PHILIPSBURG--“More than 75 per cent of the St. Maarten households live under the poverty line,” according to the Transparency International (TI) National Integrity System Assessment for the country that was released on Tuesday.
“Despite its relatively high income per capita St. Maarten has an uneven distribution of income – 22 per cent of the population is without income – and its standard of living is high,” cited the report.
The TI report said the figures were based on the “latest Census survey 2011 results.” The final results of that population census never were released locally; only preliminary results were given in 2012. The final results were said to be pending a corroboration of population count with the Civil Registry.
The Census results, according to TI, show that 75 per cent of all households have less than NAf. 4,000/US $2,222 in gross income per month and 67.5 per cent of the population have less than NAf. 3,000/US $1,667.24.
Using the Dutch National Institute for Budgetinformation (Nibud) norm for St. Maarten, TI said the figures would mean that more than 75 per cent of St. Maarten households live under the poverty line.
However, a poverty line is not yet defined for St. Maarten and a poverty reduction policy is still to be developed, according to information gathered by TI from the Department of Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.
The country faces an unemployment rate of 11 per cent.
A total of 42.9 per cent of the population is without a secondary school education, said the report.
The undocumented children in the country comprise 10-15 per cent of the school-going population.
On the economic front, although no exact figures are available, TI said there was a “perception” of a relatively large informal sector in the country.
With a substantial number of people working in the tourism and related sectors, there is a tendency of a continuous interim type of economy, with people being economically active in the tourist season, then leaving and coming back for the next tourist season.
“This seems to be the case especially in the retail sector. Due to this phenomenon the state loses tax income,” the report said.
