Puerto Rico Statistics Institute releases results for fiscal year 2021-2022

In one year, they update data on violent deaths, gender-based violence, child abuse and present the first report on the needs of the deaf community in Puerto Rico

September 12, 2022: The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics released its Results Report for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, which includes a summary of the most significant achievements during this period.

“During the 2021-2022 fiscal year, the Institute continued and initiated several comprehensive projects and programs with a significant impact on Puerto Rico. This is thanks to technological innovation and the undisputed commitment of an excellent team,” said Dr. Orville M. Disdier Flores, executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.

The report highlights the updating of data on violent deaths in Puerto Rico, through the publication of the 2018 Annual Violent Deaths Report. Later this year, the report for 2019 and then the report for 2020 will be published. The Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS) collects, analyzes and publishes information on all violent deaths in Puerto Rico that occur due to suicide, homicide, unintentional firearm injuries, deaths due to legal intervention (except the death penalty) and deaths with undetermined intent.

The report also points out that it was possible to obtain more and better statistics on gender-based violence in Puerto Rico, published in the Platform for Statistics and Indicators of Gender-based Violence. Regarding this topic, the Institute drafted guidelines for the implementation of the System for the Compilation and Management of Statistical Data on Gender-based Violence in Puerto Rico, in compliance with Law 40 of August 27, 2021, and worked with the Puerto Rico Police Bureau to draft collaboration agreements.

Disdier stated that, “in an achievement for the deaf community in Puerto Rico, the Institute conducted a study on the needs of this community, both the adult population and the children and the tools their teachers need to support them in schools.” This new product, called Deaf Community Needs Study: Interactive Report, presents the first results of the survey that the Institute conducted, both to deaf and partially deaf people, and to the general public. In addition, the interactive report presents the results of focus group interviews with teachers of students with hearing difficulties. The Institute will continue with additional phases of the study in fiscal year 2023.

In the same way, it should be noted in the report, the development and publication of the Puerto Rico Child Abuse Profile: Interactive Report 2018-2022, which consists of a new digital platform through which statistics related to child abuse are organized and summarized, based on secondary data provided by various local agencies and the federal government. Available statistics show the number of children abused per year, the rates of abuse, the geographical distribution of abuse, the distribution and magnitude of the types of abuse, the ratio of the perpetrator, and the contrast between Puerto Rico and other jurisdictions in the United States. Not only does this profile fill an information gap that existed since the previous publication, which dates back to 2015, but now the report is a digital and interactive one, in which the user can select between several years, categories and variables, and can even download the data for subsequent analysis.

“During the next fiscal year of 2023, we will continue to work on important contributions to the Puerto Rico Statistics Production Service. These efforts will continue to strengthen our capacity as a society to make decisions based on empirical data, which will continue, in turn, to help Puerto Rico set out on the path of sustainable socio-economic development,” concluded Disdier.

The Results Report of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics is available, free of charge, on the Institute's website and its PDF version is downloadable through the following link: Results Report 2021_22.pdf.

About the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

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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PRESS RELEASE

Study presents sociodemographic characteristics and contrasts between the Dominican and Puerto Rican populations

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) presented the study: Dominican population in Puerto Rico: Sociodemographic characteristics and contrasts with the Puerto Rican population, 2015-2019, which focuses on detailing the sociodemographic traits that characterize the Dominican population living in Puerto Rico, as well as the differences between these by sex characteristics. As part of this research, various characteristics of the Dominican population compared to the Puerto Rican population were examined, providing contrasts between the sociodemographic scenarios of both populations.

The study begins by highlighting that the minority population with the highest presence among the inhabitants of Puerto Rico is the Dominican one with 59%, followed by the Cuban (13%), Mexican (9%), Colombian (4%) and Spanish (3%), being the five populations of non-Puerto Rican Hispanic origin that predominate in the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico.

The Institute's senior manager of Statistical Projects and author of this study, Alberto L. Velázquez Estrada, indicated that the data presented show, among others, that the Dominican population in general is older than the Puerto Rican population, which has been an old population for several decades. “This suggests a possible increase in the needs for health services that the Dominican population will require, due to conditions related to aging. In the near future, both the Dominican and Puerto Rican populations will be moving, in significant proportional terms, to seventy-year-old ages, which typically lead to the onset or worsening of certain health conditions,” Velázquez said. On the other hand, “the gender disparity in the Dominican population in terms of income, poverty and people outside the labor force is prominent. The differences point to a more complicated or difficult situation for Dominicans compared to Dominicans living in Puerto Rico,” added Velázquez.

For his part, the executive director of the Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville Disdier, indicated that “for years the Dominican population has contributed significantly to the demographic diversity of Puerto Rico, so knowing data about their sociodemographic traits and their contrasts with the Puerto Rican population is important for the development of initiatives that improve the quality of life of both populations.”

Other data included in this study show that:

• Over the past three decades, the average annual number of air passengers from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico decreased from 335,000 (1990-1999) to 324,000 (2000-2009), and then to 214,000 in the most recent decade (2010-2019).
• The geographical distribution indicates a marked concentration in the northern area of San Juan, which is home to about 35% of the Dominican population.
• The Dominican population residing in Puerto Rico and born in the Dominican Republic comprised 90%, and those born in Puerto Rico were 7%.
• The majority of the Dominican population in Puerto Rico was female, being around 58% compared to 42% men.
• The median age of the Dominican population (49 years old) is 8 years older than the Puerto Rican population (41 years old).
• The total Dominican population was characterized by having the highest percentage of married marital status at 40%, followed by 32% never married, traits that are reversed in their order in contrast to the Puerto Rican population.
• The education attained and by sex of Dominicans showed:
  • Higher percentages in the trait of people with less than high school education, being higher in men (44%) than in women (38%).
  • In turn, there is a notable difference by sex in people with a high school level, with women accounting for 14% compared to men with 8%.

• With regard to the Dominican and Puerto Rican populations that achieved some post-secondary education, the data indicate that women in both populations are characterized by having a higher percentage of educational level attained.
• The percentage of Dominicans who were out of the labor force was much lower among men (26%) than among women (44%).
• In contrast to the Puerto Rican population, the percentage of people out of the labor force was much lower among the Dominican population than in the Puerto Rican population.
• Among the most common occupations of the Dominican population were household cleaners (9.2%), construction work (6.0%), janitors or building cleaners (4.4%), cooks (4.0%) and personal care assistants (3.6%).
• The Dominican population reflected a median income with a marked difference by sex of about four (4) thousand dollars ($4,011), being lower for Dominicans with a median of $10,842 compared to Dominicans with $14,853.
• This disparity of income by sex compared to the Puerto Rican population presents a similar pattern; Puerto Rican women reflected a lower median income than Puerto Rican men, in this case by about three (3) thousand dollars ($3,099).
• Just over half of the Dominican population in Puerto Rico (51%) was in poverty. Among Dominican residents, the percentage in poverty was higher than among Dominicans at 54% and 48%, respectively.
• Related to the health aspect, people with some difficulty hearing, seeing, cognitive, outpatient and/or self-care, reflected that out of every (10) Dominican people, two (2) of them have a disability, a finding quite similar to that shown by the Puerto Rican population.

To access the report, you can visit Publications.

About the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

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

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The Institute achieves the creation of a special federal committee for research projects that help to face challenges in the education system