable income. The median is the value in the middle of a set of data: half of the values in the set are lower than the median, the other half are higher.

The percentage of the population below the national poverty threshold is trending downwards on Bonaire and Saba: 23 and 20 percent of the population respectively were below this threshold in 2020. On Sint Eustatius 28 percent of the population were below the poverty threshold, the percentage is stable for this island.

No improvement in income distribution

According to the 80/20 ratio, the richest twenty percent of the population on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius earned 9.3, 6.5 and 10.3 times as much respectively as the poorest twenty percent in 2020. The trends are stable and show no signs of change in income differences. In the Netherlands the richest twenty percent earned 4.4 times as much as the lowest twenty percent of incomes.

No longer significant differences between perceived health of men and women

In 2020 70.4 per of women on Bonaire and Saba and 70.9 percent of women on Sint Eustatius described their health as good or very good, compared with 75.1 percent, 80.6 percent and 78.4 percent of men. This means the differences between men and women were no longer significant in 2020.

In 2016 significantly more men than women on Bonaire and Sint Eustatius reported their health as good or very good. Although the difference in perceived health is no longer significant between men and women on these two islands, on Saba perceived health of women did deteriorate in the period 2012 to 2021.

Future well-being at risk from grey pressure

Demographic pressure gives an insight into the ratio between the working and non-working parts of the population. This ratio is important for well-being in the long term. Grey pressure (the ratio of people aged 65 and older to those aged 20 to 64) was 21 percent, 21 percent and 24 percent respectively on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius in 2020. By comparison, grey pressure in the Netherlands was 34 percent in the same year.

Green pressure decreasing on Bonaire but up on St Eustatius

Although grey pressure is lower than in the Netherlands, the trend is rising on all three islands. Increasing grey pressure can put well-being at risk in the long term. In this respect the ratio of grey pressure to green pressure (the ratio of under-20s to those aged 20 to 64) is important. Green pressure is decreasing on Bonaire. This means fewer workers in the future, which is also a risk for long-term well-being. On Sint Eustatius, on the other hand, green pressure is rising.