Puerto Rico's population is around 3.3 million in 2017

Announcements
IEPR
29 December 2025

PUERTO RICO'S POPULATION IS AROUND 3.3 MILLION IN 2017

It has fallen by 10% since the most recent 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 that 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 brief summary of the findings of the new annual population estimates for 2017:

  1. The population of Puerto Rico was estimated at 3,337,177 people as of July 1, 2017.
  2. In contrast to the last 2010 Census when the official population count resulted in 3,725,789 people, the new estimate points to a cumulative population decrease in the current decade of 10 percent up to 2017. That is, a population decline at a rate of -1.5% each year on average (annualized rate).
  3. As for the resident population of 18 years of age or older, this was estimated at 2,680.381 million, comprising 80% of the resident population of Puerto Rico.
  4. The components of population change considered for the estimates assume that, between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017, there were 28,000 births and 29,000 deaths in Puerto Rico. For the first time, annual population estimates reflected natural population growth (the number of births minus the number of deaths) that results in more deaths than births. Regarding migration, the net balance was close to -68 thousand people during the same period.

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

After conducting a decennial Census, such as the 2010 Census, the U.S. Census Bureau prepare the annual population estimates 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 2017 estimates announced in this release, the estimates already published for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 were revised. Each publication is distinguished according to the year in which they were produced and are named as Vintage.


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

In addition, as the leading entity of the SDC in 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.

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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Passenger movement disrupted after hurricanes

PRESS RELEASE

DISRUPTED THE MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS AFTER HURRICANES

Federal data on passenger departures and arrivals on domestic flights confirm this

San Juan, PR, December 19, 2017 — Recently, the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) published the statistics on air traffic in the United States and Puerto Rico, known as Air Carrier Statistics, for the month of September 2017. These data are provided by airlines to BTS on a monthly basis and represent the first official data published by the federal Government on the movement of air passengers following the passage of hurricanes Irma and María over Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) presents this brief summary of several findings from this disclosure:

1) Compared to September 2016, the number of air passengers arriving in Puerto Rico dropped by 45 percent, from 238 thousand passengers to only 131 thousand. In the same way, passenger departures from Puerto Rico fell from 254,000 passengers to 173,000 for a decrease of 32 percent.

2) All major destinations and origins of flights from Puerto Rico were affected. The states that experienced the largest percentage reductions in passenger arrivals from Puerto Rico were: Florida, Connecticut, Texas, Georgia, and Illinois. The states with the largest percentage reductions in passenger departures to Puerto Rico were: Florida, Illinois, Connecticut, Texas and Maryland.

3) In 2016, 88,000 net people left Puerto Rico on domestic flights. In recent months, this figure had shown signs of diminishing, falling to almost 60,000 net passengers. With the data just released, this number once again expanded to 93,000 passengers for the 12-month period between October 2016 and September 2017.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Air Carrier Statistics, T-100 Domestic Segment (U.S. Carriers).
Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Air Carrier Statistics, T-100 Domestic Segment (U.S. Carriers).

Note: Flights within Puerto Rico (intra-island) are excluded. States that received less than a thousand passengers from Puerto Rico in September 2016 are excluded, so the sum of the states is slightly different from the total reported in the table.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Air Carrier Statistics, T-100 Domestic Segment (U.S. Carriers).

Regarding the movement of passengers, Alberto L. Velázquez-Estrada, manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute, said: “The net movement of passengers in the last 12 months allows us to approximate the behavior of the migratory trend, which in itself is volatile. Data released as of September 2017 are beginning to validate the repercussions after the natural event. First, a decline in air passenger flow due to airport interruptions and second, an increase in more people leaving than returning to the island. In other words, the figure for September 2017 predicts a new increase in emigration, which in itself has fluctuated for more than a decade at high values compared to the size of the population of Puerto Rico.”

More details on data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics can be obtained at: https://www.transtats.bts.gov/. You can also access the air flight dataset with cargo and passenger information at https://datos.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. The Institute has in its inventory, accessible through statistics.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. 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 Contact: Sandra Morales Blanes/ (787) 688-0401

Symposium held: Use of data from open portals

Symposium held: Use of data from open portals

Statistics Institute calls for the opening of information on the economic incentives that the Government negotiates with private companies on Civic Hacker Day

Statistics Institute calls for the opening of information on the economic incentives that the Government negotiates with private companies on Civic Hacker Day