A Census of Population and Housing is conducted by each of the Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) Member States once every ten years. In this monograph, the countries included are
the CARICOM states of Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica,
Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Trinidad
& Tobago and Suriname. Additionally, the British Associated States of Anguilla, Montserrat and
the Turks & Caicos Islands and the British Virgin Islands, as well as Bermuda are included.
Although part of the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Cayman Islands are omitted as they did not
participate in the Regional Census Strategy.
The most recent Censuses were taken between 2000 and 2002 on which this monograph is
largely based. For most of the Commonwealth Caribbean, the Census was taken in 2001; in
Belize, Trinidad and Tobago, the Bahamas and Barbados it was conducted in 2000; and in
Guyana in 2002. In generalizing for the region in this monograph, reference will be made to it as
the 2001 Round of Censuses.
The objective of this monograph is to identify the main characteristics of migration that have
occurred throughout the region, especially with respect to those intra-Caribbean movements
captured by the Census. Following this introductory chapter which provides the background,
this study comprises three further chapters. Chapter II gives a summary of the main streams of
migrants out of the region between the time of the 1990 and 2001 Rounds of Censuses. This is
followed by discussion, in Chapter III, of the regional patterns and recent trends in emigration,
immigration and return migration with respect to the Commonwealth Caribbean, giving a
comparative perspective. Chapter IV then examines the characteristics of the immigrant or
foreign-born populations as compared with the locally-born populations. By examining the
individual country profiles of foreign-born and locally-born populations, the overall regional
pattern is explored