At the beginning of 2021, the population of Martinique amounted to 364,508 inhabitants, placing the overseas department in 66th position nationally. Since 2009, the island has experienced a demographic decline and loses an average of 1% of its population per year due to the emigration of young people for their studies or to seek work and the aging of the population. Martinique's population is older than the national average. In 2019, 31.8% of residents were under 30 (compared to 35.4% nationally), while 28.1% were over 60 (compared to 26% nationally). People aged 75 and over make up 10.8% of the total population, whose death rate is 10.0‰. These figures rank Martinique second among French regions with the lowest share of people aged 0 to 24 (26%), behind Corsica. It is also the second French region with the highest fraction of people aged 60 and over (31%), behind Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The gender gap - 167,546 men for 196,962 women, i.e. a rate of 54.04% women - remains well above the national rate of 51.64%.