Data presented from the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico

639 homicides and 215 suicides were reported in Puerto Rico in 2021

The Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS) of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute), presented data from the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths Report for 2021. The report reports that in 2021, 816 incidents of violent deaths occurred, with a total of 880 fatalities. Of the total number of violent deaths, 97% were distributed as 639 by homicides and 215 by suicides, with the remaining 26 violent deaths (3%) due to other causes.

In 2021, 72.6% of victims of violent deaths were incidents of single or multiple homicides and 24.4% were incidents of suicide. Two homicide-suicide incidents were reported, resulting in 4 fatalities. In addition, during this period, 2 violent deaths attributed to legal intervention (0.2%), three violent deaths from unintentional self-inflicted firearms (0.3%) and 21 violent deaths with undetermined intent (2.4%) were documented. In 2021, approximately 9 out of 10 victims of violent deaths (92.0%) were men. The crude rate of violent deaths for Puerto Rico in 2021 was 27.0 per 100,000 inhabitants, 52.5 in men and 4.0 in women.

Of the 880 violent deaths recorded in 2021, 639 were homicides (72.6%). The majority of homicides occurred between the ages of 15 and 39. In these age groups, 73.1% of all homicides occur among men and 59.5% among women. The primary mechanism of the homicides was firearms. In Puerto Rico, according to the report, 91.5% of homicides were committed with firearms, more than double the global average of 47.0%.

In 2021, the majority of homicides occurred in an environment of collective violence. In 358 of the 639 homicides (56.0%) recorded in 2021, they occurred in a context related to criminal groups, involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs.

In 2021, 31 fatal victims of family violence were reported. Family violence (violence between family members) includes child or adult abuse and violence against an intimate partner. The majority of these cases were related to violence in an intimate or former partner environment (20 cases, 64.5%). There were 11 fatal incidents among family members (35.5%). The majority of victims of intimate partner violence were women (18 cases, 90.0%). More than half of these women were victims of their current spouse or partner (61.1%), while 38.9% were victims of their ex-spouse or ex-partner. In addition, a firearm was used in 11 of the 18 femicides/femicides (61.1%).

As for suicides in Puerto Rico, the report highlights that the frequency is lower than that of homicides. However, as in homicides, suicides are more frequent in men (86.5%). In 2021, the crude suicide rate was 6.6 per 100,000 inhabitants, 12.0 in men (1 of 124 men) and 1.7 in women (1 of 774 women). The main mechanism was asphyxiation (64.5% in men and 55.2% in women).

Mariluz Bezares Salinas, Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute and co-principal investigator of the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico, explained that the collection of this type of data could involve fieldwork that takes more than two years, from the moment the incident occurs until the collection and review of the data is completed.

“This system for reporting violent deaths is a reliable, complete and unique reference source that helps describe the context of violent deaths in the victim-aggressor relationship and the magnitude, trend and characteristics of violent deaths in Puerto Rico,” said Dr. Diego Zavala, epidemiologist and co-principal investigator of the PRVDRS.

For the Executive Director of the Institute, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, these statistics are one of the main tools to combat the phenomenon of violence in Puerto Rico. “These data, among others, serve as the basis for establishing effective measures for the prevention of violence in Puerto Rico, from multiple social, health and economic approaches. Our commitment at the Institute is to continue strengthening this statistical and epidemiological system, to continue improving the quality of this type of data,” argued Dr. Disdier.

The PRVDRS is an epidemiological surveillance system affiliated with the Institute of Statistics and designed to obtain a complete and standardized census of violent deaths in Puerto Rico. The PRVDRS began its participation in the National Violent Death Notification System (National Violent Death Reporting System, NVDRS) in September 2016, through a collaborative agreement granted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

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: https://estadisticas.pr/en/prvdrs or write to preguntas@estadisticas.pr. They can also follow social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), X (@EstadisticasPR), LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) and Instagram (@institutodeestadisticas) accounts.

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PRESS RELEASE

Call for paid internships announced at the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics

Students in statistics, mathematics, computer science, public administration, and others may apply

The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute announced that, for the next two weeks, and as long as the available spaces are filled, the call for paid internships will be open for graduate students in statistics, mathematics, computer science or in any other area in which extensive use is made of statistics, including economics, planning, demography, epidemiology, biostatistics, criminology, sociology, public policy, public administration, business administration or other related ones. The opportunity also extends to undergraduate students, from any of the above-mentioned disciplines, who are candidates for graduation in the same academic year in which they participate in the program.

Those selected will have the opportunity to collaborate directly with professionals from the Institute, who have extensive experience in the fields of economics, epidemiology, education, demography, statistics, programming and administration, among others. In the same way, they will receive support from the Institute's staff in the major projects they carry out according to the area in which they are assigned. All this, as indicated, in a work and learning environment that allows them to apply their knowledge in a professional environment.

“We are pleased to offer this opportunity to graduate students, or undergraduate candidates for graduation, as they will not only gain experience, but we also help them prepare for the professional field of work. In the same way, it is always good to share with the new generations that they have a lot to contribute, particularly in one of the most developed areas in Puerto Rico, such as statistics,” said Dr. Orville M. Disdier, executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, who added that, among the applicants, they are interested in identifying candidates with knowledge in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Microsoft Power BI, SQL and Python, and others.

It was reported that interested parties must complete an application that is available at Programa_Internado_2025_IEPR.pdf where, in addition, the requirements and documents they must provide are detailed. Once the application is completed, it must be sent along with the documents to the following email: programadeinternado@estadisticas.pr. The Puerto Rico Statistics Institute will receive the requests and they will go through an evaluation process. Applicants will then receive a formal notification with the decision made.

For more information, those interested who meet the requirements can contact Mrs. Rebeca Ortiz, Office Manager at the following email: rebeca.ortiz@estadisticas.pr.

The Internship Program of the Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico was created to promote the professional development of undergraduate students or graduates of university programs in statistics or related sciences at universities in Puerto Rico and other jurisdictions in the United States, to collaborate with the projects, studies and work carried out at the Institute.

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PRESS RELEASE

Office of the President

Vital for the country that mayors mobilize to obtain

Responses to the 2020 Census

President of the Board of Directors of the Institute of Statistics made an urgent appeal to municipal officials given the low participation of only 25% of the response

The president of the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, economist and university professor Nicolás Muñoz-Muñoz, urged all mayors to mobilize the resources of municipal agencies to visit street by street, combing all communities to alert families to the importance of filling out the 2020 Population Census form. I am taking all preventive and protective measures as far as COVID-19 is concerned.

As of July 13, only 25% of families had answered the Census. This, according to Muñoz, represents half of those who had answered the Census in 2010. In mid-July, the level of response in municipalities ranged from 14 to 31 percent. “It is vital for municipalities and their inhabitants that the federal funds that arrive are not reduced by 25% or more. Without downplaying the exercise of the democratic right to vote, designating resources to help citizens complete the Census should be considered as meritorious as the efforts being made for the primary and electoral process,” Muñoz said.

“If mobilization were not promoted to encouraging communities to dedicate 15 minutes to answering the form, we would add another disaster to the chain of events that have occurred in the country since the earthquake in January to the present. In this case, a disaster whose consequences would last 10 years,” said Muñoz.

The economist explained that, if 25% of the population does not answer, Puerto Rico could result in a population of less than 3 million and could receive 25% less federal funding, equivalent to $5 billion annually or $50 billion over 10 years, if we consider an average current allocation of $20 billion annually. This is without considering additional special allocations in the case of natural disasters.

It was also reported that more than 300 federal programs base the distribution of funds on population data. These programs include federal funding for road construction, agriculture, rural development, housing, urban development, solid waste management, telecommunications infrastructure, drinking water, protection of coastal resources, assistance for paying household rent, education, justice, nutrition assistance programs, school breakfasts, child care, workforce development under the WIOA Act (among other laws), assistance for the elderly and health, including Medicaid, and other programs.

“The economic situation of municipalities will worsen if access to federal funds allocated by Congress is reduced. Every Puerto Rican who can read and write can fill out the Census form. It can be filled out “online” or on paper. Each neighbor can help another neighbor who can't read and write or how to fill it out, particularly older adults. It's everyone's job, but mayors, who are the officials closest to the needs of citizens, must exercise their leadership in this vital priority for Puerto Rico,” Muñoz concluded.

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Press Contact:

Idia M. Martínez

787-603-3200

imartinez@upfrontpr.net

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