PRESS RELEASE

DISRUPTED THE MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS AFTER HURRICANES

Federal data on passenger departures and arrivals on domestic flights confirm this

San Juan, PR, December 19, 2017 — Recently, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) published the statistics on air traffic in the United States and Puerto Rico, known as Air Carrier Statistics, for the month of September 2017. These data are provided by airlines to BTS on a monthly basis and represent the first official data published by the federal Government on the movement of air passengers following the passage of hurricanes Irma and María over Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) presents this brief summary of several findings from this disclosure:

1) Compared to September 2016, the number of air passengers arriving in Puerto Rico dropped by 45 percent, from 238 thousand passengers to only 131 thousand. In the same way, passenger departures from Puerto Rico fell from 254,000 passengers to 173,000 for a decrease of 32 percent.

2) All major destinations and origins of flights from Puerto Rico were affected. The states that experienced the largest percentage reductions in passenger arrivals from Puerto Rico were: Florida, Connecticut, Texas, Georgia, and Illinois. The states with the largest percentage reductions in passenger departures to Puerto Rico were: Florida, Illinois, Connecticut, Texas and Maryland.

3) In 2016, 88,000 net people left Puerto Rico on domestic flights. In recent months, this figure had shown signs of diminishing, falling to almost 60,000 net passengers. With the data just released, this number once again expanded to 93,000 passengers for the 12-month period between October 2016 and September 2017.

Note: Flights within Puerto Rico (intra-island) are excluded. States that received less than a thousand passengers from Puerto Rico in September 2016 are excluded, so the sum of the states is slightly different from the total reported in the table.

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Regarding the movement of passengers, Alberto L. Velázquez-Estrada, manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute, said: “The net movement of passengers in the last 12 months allows us to approximate the behavior of the migratory trend, which in itself is volatile. Data released as of September 2017 are beginning to validate the repercussions after the natural event. First, a decline in air passenger flow due to airport interruptions and second, an increase in more people leaving than returning to the island. In other words, the figure for September 2017 predicts a new increase in emigration, which in itself has fluctuated for more than a decade at high values compared to the size of the population of Puerto Rico.”

More details on data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics can be obtained at: https://www.transtats.bts.gov/. You can also access the air flight dataset with cargo and passenger information at https://datos.estadisticas.pr.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for coordinating the Government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through statistics.pr.gov, over 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr. For more information you can visit our website: www.estadisticas.pr. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook (estadisticas.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes/ (787) 688-0401

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AUTHORIZED STATEMENTS BY DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO ON APPROVAL OF THE MEASURE CREATING PUERTO RICO'S OPEN DATA LAW

We thank the Puerto Rico Senate for the approval of Senate Bill 236, which to create the Puerto Rico Open Data Act. In its original version, the measure was drafted by researchers from the Institute and was later endorsed by the Institute's Board of Directors last year. The implementation of this Act does not cost the public purse an additional penny and, for the first time, mandates specific proactive data disclosure actions, which are essential elements of a culture of openness as a government custom (open by default). For example, for the first time, the publication of data in open computer-readable formats is mandated, one of the elements that gave Puerto Rico the most difficulty the last time Open Knowledge International evaluated the opening of our databases.

The amendments incorporated by the Senate Governance Committee address core aspects of the measure that ultimately complement and strengthen the measure. For example, for the first time, publicly funded official travel reports will be released. This in itself is a more effective way to control official travel expenses than the administrative control schemes that all governments use.

At the same time, as in any measure, there are always specific issues that could be improved. We are looking forward to the consideration of this measure in the House of Representatives. We are aware of the commitment of [Speaker of the House, Hon. Carlos “Johnny” Méndez Núñez, and the president of the House Governance Committee, Hon. Jorge Navarro Suárez, with the issues of transparency and access to public data, so we are sure that the House will give high priority to this measure.

In short, the Open Data Act proposed by the Institute of Statistics is a cornerstone in achieving the cost-effective, agile and transparent Government that we all want.

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San Juan, PR — The U.S. Census Bureau today released the most recent data from the Puerto Rico Community Survey known as the Puerto Rico Community Survey (PRCS) at the municipal level. These statistics refer to information collected from 2012 to 2016, a period of 5 years or a five-year period. The new publication provides data on social, economic and housing characteristics for Puerto Rico and for all municipalities, as well as for some specific geographical levels such as neighborhoods, census tracts and block groups. As the leading entity of the U.S. Census Bureau's State Data Center Network in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) presents this brief summary of some of the results:

1. During the 5-year period (2012-16), the median household income in Puerto Rico was $19,606, which decreased by about 4 percent compared to the previous five-year period (2007-11) when the median income was $20,403.
2. Comparing the two five-year periods (2012-16 vs. 2007-11) at the municipal level:
   • In 51 municipalities, there was a decrease in the median household income, and in 17 of these municipalities the change was statistically significant, with a confidence level of 90%.
   • The 5 municipalities that showed the highest decrease according to the percentage change in household income were: Guayama, Las Marías, Adjuntas, Lajas and Santa Isabel.
   • On the other hand, the 5 municipalities that showed the highest increase in household income were: Salinas, Naranjito, Culebra, Juana Díaz and Morovis.

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At the Puerto Rico level, data indicate a reduction of about $800 in household income during the most recent five-year period 2012-16 compared to the previous 2007-2011. Looking at income by category, the proportion of households with incomes under $10,000 increased from 28% to 29% between the two periods, pointing to more households with minimum incomes in Puerto Rico. As for municipalities, 65% of these reflected a decrease in the median household income without showing any particular geographical pattern. On the other hand, seven municipalities showed an increase of 12% or more in household income, located in the center, south and east of Puerto Rico,” said Alberto L. Velázquez-Estrada, manager of statistical projects at the Institute.

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More statistics on the Community Survey estimates can be obtained at: http://factfinder2.census.gov/. If you need assistance using this tool to get
data, you may find the self-study guide useful for using this available tool: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/fact-finder . Information on the methodology used to produce the estimates can be accessed here.

In addition, as the leading entity of Puerto Rico's SDC, the IEPR manages the SDC portal, which contains the main statistical reports and publications of the U.S. Census Bureau on Puerto Rico, specifically those that are most in demand, such as annual population estimates; the Puerto Rico Community Survey and official statistics on Puerto Rico's decennial population and housing censuses, among others. The Puerto Rico SDC portal can be accessed through: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity responsible for coordinating the Government's statistical production service to ensure that the data collection and statistics systems, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable, and have quick and universal access. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through
https://estadisticas.pr.gov, over 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr.

For more information you can visit our website: https://estadisticas.pr.gov. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook (estadisticas.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

Press Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes (787) 688-0401

Demographic impact and population projections after the passage of hurricanes Irma and María.

To create the “Puerto Rico Mobile Emergency Alert System Act”; establish the obligation of mobile phone companies to implement an emergency alert system for mobile devices in Puerto Rico; establish regulatory authority; and for other related purposes.P. of C. 1103: To create the “Wireless Alert Warning Act for Beach and Coastal Area Users in Dangerous Maritime Conditions in Puerto Rico”; order commercial mobile service providers to adopt the necessary mechanisms to issue such warnings; to outline the scope of the regulation; and for other related purposes.

Statistics Institute creates section to provide data on Hurricane Maria

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