Press Release

Exhortation to the deaf community and their families to complete registration to strengthen the information available on this population in Puerto Rico

 San Juan, Puerto Rico — March 18, 2026. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute), in collaboration with the Deaf Community Liaison Office and several agencies of the Government of Puerto Rico, urged deaf people, people with partial hearing loss, deafblind people and their families to participate in an online registry that will allow the collection of key information about this population in Puerto Rico.

The initiative is developed in accordance with Executive Order OE-2026-002, issued by the governor of Puerto Rico, Jennifer A. González Colón, which instructs the Institute of Statistics, in collaboration with the Department of Health, the University of Puerto Rico, the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration, the Deaf Community Liaison Office and other entities, to carry out a formal effort to collect information about the deaf community in Puerto Rico and its characteristics, including the communication methods used.

As explained by the executive director of the Institute, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, community participation is essential for reliable information to guide public decision-making and the development of initiatives aimed at this population. “Having reliable information is essential to be able to develop public policies and services that respond to the real needs of the community. That's why we invite deaf people, those with hearing loss and their families to participate in this registry. Their participation will strengthen knowledge about this population and support informed decisions for the benefit of the deaf community in Puerto Rico,” said Disdier.

It takes three to five minutes to complete the registration. Participation is encouraged to:

• Deaf people
• People with partial (mild to moderately severe) hearing loss
• Deafblind people
• Families and caregivers who support people with these conditions

Interested persons can complete the registration at the following link: surveymonkey.com/r/deafspr

Information and guidance

Individuals or organizations interested in receiving guidance or collaborating in the dissemination of this information can contact:

Deaf Community Liaison Office (OECS)
Phone: 787-725-2333 ext. 203
VRS: 787-773-1487
Email: oecs@dpi.pr.gov
Website: www.dpi.pr.gov

Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics
Telephone: 787-819-0730
Email: preguntas@estadisticas.pr

‍

PRESS RELEASE

DR. MARIO MARAZZI‐SANTIAGO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

U.S. Energy Information Administration includes electricity generation data in PR

This makes it possible to individually access data from each ESA generating plant, among others.

San Juan, PR, July 12, 2018 — For the first time, data on each generating unit in Puerto Rico are accessible and have been included in the inventory of U.S. Energy Information Administration (LIA) which means a great achievement for the transparency of related information by the Electric Power Authority (EEA) and other energy companies in Puerto Rico.

This was confirmed by the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute), representative of the Government of Puerto Rico to the EIA and which has been working for several years to integrate data from Puerto Rico into the statistical inventory of that federal entity. The EIA conducts several annual and monthly surveys of companies and entities that work in the energy industry in the United States, including the electricity sector. They allow us to know in a more timely manner the evolution of Puerto Rico's energy system.

In the case of Puerto Rico, previously it only conducted an annual survey of companies and entities in this sector. Since 2014, thanks to the coordination and initiative of the Institute, the ESA began to take part and participate in monthly electricity sector surveys that allow us to perceive short-term changes in consumption and in the price paid for electricity in Puerto Rico. Now, data is added that allows us to geographically visualize where the generating plants have been located and how much each one generates, among other details. Previously, information could only be accessed globally.

The executive director of the Institute, Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago, stressed the importance of continuing to add ESA statistics to the monthly surveys carried out by the EIA, since they allow us to evaluate sales, consumption and price more frequently, among other important aspects. “This is another great achievement for the transparency that our government aspires to, in every area. We will have monthly indicators of the operational status of each generating unit, which can only benefit Puerto Rico, just as the Government has announced a plan to profoundly transform the Electric Power Authority,” said the Executive Director of the Institute.

The data can be accessed through the Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory. It can be seen that before 1958 all the plants were hydroelectric. While with few exceptions, those that were built and started operations between 1958 and 2009 run on oil and are still in operation. Renewable energy sources, including solar and wind, were added in 2011. After Hurricane Maria, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, most of the plants are operating. Some wind and solar plants have not yet been able to resume operations, but they hope to be able to do so this year.

By law, the Institute represents the Government of Puerto Rico before the EIA. In 2013, the Institute recommended that the EIA include ESA in its monthly survey. By 2014, the fruits of this initiative began to be seen with the inclusion of Puerto Rico in one of the monthly surveys. From then on, the working sessions between the EIA and the ESA were achieved, which has allowed the above-mentioned achievements.

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 www.estadisticas.pr.gov, about 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.

In addition, as the leading entity of the State Data Center (SDC) of Puerto Rico, the Institute 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 (Puerto Rico Community Survey) and official statistics on Puerto Rico's 10-year population and housing censuses, among others. The Puerto Rico SDC portal can be accessed through: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/.

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

##

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

‍

Author: Alejandro López Flores and Ronald G. Hernández Maldonado

Date: November 6, 2025

‍

Poverty must be contextualized with social variables to understand and address it effectively. The Backwardness Index for Puerto Rico is an indicator composed of five variables that comprise two dimensions: Economic Mobility and Demography. This index seeks to measure poverty beyond income thresholds, and to incorporate elements of social backwardness and relative deprivation. An exploratory factor analysis was carried out on a set of variables to validate the construction of the multidimensional deprivation model, and to retain the variables that best captured the phenomenon of deprivation. Then, the retained variables were normalized using thresholds. The thresholds were obtained with data from the Puerto Rico Community Survey (ECPR or PRCS in English) and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS in English). The scores of the different variables were aggregated by dimension, using the arithmetic mean, and the scores resulting from the dimensions were aggregated using the geometric mean. The values of the index lie between 0 and 1 where, the higher the score, the worse the result of the phenomenon.42 municipalities showed a decrease in their index score between the periods compared. Of these 42 municipalities, 22 showed a decrease in their score greater than 5%. Likewise, there are concentrations of municipalities with high Lagging Index scores in the central-southwest and southeastern areas of Puerto Rico.

‍