PRESS RELEASE

DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

INSTITUTE WILL CONTINUE TO INVEST IN PLANNING BOARD STATISTICS

The decision makes it easier for the Planning Board to comply with the methodological changes

required for Puerto Rico's economy to be included in that of the United States

San Juan, PR, July 6, 2018 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) announced today that its Board of Directors recently approved continuing to financially support the work of the Roadmap for the Modernization of Puerto Rico's Economic Accounts, work plan agreed between the Planning Board (JP) and the Institute for necessary improvements to Puerto Rico's macroeconomic accounting methodologies.

East Roadmap includes the need to invest in the information systems used by JP to prepare Puerto Rico's economic accounting statistics. In fact, the Institute has been investing in these systems for more than a year. Specifically, in 2016 it was entrusted to the company Wovenware the migration of information systems from a technology based on Oracle products to one based on Microsoft SQL. This is because Oracle discontinued technological support for Softwares that JP uses, which caused processing problems in that agency.

The recent decision, for example, extends this agreement to the next fiscal year, during which it is expected that Wovenware complete final phases 3 and 4 for which the Institute will be investing more than $300,000. The project, which began in 2016 and is expected to end in 2019, will allow the database to be updated automatically, duplicate data to be eliminated and processes to be improved as well as the accessibility of JP statistics.

“As part of our mission to objectively support public administration, the Institute's Board of Directors has done its part to continue the necessary improvements in government, at times of great uncertainty. It is also a project supported by the employees of the JP and the President of the JP that will allow this agency to evolve and for which we are investing more than 10% of the Institute's budget,” said the executive director of the Institute, Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago.

“It is worth noting that this project implements some of the methodological changes adopted by the Institute's Board of Directors in the Resolution No. 2014-02, so that Puerto Rico's national accounts are more reliable, comparable and quickly and universally accessible. At the same time, we are complying with the federal government's requirements for Puerto Rico's economy to be included in the statistics of the United States economy,” added Dr. Marazzi-Santiago.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), entitled Puerto Rico: Limited Federal Data Hinder Analysis of Economic Condition and Dol's 2016 Overtime Rule, found that the lack of federal data on Puerto Rico's economy had made it difficult to analyze the impact of a labor standard proposed by former President of the United States, Barack Obama, on overtime pay for certain types of jobs.

“For statistics on the Puerto Rico economy to be included in those of the United States economy, the Government of Puerto Rico must do its part as well. Since 2011, the federal Government has written down the methodological changes that need to be made to the Planning Board. It is important that this agenda be continued. The Institute's Board of Directors has done its part, because it has the expertise, professionalism, seriousness and independence of judgment that are necessary to understand that this is an agenda that is too important to be derailed,” said Dr. Marazzi-Santiago.

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, about 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a custodian and provides access to over 100 data sets or “data sets” through https://data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: https://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: https://estadisticas.pr.gov. In addition, you can follow us on social networks through Facebook accounts (https://www.facebook.com/estadisticas.pr), Twitter (https://twitter.com/estadisticaspr) and LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/instituto-de-estadisticas-de-puerto-rico).

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

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PRESS RELEASE

Puerto Rico Commission for Suicide Prevention and Statistics Institute publish statistical report for 2019

For the year 2019, 176 cases of suicide were reported, 67 cases less than in 2018

Dr. Orville M. Disdier, executive director of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) reported that a collaboration with the Commission for Suicide Prevention (CPS), attached to the Puerto Rico Department of Health, resulted in the “Annual Statistical Report on Deaths by Suicide 2019”.

“This report is of great importance for citizens, since it presents data on suicide for 2019 and draws comparisons with previous years. In addition, it collects data not only on fatal suicide events, but it also presents information on calls to the ASSMCA PAS line and, for the first time, includes data on suicide attempts and contemplations attended by the Emergency Medical Corps,” said Myribel Santiago, manager of statistical projects at the Institute and co-author of the publication.

The publication of this report underlines the importance of the Institute in coordinating the statistical production service of government entities. The Institute has the capacity not only to request statistical information from executive branch agencies, but also to provide them with collaboration, advice and the necessary tools to improve the quality of the statistics they produce.

“Despite the extraordinary circumstances we currently live in, we hope to continue collaborating. Today, more than ever, we need reliable and accurate data to facilitate the implementation of a responsible, informed and sensitive public policy to the complex reality we live in,” said Dr. María Isabel Coss, educational coordinator of the CPS and lead author of the publication.

For his part, Dr. Disdier argued that “the results of this collaborative report reflect that in 2019, a crude suicide rate of 5.5 per 100,000 inhabitants was observed, which is the lowest rate since 2000. Without a doubt, this is very positive and it also demonstrates the enormous importance of continuing to support the preparation of this type of report, since it is only with data that we can know if the prevention measures are giving the desired results”.

The CPS is responsible for promoting, developing, implementing, coordinating actions and strategies for suicide prevention, adopting an integrative and interdisciplinary approach aimed at individuals, families, communities at risk, and helping professionals. In addition, it emphasizes research, the development of prevention and intervention programs and

in raising public awareness of the magnitude and seriousness of suicide in Puerto Rico. For its part, the Institute is a governmental entity whose mission is to guarantee Puerto Rico that it has complete, reliable statistics, and quick and universal access.

You can access this annual report and other related reports through the following link: Suicide Statistics.

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you 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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Demographic profile of Electoral Districts released