I, for one, am looking forward to the results of the upcoming 2025 Household Census. You might ask—what’s so interesting about a census?
For starters, we might finally get an accurate count of how many Palauans are actually living in Palau.
Just last week, I read three different articles about Palau. One described the country as having 17,000 people. Another said 20,000. A third said 18,000. Which one is correct?
And even more importantly, are those numbers counting just Palauan citizens, or both citizens and non-citizen residents? We need that breakdown. This isn’t about being xenophobic—it’s about having accurate information that can affect policies on labor, healthcare, education, and the economy.
For example, we talk a lot about prioritizing local workers and making it harder to hire foreign labor. But what if there simply aren’t enough local workers to fill the jobs? What would that mean for public services, the cost of goods, or even the strength of our economy?
How many households do we really have? How many people are employed—and how many work in government versus the private sector? These questions might seem boring, but they’re essential. If we’re being asked to help pay for improvements to our water and power utilities, we need to know how many people will share that cost. Will utility rates go up? Can people afford it? Or will it drive even more of our population to leave?
Speaking of leaving, I also wonder if this census will show how many people have moved away in the past five years. We don’t have hard numbers, but many say young Palauans have been moving to the United States in increasing numbers. One state reportedly lost over 30 young people recently.
What does that kind of outmigration mean for a state, for the nation, and for our future? Are our policies aligned with what’s really happening on the ground?
The census might help answer that. Anyone else looking forward to the results? (By: L.N. Reklai)