The long-awaited 2010 Census has now been released, and although there are some vital statistics that are yet to be released, the report gives a reasonable idea of where Bermuda stands.As of 2010, there were six percent more people in Bermuda than there were ten years earlier. The number of people under the age of 40 fell, while the number who were 45 or older rose, and quite dramatically. That is a reflection of Bermuda’s ageing population, and it is worth noting that the number of senior citizens rose by 29 percent, while the baby boom group of 45 to 64-year-olds rose by 31 percent.It is thus no surprise that the number of Bermuda-born residents fell to 67 percent of the population, while the number of foreign-born residents rose. Curiously, the number of Bermuda status holders also rose, but this probably has most to do with the increasing likelihood of Bermudians marrying non-Bermudians who then qualify for status.Two myths are disposed of. There is a frequently stated belief that the divorce rate is consistently rising and the institution of marriage is in decline. In fact, the number of adults who reported being married or remarried at the time of the Census has remained quite consistent at 48 percent, down from 50 percent in 2000. The number of people who reported being divorced did increase by 11 percent, but as a proportion of the population, only rose from 11 percent to 12 percent. And the rate of marital breakdown was put at 23 percent compared to 21 percent in 2000. So divorce, although a problem, is not increasing dramatically.The other myth is that the number of teen mothers is ever increasing. Annual statistics on the ages of new mothers has already shown this is untrue, but the Census adds more weight to this when it shows that the number of women aged between 15 and 64 who had their first child while under the age of 20 fell 20 percent to around 3,000 between 2000 and 2010. This means that fewer and fewer women are having children while in their teens.It is to the Statistics Department’s discredit that despite this report being described as the Final Results, there are no statistics on the nature of households there were in the 2000 Report. Thus it is not possible to know how many households are made up of single people or couples, and how many households with children are headed by a single parent or by two adults. That’s a critical indicator and one that needs to be made public. Much public debate centres around missing fathers and the effect on children from being raised in single parent households.In other areas, Bermuda has made some progress. The number of owner-occupied homes has increased to 47 percent from 44 percent, and it’s reasonable to assume that the number of people who own a home is even higher since many rent their own homes out. There were also some signs of progress in the workplace. The number of people with at least a degree increased to 25 percent of all adults, a rise of four percentage points while the number of people with no formal education certification fell. The latter figure reflects the ageing population and the fact that fewer people are old enough to have been able to leave school at 13, but it is encouraging nonetheless.Within the working population, it is encouraging to see that the number of women and blacks in senior management and professional roles increased dramatically in the decade. The number of blacks describing themselves as senior officials and managers rose by 42 percent, while the number of women rose by 55 percent in the same category.In part this was a reflection of the growth in white collar jobs and the changing economy. The less heartening news is that the proportion of blacks in these roles remained the same at 42 percent, although this was offset by the increase in people describing themselves as being of mixed race. Similarly, among women, the proportion of women in senior roles edged up, from 40 percent to 43 percent. So there has clearly been progress, but not as much as might have been hoped.Unfortunately, the results on incomes are also thin, so there is no way of determining the degree to which the surge in incomes in the decade was spread across races and genders. That’s too bad, because that remains the best measure of whether Bermuda is getting closer to racial equity.