Saint Martin is located in the northeastern Caribbean Sea, at the northern end of the Leeward island group of the Lesser Antilles. It shares the northern land border with the San Martín Collective, one of the French municipalities on the American continent. Its estimated area is 34 km2.
In 2000 the total population of Sint Maarten was 30 489 inhabitants; by 2023 this figure had risen to 44 222, representing a 45.0% increase. Regarding the country’s demographic profile, in 2023 people over 65 years of age accounted for 11.7% of the total population, an increase of 8.7 percentage points compared to the year 2000. In 2023, there were 87.1 women per 100 men and 112.2 older people (65 years or older) per 100 children under 15 years of age, as can be seen in the country’s population pyramids, distributed by age group and sex (Figure 1). Considering the population between 15 and 64 years of age to be potentially active (i.e., potential participants in the labor force), this group represented 77.9% of the total population of the country in 2023 (34 453 people). When we add these figures to the potentially passive population (4 603 under 15 years of age and 5 166 over 65 years of age), the result is a dependency ratio of 28.4 potentially passive people per 100 potentially active people. This ratio was 41.0 in 2000.
Life expectancy at birth in 2023 was 76.0 years, lower than the average for the Region of the Americas and 1.5 years higher that in 2000.
