Author: Alejandro López Flores and Ronald G. Hernández Maldonado

Date: November 6, 2025

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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.

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Press Release

New system improves speed and effectiveness when answering

Questions from citizens about statistical data

In order to automate and improve the speed and effectiveness of the processes for answering citizens' questions on statistical issues, the Statistics Institute of Puerto Rico developed a new version of the system for answering questions. This new procedure allows managers and assistants of the Institute to see in real time the questions sent by citizens and to speed up the way they answer those questions. Through the tool of Google Analytics, the system allows us to know important aspects such as: demographic data, geographical data, if the user used a computer or a cell phone, the browser or Browser used, the company of Internet, among others.

“Using this new system, we will better know how long it took us to answer questions, what topics are most common among citizens and what resources were required to answer them. In addition, the tool makes it possible to generate quality control metrics, allowing the Institute to streamline processes, make better use of time, human resources and, consequently, public funds,” said Dr. Orville M. Disdier, acting executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.

To use the new question system, people can send an email to preguntas@estadisticas.pr or access the link directly https://www.estadisticas.pr.gov/

Those interested in learning more about the Institute of Statistics can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Contacts:

Idia M. Martinez, R-28/787-603-3200

Lourdes Burgos, R-27/787-562-2932

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The Institute achieves the creation of a special federal committee for research projects that help to face challenges in the education system