The population of residents in Seychelles stands at 100,477 compared to 90,945 registered in the 2010 census.

This represents an increase of 9.9%, while there is a total of 30,835 dwelling houses in the country of which 91% are occupied.

The information was revealed by Burny Payet, statistician at the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) during a dissemination session yesterday on the provisional Population and Housing Census 2022 results.

In her opening remarks to launch the session yesterday morning at the Eden Bleu Hotel, Caroline Abel, Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) and chairperson of the NBS board, said detailed data collected across a wide range of statistical areas related to population and housing, allows for disaggregation by geographic areas, for example districts and sub-districts, as well as small population groups, given that it provides fundamental information for monitoring the progress of a country and its people over intervals.

She noted that “timely dissemination of good quality census data is crucial for planning, policy formulation, reporting and monitoring of targets at the national, regional and international levels”.

Among those present for the session were leader of government business in the National Assembly, Bernard Georges, leader of the opposition Sebastien Pillay, secretary of state in the Ministry of Finance, National Planning and Trade Patrick Payet, principal secretaries and chief executives, district administrators and representatives of churches and the civil society.

In his presentation, Mr Payet stated that the population census of Seychelles made up of Seychellois and non-Seychellois comprise 53,927 males (54%) and 46,220 females (46%). In 2010 the representation was 52% males and 48% females. The higher male representation in the population in 2022 is attributed to the significant proportion of migrant workers in the population who are predominantly male. He added that of the 100,477 people recorded for the census, 84% are Seychellois while in the 2010 census, Seychellois represented 91% of the total population. Among the male population, 75% are Seychellois compared to 93% in the corresponding female population.

The majority of the population lives on Mahé and satellite islands with 88,382 inhabitants (88%), followed by Praslin and satellites islands with 7,614 (7.6%), La Digue and inner islands with 3,430 (3.3%) and the outer islands with 1021 inhabitants(1%).

With regard to the population growth rate, it has been described as “stable” and the provisional results show a 0.8% increase in 2022, but this represents a decline compared to the 2010 figures of 1.3%. In 1960, the growth rate was 2.4%, but it slowed down to 1% in 1977.

The central region of Mahé which comprises nine districts, accounts for 29.4% of the population, and is followed by the east/south region with a representation of 26.4% of the population with north as the third largest with 17.4%.

Cascade is currently the most populated district in the country accounting for 6249 inhabitants (6.2%). This high representation in its population is due to the high number of gainful occupation permit (GOP) migrant workers residing at zones 18, 20, and 21 at Providence. It is followed closely by Anse Etoile and Ile Persévérance as the second most populated districts with populations of 5413 (5.4%) and 5402 (5.4%) respectively. Les Mamelles is the least populated district with 2315 inhabitants (2.3%).

For the age structure, there are 19,775 children aged less than 15 years old and they represent around 20% of the total population. A total of 77,499 working aged persons between the ages of 15 and 64 years, representing 71% of the total population have been recorded, while 9173 persons, representing 9% of the population, have been recorded in 65 years and above category. To note in 2010, population less than 15 years old was 25.7% while those of 65 years and above was 7.8%.

The total age dependency ratio is estimated at 405 per 1000 working age population in 2022 compared to 425 in 2010. Elderly dependency is 128 compared to 106 in 2010, while child dependency is 277 compared to 320 in 2010.

The census also includes question of descendants, especially of Chagossian descent and 169 respondents (16.5%) are of the first generation, 356 (43.8%) of the second generation, while 498 (48.7%) of the third generation to bring the total to 1023 Seychellois of Chagossian origin living in the country. It is worth noting that 864 respondents did not know if they were of Chagossian origin, which could change the figures or in generation classifications if they are later found to be of the latter origin.

With regard to the 30,835 dwelling houses, Mr Payet said the majority are predominantly female-headed (55% v 45%). The highest female household headship is 72% recorded at Ile Persévérance. Most of the houses ? 26,934 ? are on Mahé and they are more concentrated in the central region(9090). Praslin has 2701 dwelling houses while La Digue has 1180 households. In 2010, there were 25,931 households in the country.

The average household size for 2022 is estimated at 3.2% which shows a decrease from 3.7% in 2010. The household size was 4.5% in 1987 and has kept decreasing ever since.

Speaking on the Covid-19 vaccination status in the households, he stated the census recorded 13,010 individuals in 7955 households who were not vaccinated against the virus.

It was the first time that the Population and Housing Census 2022 was done digitally and the 500 plus census takers used tablets for interviews at household level. NBS also collected data through the use of filled-in forms to institutional dwellings – like hotels and large companies, including collecting data from other entities, especially from the immigration division, for identification matching purposes in relation to gainful occupation permit (GOP). From the GOP data, 11,000 identifications match records of migrant workers were found, but however 5780 of them (migrant workers) are yet to be located.

NBS chief executive Laura Ah-Time said while the results provided are provisional for the population and stakeholders to get an insight into the population and housing in the country, the main and more detailed reports of the census will be ready by the end of the year. On the way forward, she said the NBS will be working with international expert organisations for further analysis of the other demographic, socio-economic, health, housing and other modules from the thematic areas, which will be made available to stakeholders and the public.

The census was held for one week from April 22, 2022 and was followed by callbacks to households in May and June. Census is held every 10 years and the 2020 scheduled census was postponed to this year due to the pandemic.

Source: Seychelles Nation