The State Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism this week released the 2024 edition of the state "Data Book," the 57th iteration of the comprehensive statistical guide. It's free online.
In it, you'll find data on population, education, environment, economics, energy, real estate, construction, business, government, tourism and transportation. It's the "official summary of statistics on the social, economic and political organization of Hawai‘i," the Data Book notes.
“Since 1962, DBEDT has been publishing the 'Data Book' and it remains as one of the most popular products we offer. It allows people to understand what’s happening in our state and serves as a valuable resource for researchers, businesses, government agencies and our communities,” DBEDT Director James Kunane Tokioka said in an announcement Monday.
There's a lot to take in, but here are a few tidbits from the 1,100-plus page 2024 Data Book that we found interesting:
— Population changes over 190 years: Hawai‘i's population was 130,313 in an 1831-32 census and 1,455,271 in April 2020.
Hawai‘i County had the largest population in 1831 — 45,792 people — while Kaua‘i County had the smallest with 12,024. What is now the City and County of Honolulu had a population of 29,755.
In 2020, Honolulu had a population of just over 1 million and Hawai‘i County had 200,629 people living there.
— In 2024, the median age statewide was 41.4. Additionally, the dependency ratio statewide — which measures the number of people under 18 and over 65 as a proportion of the working population of people ages 18 to 64 — is 71.7, which means there are 71.7 dependents to every 100 working-age people.
That ratio is 82.2 in Hawai‘i County, 68.6 in Honolulu, 79.9 in Kaua‘i County and 74.5 in Maui County.
— Of the estimated 58,539 people who moved into Hawaii from other U.S. states and Washington, D.C. between 2022 and 2023, 11,200, or 19.1%, came from California. Those who moved out of the Islands between those years also flocked to California, with 8,094 of the estimated 58,078 out-migrants — nearly 14% — heading to the state.
— In 2000, there were 17,514 resident births and 8,163 resident deaths. By 2023, that gap narrowed significantly, with 14,761 resident births and 12,384 resident deaths recorded.
Elijah and Isla were the most common first names on birth certificates in 2023.
The most common last names on birth certificates in 2023 were Lee (55), Smith (47), Johnson (39), Ramos (39), Brown (38), Williams (35), Jones (33), Kim (31), Wong (31) and Miller (30).
And on death certificates that year, the most common surnames were Lee (97), Wong (64), Kim (62), Nakamura (49), Chang (46), Smith (45), Lum (43), Young (43), Chun (38) and Tanaka (34).
— There were 280 centenarians — people over the age of 100 — who died in 2023, 346 in 2022, 236 in 2021 and 265 in 2020.
— Punahou School was the largest private school by enrollment in 2023-2024, with 3,773 students. The median and average tuition was $30,480.
— Internet crimes have more than doubled between 2012 and 2024, climbing from 1,135 complaints to 2,603. The dollar value of victim losses, however, has increased significantly from about $2.3 million to nearly $55.2 million in those same respective years.
— Taking flight: the Hawai‘i Audubon Society tallied 1,029 Pacific golden-plovers in the Honolulu area last year, compared to 616 in 2023.
There are about 360 bird species in the Islands, 33 of which are extinct or almost certainly extinct and 24 that are on the federal list of endangered species.
— As of 2022, the state owns a about 1.6 million acres of land across the Islands: 1.09 million acres on Hawai‘i Island; 28,538 on Kaho‘olawe; 155,703 on Kaua‘i; 592 on Lāna‘i; 158,810 on Maui; 127 on Ni‘ihau; and 103,912 on O‘ahu.
Meanwhile, the federal government owns 546,905 acres across the state, including 447,505 acres on Hawai‘i Island; 24 on Kaho‘olawe; 3,523 on Kaua‘i; 7 on Lāna‘i; 33,868 on Maui; 90 on Molokai; 272 on Ni‘ihau; and 61,617.7 on O‘ahu.
As for local governments, the City and County of Honolulu owns 19,002 acres on O‘ahu; Hawai‘i County owns 10,188 acres on Hawai‘i Island; Maui County owns 9,288 acres on Maui, 266 acres on Molokai and 209 acres on Lāna‘i; and Kaua‘i County, which also includes Ni‘ihau, owns 1,015 acres on Kaua‘i.
— There were a little more than 9.53 million visitor arrivals by air in 2024, slightly more than the nearly 9.5 million visitor arrivals in 2023, but fewer than the 10.24 million visitor arrivals tallied in 2019, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
And for those exploring by sea, there were 123 cruise ship tours with 277,093 passengers in 2019 and 139 tours with 300,067 passengers last year.
— 23,641 people registered for the Honolulu Marathon in 2024 and 18,379 finished the race. Both numbers were higher than the previous year. The Ironman Triathlon World Championship had 3,875 participants last year and 3,407 finishers.
Fifty-nine boats entered the Transpacific Yacht Club's Honolulu race in 2023.
— There were a total of 296,605 Social Security beneficiaries who received an estimated $6.15 billion in benefits in 2024. Those numbers are up from 291,053 beneficiaries and an estimated $5.47 billion in benefits the prior year. In 1991, the earliest year that data is available, there were 151,390 beneficiaries who received an estimated $971 million in benefits. (According to an inflation calculator from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, that equates to just under $2.3 billion in today's dollars).
— The Queen's Health Systems topped the list of largest private employers in both 2022 and 2023, with 9,259 and 9,452 employees respectively each year, followed by Hawai‘i Pacific Health, Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and Kamehameha Schools in the next highest spots both years.
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Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
