The population of Trinidad and Tobago now stands at 1.3 million, made up of more men than women.
The population is one-tenth of a percentage point more than it was ten years ago.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of the 2011 National Population and Housing Census Demographic Report at the Hyatt Regency in Port of Spain, Minister of Planning and Development Dr Bhoe Tewarie said this slow growth rate has been occurring for sometime.
“There has been a slowing of the growth rate of the population of Trinidad and Tobago from 1990 to the present time. In the period under review, the decade between 2000 and 2011, the population of Trinidad and Tobago grew by only half per cent, one-tenth of a percentage point more than a decade before.
“We have 65,653 more people in 2011 in Trinidad and Tobago than we had in year 2000. So the population of Trinidad and Tobago, according to the 2011 Population and Housing Census, is 1,328,019,” Tewarie said.
Tewarie said this is the highest population ever recorded for the country since the first census was done in 1851—with 666,305 males and 661,714 females.
Describing the population as an ageing one, Tewarie pointed out that a population whose ratio of persons 65 and over relative to the population of 15 years and younger is 30 may be described as old.
“Based on the 2011 census, Trinidad and Tobago’s ratio based on ageing index is 43.5,” he said.
He added that 70.4 per cent of the country’s population falls between the ages of 15 and 64, which is deemed to be working age, which means only 29.6 per cent of the population is less than 15 years old or more than 65.
“There were significant declines in ages 10-19. Close to one half of the population is over the age of 40 (520,351) and 129,029 people are over the age of 65 (nine per cent),” he added.
Further breaking down the population statistics, Tewarie revealed that the number of households has increased by 16.2 per cent in Trinidad and 32.6 per cent in Tobago over the past ten years.
“There are 381,258 households in Trinidad and 20,125 households in Tobago. In Trinidad and Tobago, the region with the highest number of households is Tunapuna/Piarco (64,176). The Borough of Point Fortin has the least number of households (6,680).
“In Tobago, St Andrews parish with 6,038 has the highest number of households and St John with 904 has the lowest,” Tewarie said.
Despite the increase in households, Tewarie revealed that there have been declines in the population in the nation’s cities.
“The population of both Port of Spain and San Fernando is declining. The population of Diego Martin also declined. The San Juan/Laventille region remained more or less the same.
“The highest growth area was the Borough of Chaguanas. In Tobago, the Parish of St George also experienced growth and Tobago as an island experienced a 1.1 per cent growth to 60,874 persons,” he said.
Praising the various agencies that worked on the report, Tewarie described the completion of the 2011 census report as historic because it was the first time in the history of the country that it took less than two years to deliver the completed report.
“I am advised that the norm is for census reports to be launched three years, sometimes four years from the end of data collection,” he said.
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