Where Is Saint Lucia’s Household Infrastructure Divide? Household Co-Deprivation, District Burden, and Change Across the 2010–2022 Censuses

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Abstract

Infrastructure disadvantage is often represented by one geographic rank, although deficits can affect different households, require different delivery systems, and produce different priorities when measured by local prevalence versus national caseload. This study uses Saint Lucia’s 2022 Population and Housing Census REDATAM database to recover the exact weighted joint distribution of seven published household unmet-basic-needs proxies for 65,951 private households across 12 census districts. It combines household profiles, pairwise co-occurrence, district incidence and burden, a secondary latent-class sensitivity, and a fixed-item comparison with the 2010 Census. In 2022, 28.19% of households experienced at least one transparent disadvantage, 8.24% at least two, and 3.44% at least three; the first estimate is 26.77% under the technical note’s stricter overcrowding threshold. Housing inadequacy was most prevalent (16.74%) but often occurred alone. The strongest overlaps instead linked deficient lighting, polluting or absent cooking fuel, information isolation, and sanitation. Micoud and Dennery had virtually tied highest incidence; Canaries had the deepest co-deprivation; and Castries Rural contained the largest national caseload. Harmonized endpoints show broad 2010–2022 improvements in access to a pipe inside the dwelling, severe sanitation, cooking fuel, and overcrowding, but much smaller change in weak housing materials. Internet access expanded far faster than desktop or laptop ownership. The resulting divide is not one gradient or household type. Policy should distinguish network presence, service reliability and safety, affordability, and dwelling or capability constraints, while treating 2022 as a baseline for current validation.