New Think Piece explores why young people are leaving Jersey

The Policy Centre Jersey has published a new Think Piece by Henry Humpleby on youth emigration across the Crown Dependencies and what it means for Jersey’s future.

‘Why are young people leaving Jersey?’ sets today’s debate in a long historical frame, noting that youth emigration has been a subject of official concern since at least the 1906 States Report on Immigration into Jersey and that it has risen and fallen with the Island’s economic fortunes, the demand for higher education and the cost of housing. The paper finds the headline emigration figures less alarming than the wider demographic trend: the population aged 0 to 39 fell from 47,710 in 2017 to 44,770 in 2024, while emigration in that age group declined from 2,820 to 2,250. University remains the sharpest pressure point, with close to 60% of those who leave the Island to study not returning.

It groups the pressures on young islanders into four connected areas – satisfaction, mental health, work and cost – and finds the same combination of high living costs, wellbeing concerns and the sense that leaving is a “rite of passage” recurring in Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Cautioning that there is “no silver bullet” for a historic and ingrained issue, it recommends greater recognition of young people’s views, continued work on mental health and wellbeing, a focus on local higher education and employment opportunities, action on the cost of living and housing and investment in building a sustainable community.

The paper is published as a Think Piece; the views expressed are the author’s own.

Read the full Think Piece: www.policy.je/papers/why-are-young-people-leaving-jersey-henry-humpleby/