Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley says Government will not be opening the floodgates to foreign labour
as it moves to end Barbados’ population crisis.
She has made it clear, however, that managed migration, along with extending citizenship to the descendants of Barbadians overseas, remain two viable options being considered to address the issue.
Mottley did not discount the third option of Barbadians having more children, but said this “does not allow us to solve the problem in under 20 to 25 years”.
The Prime Minister was speaking in the House of Assembly Tuesday during debate on the Barbados Population Policy 2023.
“Our country is in a crisis with respect to an ageing and declining population and our country needs now to take decisions that may be difficult for some, but necessary for all,” she said.
Mottley explained that while not giving a specific number by which Barbados’ population must increase, the population policy recommends first to “look for descendants of Bajans”.
“In other words, instead of only the child of a Bajan being able to be a Bajan by descent, you want to extend it to great-grandchildren or grandchildren. So we have as a country to decide whether . . . we are going to extend citizenship as a right to grandchildren and great- grandchildren,” she noted.
The more controversial recommendation was managed migration.
“We have to take a serious decision when we bring the Immigration Bill as to how we manage migration into Barbados. Why this is important is because we don’t need to have open floodgates,” the Prime Minister said.
“What we will have is a managed migration policy so that the skills that are needed can be brought in, rather than just believing that you bring in any and everybody, and that you flood out the country or you end up with a preponderance of skills that have no jobs and a preponderance of jobs for which there are no skills.”
She cited Canada as being the best example of managed migration, pointing out that country “has brought in anywhere between two to three per cent of their population for the most part over the course of a number of years”.
Mottley said that expanding the population by growing the birth rate “is really the problem”.
“The problem is that the good ole time way, while it may bring joy to many, does not allow us to solve the problem in under 20 to 25 years. This country does not have another 20 to 25 years with respect to this,” she stressed.
“The mere fact that our population has declined has put us in the position of a developed country. When Germany saw the same thing happened to them, [former Chancellor] Angela Merkel opened her borders and immediately took a shot of adrenaline – a million people.”
The Prime Minister added: “We can’t do like Germany and bring a big adrenaline shot, as much as some may feel that is the option, largely because it’s too destabilising.”
However, she made it clear that kicking the population problem “down the road” was not an option her administration could contemplate because “right now, the weight that we are carrying to lift this country can’t be carried alone by 267 000 people, particularly when the numbers of people over the age of 60 have increased so much”.
“We believe that this thing can be managed properly. We believe that we have to manage the expansion of services as we manage any migration of persons or any repatriation of Bajans coming home to live as will happen,” Mottley told the House.
“In managing it, it requires a very careful balance, but this country certainly cannot continue to sustain the way of life and the benefits that it provides to its people with a declining and ageing population.”
She said there would be consequential actions flowing from the population policy report “once we have heard where all of it settles, and those consequential actions will have far-reaching implications for the state of Barbados, and for the state of families and their way of life in Barbados”.
