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The Government of Puerto Rico has a long history of producing, disseminating and presenting rigged, outdated, misinterpreted, and incomplete statistics, and then access to sources of information is not provided so that the information can be verified, either by the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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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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