More than nine out of ten young people on Saba and Sint Eustatius want to leave the island

THE HAGUE – An overwhelming majority of young people on Saba and Sint Eustatius want to leave the island to live elsewhere. On both islands, this applies to 91 percent of students. The most frequently cited reasons are pursuing education or studies and the desire to see more of the world.

This emerges from the new student survey by Statistics Netherlands (CBS), conducted among young people up to eighteen years old in secondary education and vocational training.

Although students on average give a solid pass grade for their happiness and satisfaction, the vast majority harbor the desire to develop themselves elsewhere. On Saba and Sint Eustatius, more than half of young people say they want to pursue further education after obtaining their diploma. Other students want to start working or start their own business. A smaller portion doesn’t yet know what they want to do after school.

Increased

Compared to 2020, migration readiness among young people has increased significantly. The increase is particularly notable for Sint Eustatius, for which CBS could not publish reliable figures in 2020 due to insufficient response rates. The 2024 results confirm that the desire to leave among Caribbean Dutch young people remains exceptionally high and in some cases is even increasing.

CBS emphasizes that the desire to leave is connected to the limited opportunities on the islands. For higher education, young people are almost always dependent on studying outside Caribbean Netherlands. In the survey, students on Saba and Sint Eustatius indicated that they generally receive good advice about important things in life, with 76 and 77 percent respectively agreeing with this.

On Bonaire, the situation is similar though slightly less pronounced, with 81 percent of young people wanting to leave the island. There, 42 percent want to pursue further education after graduation, and 79 percent feel they receive good advice about important life decisions.

The Caribbean Netherlands Student Survey 2024 was conducted among young people up to eighteen years old on Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius. On Saba, 112 students participated, on Sint Eustatius 219, and on Bonaire more than 1,600 students took part.