Figures published today reveal the number of people living in Guernsey has fallen slightly in the past year, but the proportion of the population that’s over 65 is growing.
The latest electronic census shows the total number fell by 73 to 63,193 in the year to the end of March last year. And of those, 55% are now of retirement age. That compares to 48% just five years ago.
This so-called dependency ratio has raised concerned among policy makers in government that there are too few people of working age now that more of the baby boomer generation born between the Second World War and the 1960s are retiring.
The relatively tiny fall in the size of the population was driven mainly by migration: 58 more people left than moved to Guernsey, while the rest of the decrease was because 15 more people died than were born.
There’s a raft of detail in the electronic census, which is produced using data from ten separate government databases spread across seven departments.
It shows:
- 30.1% of the population lives in St. Peter Port – the most densely populated parish
- 91.3% of the population lives in Local Market housing
- 82.1% of the working age population (aged 16 to 64) are either in full-time education, employed or self-employed
- The median average wage now stands at £32,114 with the finance sector paying the most, with average wages of £44,782.
- The figures don’t show a gender pay gap, but they do reveal a gender earnings gap. While men earn, on average, £35,372, for women it’s £28,784.
You can read the full report here.
