29 January 2018
About this Bulletin
This second Statistical Bulletin for 2018 includes the release of updated population estimates, the number of births and deaths, and the number of passenger arrivals and departures.
Population Estimates
The number of people on St Helena at the end of 2017 was estimated to be 4,846. This includes both residents and short-term visitors; the number of residents, including those on the Island with ‘returning resident’ status, was estimated to be 4,761. There were 4,267 persons on the Island with St Helenian status.
The on-Island population is typically higher during the warmer summer months of December, January and February. But this is the highest number of people on St Helena for several years, and is more than 200 people higher than the number on St Helena at the end of December 2016.
Arrivals and Departures
The estimated number of passenger arrivals in the fourth quarter of 2017 was 1,388, with 4,118 arrivals for the year (Table 1). In the fourth quarter there were an estimated 968 passenger departures, with total departures for 2017 estimated to be 3,884
In most years, arrivals and departures in the last and first quarter of each year are almost twice that of the second and third quarters (Chart 2). Arrivals in the last quarter of 2017 were high, but still not quite as high as the last quarter of 2015.
Whilst most visitors in 2017 arrived by sea on the RMS St Helena, over 700 passengers arrived by air following the start of the regular scheduled air service in October (Chart 3). This trend should continue in 2018, since the RMS St Helena will be taken out of service in February.
Please note that the estimates of arrivals and departures are the first published statistics following the introduction of the new regular scheduled air service in October 2017, and also the first estimates following the introduction of a new computerised system by the Immigration Service; for these reasons, estimates should be treated as provisional. Please also note that they exclude very short-term visits by cruise ship passengers, although visitors on yachts are included. Also note that it has not yet been possible to analyse arrivals by purpose of visit for the last quarter of 2017; due to the introduction of the new computerised system, the information has not yet been captured by the Immigration Service.
Births and Deaths
In 2017 there were a total of 36 births and 58 deaths registered on St Helena (Table 2). This is a similar number of births compared to 2016, but a higher number of deaths. The number of deaths in the last quarter of 2017 was particularly high, at 18. In 2017 there were 22 more deaths than births, following the trend of the last few years (Chart 4).