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Inter Island Migration Low Over Last 10 Years

October 21, 2003

The Full Story

Despite the uneven distribution of wealth, not many Jamaicans have left their parish of birth to seek their fortune elsewhere, with statistics over the last 10 years showing a less than 1 per cent increase in the number of persons who have migrated to other parishes.
Census figures show that while 669,100 Jamaicans or 26.3 per cent of the population resided outside their parish of birth in 2001, that percentage represented an increase of only 72,250 persons or 0.9 per cent compared to 1991.
Women comprise 28.2 per cent of the lifetime migrants, compared to 24.3 per cent for men. The higher proportion of females was evident at both census dates. This was the case in every parish. A lifetime migrant is one, who at the time of the enquiry (census or survey) is a local born resident not living in the parish of birth.
On a parish basis, Kingston had the highest proportion of its population living in other parishes as at 2001. Of the 235,960 Kingstonians, representing 9.26 per cent of the total local-born population, 169,841 or 72 per cent lived outside of Kingston.
Kingston also had the highest rate of migration for women amounting to 724.2 per 1,000 and 715.1 persons per 1,000 for males.
Following Kingston some distance away was St. Mary, with 33 per cent of its lifetime migrants living elsewhere on the island. This means that with 134,563 persons or 5.3 per cent of the local-born population born in St. Mary, 44,400 lived outside the parish. This amounts to a migration rate of 352.6 per 1,000 for females and 305.9 for males.
Trelawny, with 26,858 or 31.3 per cent of its natives living in other parishes was a close third, followed by St. Elizabeth, 29.6 per cent; Portland, 28.7 per cent; and Hanover with 28.3 per cent.
The parishes with the lowest proportion of lifetime migrants in 2001 were, St. Andrew, 11.5 per cent; St. Catherine, 14.4 per cent; and St. James with 16.5 per cent. Once again, females accounted for the largest proportion of these migrants.

Last Updated: October 21, 2003

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