More Jersey-born people leaving home than returning

Census figures show 50% of the population was born in Jersey

More Jersey-born people left the island than returned over the past decade according to latest census figures.

The States have released more information from the census and it shows that 50% of the people living in Jersey were born there.

That is down on the last census taken in 2001, when the figure was 53%.

The other half is made up of British people, but also 7% from Portugal or Madeira, 3% from Poland, and the rest from elsewhere.

More than 80% of islanders have A-H housing qualifications, allowing them to rent or buy anywhere, while most J category residents, or people "essentially employed" are from the British Isles.

The most frequently-listed other location was France with 857 people living in the island saying they were born in the country.

The census also showed that more than 70% of residents had lived in the island for more than 10 years.

And the majority of people recently moving to the island were under the age of 35.

It also showed that 40% of everyone over the age of 16 was married, 10% were divorced and 34% had never been married.

States statistician Duncan Gibault said the number of people getting married in Jersey was declining.

He said: "The proportion of adults who are married has been declining over the last several decades, whilst the number divorced (and not re-married) has increased from 21 per 1,000 population in 1971 to 101 per 1,000 population in 2011."

Mr Gibault also said that, while Jersey did not legally recognise same sex couples, there were 219 couples living together as of March 2011.

The first breakdown of the census statistics last week revealed Jersey's population has risen by nearly 10,000 in the past decade to 97,857.

Future census bulletins will be based on housing, employment, education and transport.