(Seychelles News Agency) - In a total of 27,551 households that took part in the latest population census held in Seychelles in April this year, 55 percent are headed by women.

These latest figures were released yesterday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) as the provisional results of the national census.

The latest numbers show the western Indian Ocean island state as a matriarchal society – despite in some areas of leadership they are less represented. The latest UN Women figures showing that as of February 2021, only 23 percent of seats in parliament were held by women.

The district of Ile Perseverance has the highest number of female-headed households with 72 percent followed by Port Glaud with 63 percent and Anse Pins with 60 percent. On the other hand, Praslin and La Digue show the men there are the head of their households – 51.2 percent of the men at Grand Anse Praslin and 50.4 percent on La Digue and the Inner Islands.

Baie Ste Anne on Praslin – the second most inhabited island in the archipelago – is the only place where there is a split right in the middle in share of the 1,189 households between men and women heading their homes.

There has been an increase of 3,039 in the number of households from 24,512 in 2010 when the last census was held. However, figures show that there is a 0.5 decrease in the size of households – going down from 3.7 in 2010 to 3.2 this year.

This year, Seychelles hit the 100,000 inhabitants mark with a total of 100,447 inhabitants of which 53,927 or 53.7 percent are male and the 46,520 female or 46.3 percent are female.

Meanwhile, the other figures also show Cascade overtakes Anse Etoile as the most populated district in Seychelles with 6,249 people while the latter has 5,413. The district found in the East of Mahe – the main island in Seychelles – now accounts for 6.2 percent of the country’s population.

Les Mamelles, a district on the main island of Mahé, has 2,315 people and is now the least inhabited district.