How many young people migrated in 2023?
In 2023, 2,288 people came to live in the Caribbean Netherlands, and 1,388 people left the region to live elsewhere. Net migration was therefore 900 people for all three islands.
Net migration for Bonaire in 2023 was 941, and for Saba it was 60. On St Eustatius, meanwhile, net migration was minus 101. On Bonaire and Saba, more young people and people over the age of 25 arrived on the islands than left. The opposite was true in the case of St Eustatius: more people left the island to live elsewhere than moved to the island.
New arrivals are relatively young
The age profile of immigrants is not quite the same as that of the general population. On Bonaire, for example, 26 percent of the population were under the age of 25 while this share is 29 percent among new arrivals to the island. On St Eustatius, 29 percent of both the general population and new arrivals were under the age of 25.
The difference is largest on Saba: 23 percent of the general population was under the age of 25, while 39 percent of new immigrants were in this age group. This is most likely because there is a medical university on Saba, which attracts a lot of young people to live there.
| Island | Age | Immigration | Emigration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonaire | 0 to 25 years of age, Bonaire | 539 | 376 |
| Bonaire | 25 years of age or older, Bonaire | 1335 | 557 |
| St Eustatius | 0 to 25 years of age, St Eustatius | 48 | 112 |
| St Eustatius | 25 years of age or older, St Eustatius | 120 | 157 |
| Saba | 0 to 25 years of age, Saba | 95 | 45 |
| Saba | 25 years of age or older, Saba | 151 | 141 |
Those leaving the islands are also relatively young
The age profile of those leaving the islands to live elsewhere is also different from the age profile of the population as a whole. Among those emigrating from Bonaire in 2023, 40 percent were under the age of 25, on St Eustatius it was 42 percent, and on Saba 24 percent. Young people often leave the islands to pursue education elsewhere. In the case of Saba, young people also leave when they have completed medical school. The pattern is similar for Saba and St Eustatius: around 25 percent of emigrants in 2023 were under the age of 12, and 75 percent were aged between 12 and 25. Those leaving Bonaire were slightly younger, at 34 percent and 66 percent respectively. Saba has the highest proportion of people aged 18 to 24 years among both immigrants and emigrants (about 60 percent).
| Island | Direction | 0 to 4 years of age | 4 to 12 years of age | 12 to 18 years of age | 18 to 25 years of age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonaire | Immigration , Bonaire | 51 | 174 | 98 | 216 |
| Bonaire | Emigration, Bonaire | 32 | 97 | 81 | 166 |
| St Eustatius | Immigration , St Eustatius | 5 | 14 | 12 | 17 |
| St Eustatius | Emigration, St Eustatius | 9 | 21 | 32 | 50 |
| Saba | Immigration , Saba | 17 | 12 | 8 | 58 |
| Saba | Emigration, Saba | 2 | 9 | 7 | 27 |