The Marshall Islands census in 1988 identified more than 42,000 people in RMI and a more than four percent annual rate of growth — one of the highest in the world at the time. Population was expected to double in less than 20 years.
But with continuing strong migration to America, Marshall Islands population growth projections from the late 1980s have not resulted.
Since the early 1990s, US Department of Transportation figures indicate that more than 1,000 Marshall Islanders a year have left to the United States. Last year, out-bound migration to America spiked, as 1,503 people migrated to America, nearly triple the 2007 number and the third highest total since 1990.
The Ministry of Health¹s 2008 annual report estimated that 1,526 babies were born last year, while the annual death rate was about 300 per year.
Instead of a population close to double the 1988 census figure today, EPPSO estimated the RMI population as of July 1 last year at 53,889. That number grew only modestly — by just 176 people — to 54,065 as of July 1 this year.
Instead of the 1980s rate of growth of four percent, the Marshalls population is now climbing at less than half a percent each year.
EPPSO estimates that the population will climb to 54,439 in 2010, an increase of 374 over this year.
