using more public transport, according to a report published yesterday.

And a possible consequence of fewer vehicles on the road is a drop in the number of fatal road casualties over the past two years.

Those are just some of the figures available in the Bermuda Digest of Statistics for 1992.

The Digest contains more than 90 tables on social and economic indicators, including population, school enrolment, employment, international travel and land use.

Population figures in Bermuda have risen since 1911 when there was plenty of room to move for the 18,994 folk living on the Island.

In 1991 the total was 59,324 and it looks certain to top 60,000 over the next two years, trebling the 1911 total. Women now outnumber males by more than 1,500.

This is explained by people living longer, a steady number of births, and an increase in foreign workers.

Heart disease is still the biggest killer with figures around 193, similar to last year. Cancer is a close second, with AIDS an increasing third.

And evidence that promiscuity is continuing can be seen in the highest number of cases of sexually-transmitted diseases since 1985.

However people are taking care in other ways. Numbers of registered private cars and motorcycles are down. There is a total of nearly 2,000 less vehicles on Bermuda's roads.

This could be a sign of people being more environmentally conscious, or simply a result of the recession.

Recession does not appear to have affected wages with weekly pay rates in all sectors steadily rising since 1985 -- but so have prices in most cases.

A five-pound bag of potatoes which cost $2.46 in 1985 now retails at $3.34, while a bottle of rum at $10.50 seven years ago now costs $19.31.

The recession has hit home in employment where the jobless totals last year have been consistently the worst for at least a decade. There were 165 people registered out-of-work in February, a record total for the period. The numbers have not really dropped much below that figure throughout the year.

And workers appear to be knuckling down and accepting that it might not all be the fault of their employers as there has been a dramatic reduction in work stoppages over the past seven years. In 1991 there was one stoppage involving 15 workers and 975 working days lost.

On the bright side the absolute maximum temperature of the Island is at a 10-year high of 92.2 degrees, with an average daily temperature of 70.4 degrees. And rainfall has tended to be fairly low in the last three years.

The digest was compiled from the 1991 population census and can be obtained from the Statistical Department, Second Floor, Global House, Church Street, Hamilton at a cost of $10.