Cayman’s facts and figures reveal snap shot of society

| 28/08/2009

(CNS): At the end of 2008 there were 2171 goats in the Cayman Islands, the country had imported 25 buses, posted over 8000 letters, had four Ukrainians on work permits and had enjoyed almost 72 inches of rain– just a few lesser known facts to be found in the new Cayman Islands Compendium of Statistics 2008. Compiled by the Economics and Statistics Office (ESO) the report is packed full of facts and figures about Cayman in 2008. From prison population to scholarship recipients the Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson described it as a concise and comprehensive set of measurements on social and economic activity within the islands.

Laying the report on the table of the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday morning, Jefferson pointed out that the population in Cayman at the end of 2008 was 57,009 with 56% being Caymanian and despite the recession the compendium reveals that the per capita GDP was up to $40,253.

Enrolment in private schools had increased by 8.9% and decline by 1.2 percent in the public school system; the ratio of health care professionals per 1000 population had increased from 13.2 to 14 and the unemployment rate was up at 4% with 1549 people out of work.

The report revealed that court cases and offences were down on 2007 statistics but the prison population had increased at year end from 198 to 226 of which 60 were non-Caymanian. The compendium also revealed that the number of people receiving poor relief had increased from 933 to 970.

It also showed that Cayman had embraced new technology with 98% of the population having a cell phone and 61% of homes having access to the internet. There are 121,448 telephone lines in Cayman on which people spent almost half a million minutes talking.

Jefferson said the compendium presents in a concise and simplified manner the social, economic and environmental data on the Cayman Islands up to the end of 2008. “Data was sourced and compiled from a wide cross section of both public and private sector entities,” he explained adding that when the data contained in it is compared with previous years it provides valuable indicators and was useful in identifying and analysing issues in aid of business planning and policy making.

He emphasised the importance of the compendium and said: “It serves as a document that should be accessed for information by policy makers and other agencies of government as well as by the private sector, students and researchers.

The compendium is available on the ESOwebsite: www.eso.ky

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  1. Anonymous says:

    while the Titanic was sinking the ship’s band continued to play, as if nothing was going on.  in the cayman islands, they count goats.  just beautiful!

    • Concerned Caymanian says:

      Are you suggesting that we become so transfixed by the financial crisis that the process of collecting statistics cease? (You do release that the report coversa great deal more than goats, don’t you?). We may need those goats should the financial industry go south!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Oh Please. How many Caymanians would actually be willing to "count goats"? This is a joke. Caymanins are far too proud for that type of work.

    • Anonymous says:

      Not a bad idea to use Caymanians actually.  Using Aberdeenians would have all the goats married with children in short order, and who’d buy those kids?

  3. Anonymous says:

    Submitted by Anonymous Coward (not verified) on Sun, 08/30/2009 – 16:34.

     

    Foreign criminals are deported AFTER they serve their sentence. Show some intelligence and accountability please.

    • Anonymous Coward says:

      At any rate I was only pointing out it wasn’t a valid assumption to make given the data.  Sorry for touching a sore spot and I would say thanks for clarifying if you weren’t trying to be condescending.  I have heard differently second hand and I know for a fact thats not always the case.  Also in the future please reply to the post.

  4. Leroy B. Whorms Sr. says:

    I am Caymanian,

    I am unemployed,

    I can count,

    and I know the difference between sheeps and goats.

    Problem is, I am 66 years old and by Law not employable.

    Can the Laws be amended so that I can fill the position of Head Goat Counter, or like the aluminum can counter, Do I need a Phd. qualification.

    Seems that this Post is specially designed for an expat.

    • Tax your boat says:

      Good idea Leroy – take this job so you can pay the new licence on your boat.

      • Leroy B. Whorms Sr. says:

        Thanks for the advice, you are a true friend.

        Sold my Boat yesterday, because I could not afford the gas.

  5. Anonymous says:

    From the reports on the education system a) they could not tell the goats from the sheep b) then they could not count them c) once they have counted the wrong number of sheep-goats they could not write down what they have found legibly and d) by gosh they will demand a hefty salary, wonderful health care and a chunky pension contribution for doing it.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Is it really necessary to employ expats to count our goats.

    Cant some Caymanian be utilized for this marvelous adventure.

    I am sure the job pays well otherwise we would not have an expats doing it.

    Any Caymanian Volunteers???????

    • Anonymous says:

       

      I agree!  We need some Caymanians for the position of Helpers, burger flippers at Burger King and tellers at KFC as well, makes no sense paying expats to do these jobs when there are so many Caymanians out of work lining up at the unemployment office right?
      It is possible that the Goat counting along with the other jobs I mentioned don’t fall into the “Good Caymanian Job” category and they don’t mind expats having them whiles they wait around idle for something better?
  7. Anonymous says:

    "… on which people spent almost half a million minutes talking". – most of that’ll be my ex.

    She would do that talking to her mum or sister back in the UK every morning before breakfast.

  8. Anonymous says:

    Actually it is quite important because if used properly trends in our society can be picked up and solutions through policies and programmes could be implemented. Two stats which jump out at me are the % of Non-caymanians in the prison system at only 26% so all the other arguments about foreigners committing crimes yadda yadda can be dispelled. We can take responsibility for our own criminals and work to find solutions to combat so many of young men wasting their futures.

    The other is the drop in enrolment in the public school system. I thought PPM said one of the reason for these huge schools were because of all the recipients of status grants bringing their children and overburdening the school system. The increase in the private schools however could actually be an argument for addtl stipends from government and we know how much we get up in arms over this debate.

    If used properly statistics are quite helpful!

    • Anonymous Coward says:

      A lot of foreign criminals caught would be deported, and I could imagine most of the people are in for drugs, not burglaries which I think is mostly what people mean when they talk about foreigners committing crimes.

    • MonkeySee says:

      GREAT points! 

  9. Fish bandit says:

    Am I alone in thinking this is possibly yet another pointless waste of money or am I missing the point………can the goats vote?

    • Aberdeenian says:

      Not here, but did you know that according to ancient Scots law you can legally marry one in Aberdeen?  True fact.

      • "Give a beggar a bed and he’ll pay you with a louse."
  10. Anonymous says:

    And 100% of the 98% of Cell phone users do so whilst endangering our lives on the road behind the wheel of their car.

    • Anonymous Coward says:

      I haven’t heard of any major or even minor accidents here due to people talking on their cell phones while driving.

  11. Ram Goat Livva says:

    Well at least now we know what Ken Ken was doing when he should have been looking after the finances of the Country, counting goats.