Population reduction continues in Puerto Rico's municipalities

This is indicated by the estimates for the month of July 2022 of the U.S. Census Bureau

San Juan, PR, March 30, 2023 — The U.S. Census Bureau today released the most recent Annual Population Estimates data for municipalities in Puerto Rico, as well as for counties in the United States. These statistics refer to July 1, 2022 and include estimates of the total population for each municipality and the population change in the current decade. On behalf of the U.S. Census Bureau's Network of Data and Census Information Centers (SDC-PR) in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) reported several findings from the new publication of population estimates for the year 2022:

1. Compared to the 2020 Decennial Census with reference to April 1, 2020, compared to the most recent year available, July 1, 2022, estimates indicate that:
   • Changes in the population of residents in municipalities ranged from 0.8% to -7.2%.
   • In 99% of the municipalities, a population decrease was estimated. Only for the municipality of Rincón, a slight increase (0.8%) was estimated.
   • Some 15 municipalities reflected an estimated reduction of more than three percent (3%) in the comparative period.
   • The total population of all of Puerto Rico is estimated to have fallen by two percent (2%), translating to nearly 64,000 fewer residents than in April 2020.

2. In relation to the geographical aspect between municipalities, with regard to the change in the total population estimated up to the year 2022, the interactive map provides the geographical distribution.

In this one you can identify:

• • The five municipalities with the highest percentage of population decline were Guánica (-7.2%), Loíza (-4.4%), Guayanilla (-4.0%), Ponce (-3.9%) and Maricao (-3.8%).
    • Four of the five municipalities are located in the south and west of Puerto Rico, and Loíza, on the other hand, in the northeast.
  • The five municipalities with the lowest percentage of population decline were Barranquitas (-0.1%), Naranjito (-0.1%), Aibonito (-0.3%), Isabela (-0.4%) and Moca (-0.5%).
    • The first three municipalities are located in the central area (Barranquitas, Naranjito and Aibonito) and the last two (Isabela and Moca) in the western part of Puerto Rico.

“The pattern of population estimates continues to show a tendency to decrease, a trait of which, at the level of Puerto Rico, we are already approaching nearly two decades (since 2005) of being an increasingly smaller resident population but with a different demographic composition,” said Alberto L. Velázquez-Estrada, Senior Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute. As an interactive summary, the Institute published a visualization that allows us to see the new series of estimates at the municipal level, facilitating geographical comparison within Puerto Rico. This visualization can be accessed at: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/node/517.

The tables with the annual population estimates for Puerto Rico and its municipalities can be accessed at: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/EstimadosPoblacionales, as well as in the data dissemination tool of the U.S. Census Bureau: data.census.gov. In addition, as the leading entity of the State Data Center 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 decennial population and housing censuses, among others. The Puerto Rico SDC portal can be accessed through: 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.

For more information you can visit the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov or write to preguntas@estadisticas.pr. They can also follow social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) and Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) accounts.

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Data presented from the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico

598 homicides and 190 suicides were reported in Puerto Rico in 2022

The Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS, in English) established at the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, presented data from the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths Report for the year 2022. The report reports that in 2022, there were 727 incidents of violent deaths, with a total of 809 fatalities. Of the total number of violent deaths, 598 were homicides and 190 were suicides, representing 97.4% of violent deaths.

In 2022, 73.9% of victims of violent deaths were reported in single or multiple homicide incidents and 23.5% were suicide incidents. Seven homicide-suicide incidents were reported, resulting in 14 fatalities. In addition, 6 violent deaths attributed to legal intervention (0.7%), four violent deaths from unintentional self-inflicted firearms (0.5%) and 11 violent deaths with undetermined intent (1.4%) were documented during this period. In 2022, approximately 9 out of 10 victims of violent deaths (89.6%) were men. The crude rate of violent deaths for Puerto Rico in 2022 was 25.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, 47.6 in men and 4.9 in women.

Of the 809 violent deaths recorded in 2022, 598 were homicides (73.9%). The majority of homicides occurred between the ages of 15 and 39. In these age groups, 73.2% of all homicides occurred among men and 66.0% among women. The primary mechanism of the homicides was firearms. In Puerto Rico, 93.6% of homicides were committed with firearms. Globally, firearm homicides account for 69.5%.

In 2022, nearly half of the homicides occurred in an environment of collective violence. 255 of the 598 homicides (42.6%) registered in 2022 occurred in a context related to criminal groups involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs.

In 2022, 28 fatal victims of family violence were reported. Family violence (violence between family members) includes child or adult abuse and violence against an intimate partner. Most of these cases were related to violence in an intimate or former partner environment (13 cases, 67.9%). There were 9 fatal incidents among family members (32.1%). The vast majority of victims of intimate partner violence were women (n= 13, 68.4%). More than half of these women were victims of their former spouse or former male partner (61.5%), while 30.8% were victims of their current spouse or partner. In addition, a firearm was used in 10 of the 13 femicides/femicides (76.9%).

As for suicides in Puerto Rico, the report highlights that the frequency is lower than that of homicides. However, as in homicides, suicides are more frequent in men (85.5%). In 2022, the crude suicide rate was 5.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, 10.6 in men (1 of 145 men) and 1.6 in women (1 of 788 women). The main mechanism was asphyxiation (62.3% in men and 53.6% in women).

The collection of this type of data involves fieldwork that usually takes more than two years, from the time the incident occurs until the collection, review and publication of the data is completed. Mariluz Bezares Salinas, Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute of Statistics and co-principal investigator of the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico, said: “This report not only reflects the magnitude of violent deaths in Puerto Rico, but it also provides a detailed overview of the circumstances and factors associated with the occurrence of violent deaths. This information is crucial for guiding public policy decisions and designing interventions that save lives and promote safer communities.”

“This violent death reporting system is a reliable, complete and unique reference source that helps describe vital information about the circumstances surrounding violent deaths in Puerto Rico. This data is essential for government agencies and community organizations to implement evidence-based prevention programs,” said Dr. Diego Zavala, epidemiologist and co-principal investigator of the PRVDRS.

For the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, the Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System has been and is fundamental to understanding the magnitude and characteristics of this public health problem. “Data from 2022 allow us to identify crucial patterns and trends to develop more effective and efficient prevention strategies. Our commitment at the Institute of Statistics is to continue strengthening this statistical and epidemiological system to continue to have statistics, complete, reliable and quickly and universally accessible, on this topic,” argued Dr. Disdier.

The PRVDRS is an epidemiological surveillance system affiliated with the Institute of Statistics and designed to obtain a complete and standardized census of violent deaths in Puerto Rico. The PRVDRS began its participation in the National Violent Death Notification System (National Violent Death Reporting System, NVDRS) in September 2016 through a collaborative agreement granted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is an autonomous governmental entity tasked with 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 accessible quickly and universally.

The 2022 Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico is available at: Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System. To learn about the Institute of Statistics, you can access it on social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), X (formerly Twitter) (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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PRESS RELEASE

RED STATE DATA CENTER OF PUERTO RICO

December 19, 2018

THE POPULATION OF PUERTO RICO IS ESTIMATED AT 3.2 MILLION IN 2018

With the post-hurricane effect, it points to a decrease of 14% since the 2010 Decennial Census

San Juan, PR — El U.S. Census Bureau released today the most recent annual population estimates for Puerto Rico. These statistics refer to July 1, 2017 and include the components of annual population change since July 1, 2010, which support the population estimate since the beginning of the decade. As the leading entity of the Network State Data Center (SDC) of the U.S. Census Bureau in Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) presents this summary of the findings of the new annual population estimates for 2018:

1. The population of Puerto Rico was estimated at 3,195,153 people as of July 1, 2018.
2. The impact of the hurricanes (Irma and María) in 2017 is included in the new estimates. These hurricanes further fueled the downward trend in population size in Puerto Rico. The absolute population change between July 2017 and 2018 was estimated to be close to 130,000 inhabitants, representing 3.9% of the total population.
3. Compared to the last 2010 Census, when the official list resulted in 3,725,789 people, the new estimate points to a cumulative decrease in the current decade of close to 14% until 2018.
4. In relation to the resident population 18 years of age or older (of voting age), this was estimated at 2,601.142 million, comprising 81 percent of the population in Puerto Rico.
5. The components of population change include that, between July 1, 2017 and July 1, 2018, about 24,000 births and 31,000 deaths occurred in Puerto Rico. As a result, annual population estimates reflect more deaths than births, resulting in a natural increase close to -6 thousand people. Regarding migration, the estimated net balance was approximately -123 thousand people during the same period.

“The 2018 population estimates give a little more detail to the repercussions of the hurricanes of the past year 2017 on the demographic components of Puerto Rico. The combination of a negative natural increase in the population (more deaths than births), combined with the drive of the already high net emigration, points to an impressive population loss of 3.9% in just one year. This presents us with a difficult scenario to assimilate in terms of the speed of the decrease, as well as the direct repercussions it entails on the local scene. On the other hand, the operations of the next Decennial Census 2020 are becoming more important, so that they result in the best possible official enumeration, then you can confirm the drastic demographic changes estimated during the current decade,” said Alberto L. Velazquez Estrada, Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute.

After the completion of a Decennial Census (such as the 2010 Census) the U.S. Census Bureau prepare the annual population estimates, which allow us to approximate the population during the decade before the next Census. These estimates are prepared by analyzing data on births, deaths and migration. As a result, with each new publication of the estimates, adjustments are made to the previously estimated years. For example, with the publication of the 2018 estimates announced in this release, the estimates already published for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 were revised. Each publication is distinguished according to the year in which they were produced and are named as Vintage.

More statistics on Puerto Rico's annual population estimates can be obtained at: https://censo.estadisticas.pr/EstimadosPoblacionales, in the population estimates section. Information on the methodology used to produce the estimates can be accessed hither.

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, over 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or Data sets by means of 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.gov. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook accounts (statistics.government.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico).

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

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