PRESS RELEASE

DR. MARIO MARAZZI-SANTIAGO

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

RESIDENT COMMISSIONER LAUNCHES CONGRESSIONAL BILL TO PROMOTE PUERTO RICO'S INCLUSION IN FEDERAL STATISTICS

The bill also requires that the Fiscal Oversight Board submit to Congress

an annual report on the budget allocated to the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

San Juan, PR, June 28, 2018 — The resident commissioner, Hon. Jennifer A. González Colón, filed this week in the United States Congress the H.R. 6211 project, better known as the Puerto Rico Data Collection Equality Act of 2018, which seeks to improve the collection and publication of statistics related to Puerto Rico, through the inclusion of Puerto Rico in federal statistics.

The project was created to follow up on the recommendations made in the Final report of the Task Force bipartisan congressional representative created under the federal PROMESA Act of December 2016, some of which are based on recommendations made by the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (Institute). For example, that report recommended that the Chief Statistician of the United States to develop a plan, in coordination with the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy, to collect and publish statistics on Puerto Rico, in a similar way as is done for states. He also recommended including Puerto Rico in several surveys of the U.S. Census Bureau, such as the Government Census, the American Housing Survey, among others, and at the same time proposed to seek to include Puerto Rico in the statistics prepared by several federal agencies, including the National Center for Education Statistics, The National Center for Health Statistics, The National Agricultural Statistical Service, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, The Energy Information Administration, among others.

As for the Institute, the above-mentioned congressional report recommended that it remain an independent entity of the Government of Puerto Rico and that its budget be increased, in accordance with its important duties. For these purposes, the new project filed by the Resident Commissioner requires that the Fiscal Oversight Board (JSF) provide the United States Congress with an annual report on the budget allocated to the Institute, specifically justifying the level of funds it provided for the Institute, in the general budget of the Government of Puerto Rico.

“We congratulate the Resident Commissioner for the initiation of this important project. In Washington, they are attentive to the actions being taken in Puerto Rico regarding the future of the Institute and its budget, because the problem with Puerto Rico's statistics also affects the United States. It would be counterproductive to deepen the crisis of credibility of our Government by consolidating the Institute within the Government,” said Dr. Mario Marazzi-Santiago, executive director of the Institute.

In the coming days, the Senate and House of Representatives of Puerto Rico will seek to agree on a version of consensus regarding P. de la C. 1403, which consolidates the Institute within the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC). This project eliminates all of the Institute's independent governance structures, and in effect eliminates the Institute by converting it into the DDEC Statistics Program. In addition, the project orders the DDEC to outsource Puerto Rico's statistics system.

Thousands of people and scientists, 47 world-renowned scientific organizations, 16 congressmen, the Private Sector Coalition, the Transparency Network, the National Academy for the Advancement of the Sciences, the American Statistical Association, the Royal Statistical Society and the JSF, among many others, have recommended that the Institute be maintained as an independent entity of the Government of Puerto Rico, free from political intervention.

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, about 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.

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: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. 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

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The population of Puerto Rico was around 3.5 million people in 2014.

Platform will measure Puerto Rico's agricultural production index

Thousands of farmers and citizens are expected to benefit from this tool.

April 19, 2023. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute presented a new tool that will facilitate access to agricultural statistics and will allow us to know which products within local agriculture are in greater or lower demand in Puerto Rico. The platform of Statistics and Indicators of Agricultural Production in Puerto Rico, whose primary source of data was provided by the Department of Agriculture, and which will benefit thousands of farmers and citizens, includes: Production and Demand indices for tubers, meat, farinaceae, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, milk and dairy products. As for production rates, the platform allows us to know aspects such as export vs. import. The demand indices, on the other hand, include data on per capita consumption vs. per capita production. The tool also includes agricultural statistics such as agricultural activities, losses and producers of small ruminants, as well as a metadata area for the definition of concepts. This platform, as reported, collects data from 1990 to 2021 and its constant updating will allow us to compare how the production of products such as Chinese, bananas, coffee, among others, behaves.

One of the aspects highlighted by the platform of Statistics and Indicators of Agricultural Production in Puerto Rico is the decline in local coffee production. According to data obtained by the Puerto Rico Department of Agriculture, in 1990 local coffee production was 280,000 quintals, while in 2020 production decreased to 28,943 quintals. According to Manuel Mangual Martínez, Data and Statistics Specialist and Project Supervisor at the Institute, this decrease in production could, among other things, be the result of situations such as the passage of Hurricane Maria, which caused significant coffee losses since 2017, reaching its lowest point in 2019 with a production of 12,127 quintals.

“For several reasons, access to agricultural statistical information in Puerto Rico has been an enormous challenge for farmers, researchers and the general public. With this platform, the Institute provides all citizens, and especially farmers, with fast and universal access to data and statistics on food production and demand in Puerto Rico, in one place, accessible 24/7 from anywhere in the world. Access to these statistics will make it easier to make decisions based on empirical evidence, that promote food security in Puerto Rico,” said the Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Orville M. Disdier Flores. Dr. Disdier also reported that the platform will continue to evolve and will have more information in the future.

The platform of Statistics and Indicators of Agricultural Production in Puerto Rico is available through the following link: Puerto Rico Agricultural Production Statistics and Index.

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute is a governmental entity in the executive branch, with fiscal and administrative autonomy, whose main purpose is to ensure that Puerto Rico has complete, reliable statistics that are quickly and universally accessible. To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook accounts (@statistics.pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR), Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) and LinkedIn (Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics).

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