THERE continues to be a steady movement of people from islands in the Lomaiviti Province to urban areas.
And this is particularly for those in the 24 to 26-year old-age group, the Lomaiviti Provincial Council Development Board meeting heard in Suva yesterday.
And it heard the exodus continues despite a total of 689 projects worth $4,071,664.90 implemented last year in the province.
Of the 689 projects, 665 are government-operated and funded and 24 by a group of NGOs.
Lomaiviti provincial administrator Kelepi Kubunameca said government injected over $4million in the 665 projects while NGOs invested $332,000 in the 24 projects. With a total population of 16,461, he said Lomaiviti's active age group in terms of its labour force ranged from the age of 15 to 59 totalling 9137 people.
Mr Kubunameca said while there was a growth in Lomaiviti's population every 10 years, the province continued to lose the majority of its young to urban migration.
He highlighted that between the mid 1970s and 80s, Lomaiviti's population jumped from 13,000 to 16,000.
However, he added that in the past 30 years, the population remained below 17,000. Ovalau remains Lomaiviti's most populated island with a population of 8200, the meeting heard.