#TurksandCaicos, November 30, 2017 – Providenciales – The Department of Statistics is pleased to release the following bulletins for the period January to September 2017:
- The Births Bulletin
- The Trade Bulletin
Births Bulletin for the period January to September 2017
Trade bulletin for the period January to September 2017
The births bulletin shows that the Turks and Caicos Islands recorded 396 births during the first nine months of 2017. This represents an increase of approximately 4.7 percent when compared to the same period of 2016. Males accounted for 52 percent of live births and females accounted for 48.0 percent of live births. Forty percent (40%) of the births recorded during the period under review were to married women. This mostly occurred in mothers between the ages of 30-39. The remainder of births occurred mainly between mothers that were in common law type relationships (15 percent) and mothers that were never married (13.1 percent). The majority of babies born during the first nine months (53.0 percent) were to Haitian mothers, followed by mothers from the TCI (25.8 percent). This has been the trend for a number of years.
It is important to note that during the period under review (January to September) 100 deaths occurred within the TCI. Which represents a significant increase of 51.5 percent, over the number of deaths recorded in 2016. Contributing to this increase in deaths is the drowning of Haitian migrants in TCI waters earlier this year.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Merchandise Trade Bulletin shows that during the period January to September 2017, Merchandise imports totaled approximately $288 million, representing an increase of approximately $0.5 million or 0.2 percent when compared to the same period in 2016. Exports from the Turks and Caicos during this period were valued at $1.5 million when compared to $3.4 million in 2016. This resulted in an overall merchandise trade balance of approximately ($286.5) million during the first nine months of 2017 and the worsening of the overall trade balance by approximately 1 percent or $2.5 million.
Given the performance of Merchandise imports during the first nine months of this year, and the increase in merchandise imports as a result of the two recent hurricanes, it is forecasted that imports will increase by more than 10 percent for the 2017 calendar year. However, with the lack of a diversified group of exports, this will also result in the worsening of the overall trade deficit.
Press Release: TCIG
