Statistics Institute publishes the Creative Industries report 2017

Announcements
IEPR
26 December 2025

PRESS RELEASE

DR. ORVILLE M. DISDIER FLORES

INTERIM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Statistics Institute publishes the Creative Industries report 2017

It reveals that the total number of establishments dedicated to Creative Industries was 2,054, the majority (41.7%) belonging to the Arts sector.

San Juan, PR, December 17, 2018 — The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) today released its report of Creative Industries in Puerto Rico 2017, as part of public policy aimed at supporting the development of this sector, in accordance with Law No. 173 of October 13, 2014, also known as the Act to Promote Creative Industries. This law summarizes creative industries into the following groups:

  • Design (graphic, industrial, fashion and interiors)
  • Arts (music, visual and performing arts and publications)
  • Media (application development, video games, online media, digital content and multimedia)
  • Creative Services (architecture and creative education)

Here are some of the publication's key findings:

  1. The total number of establishments dedicated to Creative Industries totaled 2,054. With 41.7% of the establishments, the Arts sector had the largest number of Creative Industries. Within this sector, the specific industries of Computer Systems Design were the one with the highest number with 195 establishments (10.2%).
  2. The largest number of establishments (59.3%) was characterized by being in the category of 1 to 4 employees.
  3. In terms of the number of employees per Creative Industry, the Media sector accounted for 46% (8,454) of the people employed in Creative Industries.
  4. The largest number of employees is in the Computer Systems Design industry with 2,154 employees.
  5. The Creative Industries were numerically dominated by the male population. The number of male population totaled 34,542 (63%) people, while the employed female population was estimated at 20,323 (37%) people.
  6. The average annual wage for all industries was $28,680, the median was $23,650 and the minimum was $6,492.
  7. The highest average annual wage was for the Software Publishing-related industry at $118,200.
  8. The highest average annual salary, by occupation, was System Software Developers with $62.120.

Francisco Pesante González, author of the report, stated that “despite the fact that Puerto Rico has been in recession for more than 10 years, and has had to face the effects of hurricanes Irma and María, the 2017 indicators reveal consistent growth in exports from creative industries.”

For his part, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, Acting Executive Director, said: “With this third report prepared and published by the Institute of Statistics, we reiterate our commitment to join forces with the Institute of Culture and the Trade and Export Company, aimed at continuing the promotion and support of Creative Industries in Puerto Rico.”

To access the full report you can visit: Creative industries.

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” through www.data.pr.gov and to over 40 tables and more than 6 thousand indicators through: www.indicadores.pr.

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

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American Statistical Association asks Ricardo Rosselló not to dismantle the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute

AMERICAN STATISTICAL ASSOCIATION REQUIRES ROSSELLÓ NOT TO DISMANTLE PUERTO RICO'S STATISTICS INSTITUTE

The executive director attacked the measure and invited the Government to take statistics seriously at this time of fiscal crisis

San Juan, PR, January 25, 2018 — The American Statistical Association, known as the American Statistical Association (ASA) today released a cyber petition entitled Clear Accounts: Let's Preserve the Autonomy and Impartiality of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute in which he calls on both Governor Ricardo Rosselló and members of the Legislature to desist from transferring the functions of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (IEPR) to the Puerto Rico Department of Economic Development and Trade in order to eventually outsource all the statistical functions of the Government of Puerto Rico.

The ASA request makes specific reference to Reorganization Plan No. 1 And to Senate Bill 809, which was published yesterday and signed by five scientists from prestigious entities such as Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Yale University.

In addition, he emphasizes that this measure “would dismantle the IEPR and its autonomy, and would jeopardize the transparent and impartial statistical analyses that are critical to the functioning of Puerto Rico and to decision-making in all sectors of society, public and private.”

To this end, the executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago, insisted that everywhere in the world there is a recognition of the need for official statistics to be prepared by independent governmental entities so that they can carry out their functions in a manner totally disconnected from political influences.

The Government of Puerto Rico has a long history of producing, disseminating and presenting rigged, outdated, misinterpreted, and incomplete statistics, and then access to sources of information is not provided so that the information can be verified, either by the citizen or by a congressman. The reality is that statistics are a serious issue and it is time for our Government to take them seriously, particularly if it wants to address its own fiscal problem.

Marazzi Santiago assured that there is no way that the proposed reorganization of the Institute of Statistics, as a program within the Department of Economic Development and Trade or outsourced by it, will solve the serious problem of reliability and credibility that the Government of Puerto Rico has with its statistics.

“We appreciate the efforts of the American Statistical Association (ASA) to create a vehicle that allows data users to express themselves publicly about the proposed reorganization,” said Dr. Marazzi-Santiago.

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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, more than 300 statistical products. In addition, it is a guardian 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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