GREAT BAY--Migrants account for approximately 37 percent of St. Maarten’s population, one of the highest shares in the Caribbean, while many face barriers to legal status, formal employment, healthcare, education and social protection, according to the United Nations’ 2026 Common Country Analysis for St. Maarten.
The United Nations did not present the 37 percent figure as its own original population estimate. The report attributes the figure to the International Organization for Migration’s 2023 Migration Profile: Sint Maarten 2023, which is listed among the sources used in preparing the UN analysis.
According to the UN report, citing IOM, migrants make up about 37 percent of St. Maarten’s residents. The report describes this as one of the highest migrant population shares in the Caribbean and says migration is increasingly shaping the country’s demographic profile.
The UN estimates St. Maarten’s overall population at approximately 42,000 in 2024 and describes the country as both a destination and transit point for regional migration. It identifies the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica and Guyana as the principal countries of origin within the migrant population.
According to the analysis, approximately 45 percent of migrants originate from the Dominican Republic, 30 percent from Haiti, 10 percent from Jamaica and five percent from Guyana. Many work in construction, tourism, domestic services and retail, sectors that the UN says are frequently characterized by low wages, informal employment and limited legal protection.
The report presents migration as an important part of St. Maarten’s economy while also highlighting significant gaps in the systems intended to protect workers and families.
According to the UN, migrant labor has been important to the country’s reconstruction and tourism industries, but limited mechanisms for regularizing immigration status continue to contribute to social exclusion and the under-reporting of employment. The report states that many migrants lack formal documentation or access to healthcare and education and describes migrant inclusion as an important human-rights and development issue.
The concerns extend beyond immigration status.
The UN says many migrants face barriers to education, healthcare and social insurance, while undocumented status can restrict registration at schools and health centers. It warns that these barriers can contribute to inter-generational exclusion, meaning disadvantages experienced by migrant parents can continue into the lives of their children.
Another significant figure in the report also comes from IOM’s 2023 work.
According to the UN analysis, citing IOM, only 58 percent of migrant workers are formally registered. The same source estimates that approximately one-third of children living in migrant households lack access to early-childhood education.
The findings suggest that a significant share of St. Maarten’s migrant workforce may be operating outside formal employment arrangements, potentially limiting access to social insurance, employment protections and other benefits associated with registered work.
The UN also highlights particular concerns involving migrant women. Female migrants, especially those employed in domestic work, are identified as being vulnerable to labor exploitation and gender-based violence.
Health coverage is another area of concern.
The UN report states that approximately 70 percent of residents are covered through SZV, while migrants and informal workers remain largely uninsured. This is presented as part of the wider challenge surrounding access to healthcare and social protection among people working outside formal systems.
According to the report, irregular migration has increased since 2018, influenced by reconstruction-related demand following Hurricane Irma and economic instability elsewhere in the region.
At the same time, the UN makes clear that migrants are not simply a population requiring services. They are also contributors to the economy.
The report says migrants contribute substantially to economic activity and provide labor in sectors including construction, tourism, retail and domestic services. Their role is particularly important in an economy where workforce needs have historically been filled partly through regional migration.
The challenge identified by the United Nations is therefore how St. Maarten manages migration while ensuring that people already participating in the economy do not remain permanently outside the systems governing employment, healthcare, education and social protection.
The report notes that St. Maarten has a Migration Policy Framework for 2022-2027, developed with support from IOM. The framework is intended to improve regularization and strengthen border governance, but the UN says implementation has been slow because of administrative capacity limitations and political sensitivities involving the Netherlands.
The UN argues that migrant inclusion should become a stronger part of national social policy if St. Maarten is to meet the Sustainable Development Goals principle of leaving no one behind.
Migration is also tied to wider inequality identified in the report.
While St. Maarten has relatively high average income levels compared with several Caribbean countries, the UN says development outcomes remain uneven. Migrant workers are disproportionately concentrated in lower-wage jobs and may have limited access to social insurance and labor protections.
The report also identifies differences in health, education and housing outcomes between Dutch nationals and non-nationals and between formally and informally employed workers.
The issue has implications for St. Maarten’s longer-term demographic outlook as well.
The working-age population has remained above 60 percent of the total population for decades, according to the report, but is projected to decline gradually over the long term. The UN warns that lower-than-expected migration or significant repatriation of migrants could cause the working-age share to decline more sharply.
That makes migration relevant not only to immigration enforcement, but also to the future labor force, tax base, healthcare system and the country’s ability to respond to an ageing population.
The UN recommends that migration and other demographic issues be incorporated more deliberately into national development planning. It also calls for stronger social-protection systems and digital registries that include migrants, women and informal workers.
The report therefore presents a complicated picture.
