While the CNMI's population declined by 22 percent in the ten year period to 2010, the number of additional housing units was up by almost 19 percent.
This is the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The islands' population shrunk dramatically in that period mainly due to the fall in the number of foreign workers in the territory as the garment industry declined.
Of the nearly 21 thousand housing units, nearly 19 thousand of them are on Saipan.
