Population figure may be 87,480

Tuesday 3rd February 2004, 12:00AM GMT.

FIGURES released by P & R’s Statistics Unit suggest that the Island’s population at the beginning of last year was 87,480.

That figure represents an increase of almost 300 over the result of the 2001 census.But the unit says that natural growth – the excess of births over deaths – accounted for about 90 per cent of the increase.

Migration was, in the view of the unit, not a major factor.Net immigration was minimal, some 20 extra people having having entered the Island to swell the population as estimated at the start of 2003.There is, however, mounting anecdotal and circumstantial evidence to suggest that the position estimated last January may have shifted.

Information drawn from sources such as national newspaper sales, advertising patterns and retailing patterns point to significant emigration.

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