Men outnumber women in T&T by 4,591. According to a 2011 demographic report released yesterday, there are 666,305 males while there are 661,714 females.T&T's population now hovers around 1.3 million, according to the results of the 2011 National Population Census Demographic Report launched yesterday.T&T now has a population of 1,328, 019, with Trinidad having a population of 1,267,145 and Tobago 60,874.
There are also more males than females in all the age groups except 65 years and older.These were some of the highlights given by Dr Bhoe Tewarie, Minister of Planning and Sustainable Development, and Dave Clement, director of the Central Statistical Office (CSO), yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Port-of-Spain.Tewarie said the fieldwork for the census was carried out from January 9-May 31, 2011 and the demographic report was completed in December 2012.
The last census was carried out in 2000.Tewarie said: "This is a record-time performance for the population and housing census team and the CSO. This is the first time in the history of T&T that from the field work to demographic report. It has taken less than two years, as a preliminary report was issued in 2012." He said other reports would be forthcoming that would be based on the findings of the 2011 census.
New Populations census released
Race and religion
According to the latest statistics, T&T is now a nation of "ethnic minorities" with 34.4 per cent of the population being of East Indian descent and 34.2 per cent of African descent.Almost a quarter of the population – 22.8 per cent – regard themselves as being racially mixed.In Tobago, 85.2 per cent of the population are of African descent, with 8.5 per cent mixed and 2.54 per cent East Indian.The largest religion is the Roman Catholic Church, with 285,671 followers, although this is a decline of 1.4 per cent.
Other faiths which experienced a decrease include Hinduism and the Anglican Presbyterian/Congressional and Methodist Churches.There are 240,100 Hindus which represents a decline of 4.3 per cent.While the religious denominations registering growth were the Seventh Day Adventists, who grew by 22.7 per cent, the Baptists – 13.8 per cent up – and Islam, which grew by 1.6 per cent.
The census statistics also indicate that 29.8 per cent of the population has attained primary school education while 43.5 per cent attained secondary school level and 14.6 per cent tertiary level.More women than men have attained tertiary-level education.
Urban decline
The statistics also show a decline in the population of the main urban areas with the cities of Port-of-Spain and San Fernando in decline.The San Juan/Laventille region remains the same while Chaguanas is the region with the highest population growth.Tewarie explained there were new "growth poles" in the country.
He said: "Most of the development has taken place on the western part of the country. After a deeper look at the numbers, we may be able to develop a strategy that is more community-based to accompany macro-level development." There are 381,258 households in Trinidad and 20,125 in Tobago.Men head every two out of every three households.
Although these statistics go against the popular perception that women head many households, Clement said: "This is just cultural as you find women look at their spouses or partners as heads."What this data does is provide the opportunity to find out if the perceptions we have are based on fact. Sometimes we make conclusions that are not based on empirical data," he said.