areas, according to a recently published Government report.

The Census of Population and Housing says that large sections of the population are moving to areas of Southampton, Hamilton Parish, Smith's and Warwick.

And they are leaving the City and Pembroke Parish which continue to be the main centres of work.

The Island saw a total population increase of eight percent from 54,050 to 58,460 between 1980 and 1990, says the report.

Over that period the number of people in Southampton rose by more than a quarter to 5,804 in 1991. And there were increases in Hamilton Parish of 24 percent, Smith's of 18 percent and Warwick of 14 percent.

During those 11 years the population of Pembroke fell by five percent, with the City of Hamilton losing 32 percent of its smaller group of residents.

Recently there have been plans to bring more residents to the City but it appears the trend is still to move away.

According to the census, Bermudians are not keen to live too close to their places of work and Pembroke and the City remain the main employment areas.

Out of the total working population in Bermuda, 50 percent work in those two areas.

Despite the exodus to the country, Pembroke remains the most densely populated area of the Island with 21.1 people crammed into each hectare. This has changed slightly from 1980 when the figure was 22.1 persons per hectare.

St. George's, Hamilton Parish and Paget remain the least populated areas with less than 10 people per hectare.

One interesting statistic showed that the Hamilton East parliamentary constituency had experienced a 40 percent change in its population in the period recorded, and continues to be one of the most unpredictable voting areas during elections.

While people are leaving Pembroke, it appears more children are being born to add to the population of the parish. The number of under-12s and teenagers are larger in that area than anywhere else on the Island.

The percentage of under-12s in Pembroke is 19 percent of the total on the Island, compared to Paget's seven percent, the lowest number.

And to add to the variety in Pembroke, a quarter all the over 65-year-olds live in that parish.

Devonshire, Warwick and Sandys have at least 10 percent of their populations past retirement age.

A spokesman for the Government Statistics Department said: "Policies aimed at re-directing resources towards the needs of a growing elderly population could be based on information shown, along with other related information such as housing, health care services and pension distribution for the elderly.'' Vacant dwellings rose over the decade in the two areas where people are tending to move -- Southampton and Warwick.

More than half of the homes on the Island were built before 1959, with nearly three quarters of Pembroke homes built before the beginning of the '60s.

Nine percent of all the dwellings in Bermuda, says the report, are in need of urgent repair, with Pembroke and Sandys above that average.