Officially, there are 31.160 inhabitants on the French side of Saint-Martin, a figure used as a reference on January 1st.er January 2024.
“The population decline continues,” explains Philippe Winnicki, director of ITSEE (Territorial Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). This downward trend has been observed continuously since 2017, with an average of -2,1% per year: The Irma and Covid effect One point to note is that while the territory’s population was close to 36.000 in 2014, this demographic decline continues unabated and is also accelerating. This phenomenon is also observed in Guadeloupe and Martinique, but less dramatically (-0,3% and -0,5% respectively).
Several factors could be considered as causes of this gradual depopulation: the high cost of living, or the departure of young people who leave to pursue their studies in France and do not return, or return later. These analyses will be conducted later by the government, with ITSEE serving only as a tool for collecting and disseminating raw data. For now, what is known is primarily that it is linked to an apparent net migration loss that exceeds the natural increase; in other words, more departures than births. Over six years, the island has thus lost 6281 inhabitants, while the positive natural increase recorded over the same period shows a gain of 2107 inhabitants.
In the French Caribbean, only the island of Saint Barthélemy recorded an increase of +1,1% per year between 2017 and 2023, thanks to a positive natural increase combined with a positive net migration. This increase is in line with that of metropolitan France (+0,4% per year on average).
Source: Faxinfo https://faxinfo.fr/en/demographie-la-population-en-baisse-a-saint-martin/
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