Huishoudens in Curaçao : publicatiereeks Census 2011
Summary
Both private and collective households, which include institutions such as nursing homes and the prison, were counted in the Census. This publication, however, only covers private households.
Due to the ever-shifting composition of households, the average household size in Curaçao has been in steady decline. Smaller households consisting of just one or two persons have been steadily increasing in number since the 1992 Census.
Despite a relative drop, single-nuclear-family households still make up the largest household category. Within this category, the father-mother-and-child variant is the most common. The percentage of extended and complex households has shrunk in relation to other categories. The non-nuclear household subgroup makes up the smallest category.
In 2011, there were again more households headed by men than by women: 56 versus 44 percent. Compared to the 2001 Census however, this represents a 4 percentage-point increase in female household heads.
Male household heads outnumber female heads in all age categories. In all three Census years, the younger (15-24) and older (65+) age categories had a higher percentage of female household heads compared to that of women in the intermediate groups. Compared to the 2001 Census, the proportion of male and female heads per age category has become less lopsided.
Most household heads are married. This percentage has dropped significantly in ten years’ time. The second-largest group, on the other hand, comprising those who are not and have never been married, has seen a significant increase.
Most men heading households are married, while most women heading households are not.
Someone’s marital status does not completely correspond to whether he or she has a (legal) partner, or whether he or she is sharing a roof with such a (legal) partner. Not all married household heads, whether male or female, are cohabiting with their legal partner.
Approximately three out of every four male household heads is living with a partner. This number is substantially lower for female household heads, namely 14 percent. So, it is the male household heads in particular who are cohabiting with their partner.
In 2011, the percentage of households heads who had completed their secondary education (HAVO/VWO/MBO or higher) came out higher as compared to the 2001 Census.
Relatively more household heads had completed a good level of education in 2011.
The percentage of male household heads with a high level of education is higher than that of female household heads with the same educational level.
The total number of working household heads in the 2011 Census came out higher, both in absolute numbers and percentage wise, as compared to 2001, while the number of job-seeking household heads decreased. The substantial increase in the number of working household heads, as well as a decrease in the number of job-seekers among household heads, caused the unemployment rate among them to end up lower in 2011 compared to 2001. In 2½ years’ time, however, there has been an increase in the number of job-seeking heads as well as a decline in the number of working household heads, while the workforce has also been in decline, thus causing the unemployment rate among household heads to increase compared to the 2011 Census.
In households with a male head of the household, the percentage of working household members is consistently higher, for all household sizes (except 10+), than the percentage of working members where the household head is female.
The total percentage of household members who were active in the workforce during 2011 is 44 percent. This percentage is higher compared to 2001, in which year an average of 37 percent of members of all household sizes was active in the workforce.
The lopsided income distribution is even more evident under female household heads, compared to male ones.
Households with a male head have a higher average and median household income, regardless of household size, compared to households headed by a woman.
In general, more households were found to possess the household appliances inquired about in the 2011 Census, compared to the results of previous census years.
The home telephone was unable to hold up against the popularity of mobile phones, and was thus forced to lose much more ground to the cell phone.
Ten years later, the personal computer has found its way into significantly more households. In ten years’ time, the percentage of households with a personal computer was more than 2.3 times larger than previously. In line with this development is the enormous increase in households with an internet connection: over 2.5 times more.
The presence of cable television in households has been rising continually after 1992. Satellite dishes have also become enormously popular, and their presence has increased almost six-fold.
Ownership of freezers and air conditioning is also worth mentioning. The number of households with these appliances has also been on the increase.
Papiamentu continues to be by far the most spoken language on Curaçao. Nevertheless, compared to the 2001 Census, the percentage of households in which Papiamentu is the most-spoken language dropped in 2011. Dutch continues to be the second-most-spoken language in the households. Although the percentage of Dutch-speaking households has remained virtually unchanged, the actual number did increase by 1200 households. Since the 1992 Census, Portuguese has been dropping continually as the most spoken language at home.
An increase can be seen in the percentage of households with Spanish or Creole as the most-spoken language, with predominantly Creole-speaking households more than doubling.