Fewer people left Puerto Rico

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IEPR
09 January 2026

Fewer people left Puerto Rico

This is detailed in the most recent Migrant Profile 2021-2022

San Juan, PR, December 11, 2023 — During the calendar years 2021 and 2022, data from the Community Survey indicate that the net migration balance between Puerto Rico and the United States decreased from -27 to -16 thousand people emigrating or by -41%. This was revealed by the 2021-2022 Migrant Profile, which was published today by the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, and which presents an overview of the migratory movement in Puerto Rico in the calendar year 2021 and 2022. On the other hand, the values continue to reflect more people leaving than entering the jurisdiction in both years. Here are several key findings:

  1. Between 2021 and 2022, Puerto Rico's migration indicators according to the Community Survey showed that:
    • the number of emigrants to the United States was estimated at about 55 thousand and 43 thousand people respectively, resulting in a decrease of -21%. Since 2010, the figure had not been lower than 60,000 emigrants
    • about 27,000 people immigrated to Puerto Rico each year
    • in net terms, the migratory balance between Puerto Rico and the United States decreased from -27 to -16 thousand people emigrating or by -41%.
    • The median age of the emigrant population decreased from 31.9 to 30.3 years, and immigrants were younger than emigrants, showing a reduction in the median age from 39 to 33.8 years.
    • The net migratory balance of the population with some post-secondary education or more decreased from about ten thousand (2021) to four thousand (2022) people emigrating.
  2. DDuring the last twelve years of available information (2010-2019 and 2021-2022), it was estimated, according to the Community Survey, that some 649,000 more people have moved from residence to the United States from Puerto Rico than from the United States to Puerto Rico.
  3. In 2022, passenger flow indicated that:
    • The net movement by plane from Puerto Rico to all destinations (not just the United States) had between seven (-7) thousand and one thousand (-1) passengers according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) and the Port Authority (AP), respectively.
    • the net movement of passengers by sea (ferry) between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic was less than one thousand (724) passengers, according to Caribbean Ferries.
  4. The geographical distribution of emigrants to the United States was:
    • In 2022, as a destination for emigrants, 47% to the Southern region, 25% to the Northeast region and 16% to the Midwest region.
    • the Northeastern region reflected a gradual decrease in emigrants from 47% in 2005 to 25% in 2022.
    • The five states with the highest emigration from Puerto Rico were:
      • in 2021 Florida, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey.
      • in 2022 Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas and New Jersey.

“The indicators indicate a reduction in net emigration in recent years. In other words, a decline has been identified in the notorious net migratory flows that prevailed from 2011 to 2019, where net emigration represented between 1.1% and 3.5% of the total annual population of Puerto Rico. Net emigration in 2021 and 2022 represented 0.8% and 0.5% of the total population, respectively. On the other hand, we cannot lose sight of the fact that more people continue to leave than those who enter, which continues to alter the demographic composition of our jurisdiction,” said Alberto L. Velázquez-Estrada, Senior Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute.

(A graph is included with the series of migration estimates (2005-2022) according to the Community Survey and link to the visualization of the Puerto Rican population in the United States in recent decades as part of the Introduction to the Migrant Profile And to the Maps with the distribution of emigrants by Profile states.)

For more details and information on the full report of the 2021-2022 Migrant Profile, as well as previous publications, you can access the Publications section of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics at the link: https://estadisticas.pr/en/publicaciones.

As the lead entity of Puerto Rico's SDC program, the Institute manages the SDC page, 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 decennial population and housing censuses, among others.

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.

For more information you can visit the website: www.estadisticas.pror on social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Contacts:

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

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

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Authorized statements by the Executive Director regarding the final approval of P. de la C. 1403

PRESS RELEASE
DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

AUTHORIZED STATEMENTS BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS REGARDING THE FINAL APPROVAL OF P. C. 1403 BY THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF PUERTO RICO

Last night, the Legislative Assembly agreed on the Conference Committee and approved the House Project 1403 after deleting Chapter XII related to the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.

We thank and congratulate both the House and the Senate for having completed the approval of the reorganization of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, after having accepted our recommendation as well as the request of thousands of individuals and scientists, 47 world-renowned scientific organizations, 16 congressmen, the Puerto Rican National Agenda, the Private Sector Coalition, the Transparency Network, the Network of Foundations, the Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the Royal Statistical Society, among many others, who publicly called for the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics to remain an autonomous entity of the Government of Puerto Rico.

We reiterate our best willingness to hold an open dialogue regarding the future of the Institute of Statistics, its role within the Government of Puerto Rico and our society, so that we are allowed to continue working to ensure that the systems for collecting data and statistics, on which public policies are based, are complete, reliable and accessible quickly and universally.

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

Destaca Puerto Rico en la posición número uno en excelencia del Sistema de Vigilancia de Muertes Violentas

Comunicado de Prensa

Destaca Puerto Rico en la posición número uno en excelencia del Sistema de Vigilancia de Muertes Violentas

El sistema es operado en Puerto Rico por el Instituto de Estadísticas

El Sistema de Muertes Violentas de Puerto Rico (PRVDRS, por sus siglas en inglés) del Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico figuró en la posición número uno en excelencia en la puntualidad y completitud de los datos, entre 42 jurisdicciones participantes de los Estados Unidos, según reportó el Sistema Nacional de Reportes de Muertes Violentas de los Centros para el Control y Prevención de Enfermedades de los Estados Unidos (CDC, por sus siglas en inglés). El informe incluyó los hallazgos sobre la evaluación de los indicadores de desempeño en la recopilación de los datos de muertes violentas correspondiente al año 2017.

Los indicadores evaluados fueron aquellos relacionados con la puntualidad y con la completitud de los datos, específicamente los siguientes:

  • La puntualidad de los casos iniciados dentro de los 120 días de la muerte. Este indicador evalúa el porcentaje de casos que fueron registrados dentro de los 4 meses posteriores a la fecha de la muerte.
  • Completitud de la información. Este indicador evalúa cuán completos son los datos en términos de su información descriptiva e información sobre las circunstancias del incidente.

           El informe de evaluación demuestra y concluye que, en todos los indicadores de desempeño evaluados, el PRVDRS recibió la categoría de excelente, la cual es la clasificación más alta que se puede obtener. Además, en la clasificación general, el PRVDRS obtuvo el primer lugar en el ranking entre todas las 42 jurisdicciones participantes en los Estados Unidos durante el año 2017.

Destaca el hecho de que esta excelente clasificación se obtiene a pesar de que, durante el periodo de recopilación de los datos, el personal del PRVDRS tuvo que afrontar retos enormes, como lo fueron los huracanes Irma y María.

“Gracias al compromiso incondicional del equipo de trabajo del PRVDRS, del Registro Demográfico del Departamento de Salud, de los Negociados de Ciencias Forenses y de la Policía de Puerto Rico, quienes son agencias colaboradoras del proyecto, alcanzamos los más altos estándares de calidad a tono con nuestro compromiso de contar con estadísticas completas, confiables y de rápido y universal acceso.  Cuando a principios del año 2020, el PRVDRS y las agencias colaboradoras publiquen sus primeros datos, Puerto Rico contará, por primera vez, con estadísticas consolidadas, precisas y oportunas sobre las muertes violentas. Esto contribuirá al desarrollo y evaluación de políticas públicas basadas en la evidencia y dirigidas a reducir la incidencia de las muertes violentas en Puerto Rico”, expresó el Dr. Disdier, Director Ejecutivo Interino del Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico.

El Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico es una entidad gubernamental autónoma con la encomienda de coordinar el servicio de producción de estadísticas del Gobierno para asegurar que los sistemas de recopilación de datos y estadísticas, en los que se basan las políticas públicas, estén completos, sean confiables y de acceso rápido y universal.

Para más información puede visitar la página web www.estadisticas.pr.gov o las encuestas en las redes sociales de Facebook (@estadisticas.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) y Linkedin (Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico).

El PRVDRS es financiado en 90% por el NVDRS, de los CDC bajo el Grant # 6 NU17CE924857-02-03 y por el Instituto de Estadísticas de Puerto Rico.  El financiamiento se distribuye como sigue:

  • Fondos federales (CDC): $249,566.00
  • Fondos estatales (Instituto de Estadísticas de PR): $32,250.00

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Contactos de Prensa:

Lourdes Burgos/787-562-2932/ lburgos@upfrontpr.net

Idia Martínez/787-603-3200 /imartinez@upfrontpr.net