Scotiabank, the Association of Industrialists and the Institute of Statistics present the Puerto Rico Manufacturing - Purchasing Managers Index

Author: Alejandro López Flores and Ronald G. Hernández Maldonado

Date: November 6, 2025

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Poverty must be contextualized with social variables to understand and address it effectively. The Backwardness Index for Puerto Rico is an indicator composed of five variables that comprise two dimensions: Economic Mobility and Demography. This index seeks to measure poverty beyond income thresholds, and to incorporate elements of social backwardness and relative deprivation. An exploratory factor analysis was carried out on a set of variables to validate the construction of the multidimensional deprivation model, and to retain the variables that best captured the phenomenon of deprivation. Then, the retained variables were normalized using thresholds. The thresholds were obtained with data from the Puerto Rico Community Survey (ECPR or PRCS in English) and the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS in English). The scores of the different variables were aggregated by dimension, using the arithmetic mean, and the scores resulting from the dimensions were aggregated using the geometric mean. The values of the index lie between 0 and 1 where, the higher the score, the worse the result of the phenomenon.42 municipalities showed a decrease in their index score between the periods compared. Of these 42 municipalities, 22 showed a decrease in their score greater than 5%. Likewise, there are concentrations of municipalities with high Lagging Index scores in the central-southwest and southeastern areas of Puerto Rico.

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PRESS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE ACTING EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Data from the World Values Survey for Puerto Rico revealed

54% of people do not leave their house at night as a security measure

In Puerto Rico, family is the most important aspect (94%), followed by work (70%), free time (66%) and religion (65%). These are some of the data reflected in the recent World Values Survey for Puerto Rico carried out by a team of professors and students from the University of the Sacred Heart, led by Dr. Javier Hernández, director of the Department of Business Administration of Sagrado, and supported by the Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico. The study was revealed at the Forum and presentation on the World Values Survey for Puerto Rico 2018, at the Sacred Heart University, where a panel of renowned experts in different areas analyzed and commented on the results.

The World Values Survey is an instrument that allows the development of statistics on the ethical, social, economic and political values of Puerto Ricans, as well as the assessment of their daily lives, civic and governmental institutions, and their connection with the world of work, their families and their communities. This survey provides an opportunity to address the nature of social capital in Puerto Rico vis-a-vis the rest of the world and, therefore, to know what the people are prepared to do and what they need to plan their development as a social, economic and cultural collective.

One of the relevant data from this study points out that the majority of people in Puerto Rico (91%) consider themselves quite happy or very happy. However, despite the fact that 85% understand that their neighborhood is very safe or quite safe, 71% avoid carrying a lot of cash and 54% do not leave their house at night, as a security measure. On the other hand, only a minority thinks that most people can be trusted (18%).

The study also reveals that a majority has no interest in politics (52%) and would not vote for any political party and only for independent candidates (54%). In 2001, the percentage that showed no interest in politics represented 28%.

For the lead author of the study, Dr. Javier Hernández, “The World Values Survey is a valuable tool that will allow us to compare results with over 60 countries. It is part of the efforts to make Puerto Rico part of the main international indicators and to support institutional decision-making. The survey addresses issues of great relevance to the government, academia, the third sector and civil society, so we invite all sectors to analyze their results.”

“The return of Puerto Rico to the World Values Survey represents an important effort, since it allows us to continue with the recommendation of the Institute of Statistics to make Puerto Rico part of the main indicators at the global level. In the same way, this project represents a vital source of information to contribute to the culture of evidence-based decision-making. This is valuable information about our values, beliefs and political culture, among other information, necessary to guide public policy decisions. The survey results have a multisectoral scope, which is key for different levels of government, the non-governmental sector and the academy,” said Dr. Orville M. Disdier, acting executive director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics.

The Sacred Heart University, established in 1880 by the religious order of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, is a Catholic, private, non-profit institution that promotes a unique and innovative educational project in an environment characterized by excellent community life. The University offers associate degrees, baccalaureates, combined degrees, master's degrees, post-baccalaureate certificates and collaborative agreements with other universities in and outside of Puerto Rico. The academic offer focuses on the areas of Business Administration, Natural Sciences, Communication, Nursing and Humanities-Social Sciences.

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 or to access the 2018 World Values Survey for Puerto Rico you can visit the website: https://estadisticas.pr.gov/ or through the social networks of Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico).

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Press Contacts:

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

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

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