Data presented from the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico

598 homicides and 190 suicides were reported in Puerto Rico in 2022

The Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System (PRVDRS, in English) established at the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, presented data from the Puerto Rico Violent Deaths Report for the year 2022. The report reports that in 2022, there were 727 incidents of violent deaths, with a total of 809 fatalities. Of the total number of violent deaths, 598 were homicides and 190 were suicides, representing 97.4% of violent deaths.

In 2022, 73.9% of victims of violent deaths were reported in single or multiple homicide incidents and 23.5% were suicide incidents. Seven homicide-suicide incidents were reported, resulting in 14 fatalities. In addition, 6 violent deaths attributed to legal intervention (0.7%), four violent deaths from unintentional self-inflicted firearms (0.5%) and 11 violent deaths with undetermined intent (1.4%) were documented during this period. In 2022, approximately 9 out of 10 victims of violent deaths (89.6%) were men. The crude rate of violent deaths for Puerto Rico in 2022 was 25.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, 47.6 in men and 4.9 in women.

Of the 809 violent deaths recorded in 2022, 598 were homicides (73.9%). The majority of homicides occurred between the ages of 15 and 39. In these age groups, 73.2% of all homicides occurred among men and 66.0% among women. The primary mechanism of the homicides was firearms. In Puerto Rico, 93.6% of homicides were committed with firearms. Globally, firearm homicides account for 69.5%.

In 2022, nearly half of the homicides occurred in an environment of collective violence. 255 of the 598 homicides (42.6%) registered in 2022 occurred in a context related to criminal groups involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs.

In 2022, 28 fatal victims of family violence were reported. Family violence (violence between family members) includes child or adult abuse and violence against an intimate partner. Most of these cases were related to violence in an intimate or former partner environment (13 cases, 67.9%). There were 9 fatal incidents among family members (32.1%). The vast majority of victims of intimate partner violence were women (n= 13, 68.4%). More than half of these women were victims of their former spouse or former male partner (61.5%), while 30.8% were victims of their current spouse or partner. In addition, a firearm was used in 10 of the 13 femicides/femicides (76.9%).

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 (85.5%). In 2022, the crude suicide rate was 5.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, 10.6 in men (1 of 145 men) and 1.6 in women (1 of 788 women). The main mechanism was asphyxiation (62.3% in men and 53.6% in women).

The collection of this type of data involves fieldwork that usually takes more than two years, from the time the incident occurs until the collection, review and publication of the data is completed. Mariluz Bezares Salinas, Manager of Statistical Projects at the Institute of Statistics and co-principal investigator of the Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico, said: “This report not only reflects the magnitude of violent deaths in Puerto Rico, but it also provides a detailed overview of the circumstances and factors associated with the occurrence of violent deaths. This information is crucial for guiding public policy decisions and designing interventions that save lives and promote safer communities.”

“This violent death reporting system is a reliable, complete and unique reference source that helps describe vital information about the circumstances surrounding violent deaths in Puerto Rico. This data is essential for government agencies and community organizations to implement evidence-based prevention programs,” said Dr. Diego Zavala, epidemiologist and co-principal investigator of the PRVDRS.

For the Executive Director of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics, Dr. Orville M. Disdier, the Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System has been and is fundamental to understanding the magnitude and characteristics of this public health problem. “Data from 2022 allow us to identify crucial patterns and trends to develop more effective and efficient prevention strategies. Our commitment at the Institute of Statistics is to continue strengthening this statistical and epidemiological system to continue to have statistics, complete, reliable and quickly and universally accessible, on this topic,” 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 tasked with 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 accessible quickly and universally.

The 2022 Report on Violent Deaths in Puerto Rico is available at: Puerto Rico Violent Death Notification System. To learn about the Institute of Statistics, you can access it on social networks through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), X (formerly Twitter) (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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PRESS RELEASE

Puerto Rico Commission for Suicide Prevention and Statistics Institute publish statistical report for 2019

For the year 2019, 176 cases of suicide were reported, 67 cases less than in 2018

Dr. Orville M. Disdier, executive director of the Puerto Rico Statistics Institute (Institute) reported that a collaboration with the Commission for Suicide Prevention (CPS), attached to the Puerto Rico Department of Health, resulted in the “Annual Statistical Report on Deaths by Suicide 2019”.

“This report is of great importance for citizens, since it presents data on suicide for 2019 and draws comparisons with previous years. In addition, it collects data not only on fatal suicide events, but it also presents information on calls to the ASSMCA PAS line and, for the first time, includes data on suicide attempts and contemplations attended by the Emergency Medical Corps,” said Myribel Santiago, manager of statistical projects at the Institute and co-author of the publication.

The publication of this report underlines the importance of the Institute in coordinating the statistical production service of government entities. The Institute has the capacity not only to request statistical information from executive branch agencies, but also to provide them with collaboration, advice and the necessary tools to improve the quality of the statistics they produce.

“Despite the extraordinary circumstances we currently live in, we hope to continue collaborating. Today, more than ever, we need reliable and accurate data to facilitate the implementation of a responsible, informed and sensitive public policy to the complex reality we live in,” said Dr. María Isabel Coss, educational coordinator of the CPS and lead author of the publication.

For his part, Dr. Disdier argued that “the results of this collaborative report reflect that in 2019, a crude suicide rate of 5.5 per 100,000 inhabitants was observed, which is the lowest rate since 2000. Without a doubt, this is very positive and it also demonstrates the enormous importance of continuing to support the preparation of this type of report, since it is only with data that we can know if the prevention measures are giving the desired results”.

The CPS is responsible for promoting, developing, implementing, coordinating actions and strategies for suicide prevention, adopting an integrative and interdisciplinary approach aimed at individuals, families, communities at risk, and helping professionals. In addition, it emphasizes research, the development of prevention and intervention programs and

in raising public awareness of the magnitude and seriousness of suicide in Puerto Rico. For its part, the Institute is a governmental entity whose mission is to guarantee Puerto Rico that it has complete, reliable statistics, and quick and universal access.

You can access this annual report and other related reports through the following link: Suicide Statistics.

To learn more about the Institute of Statistics, you can access the website: www.estadisticas.pr.gov. On social media through Facebook (@estadisticas .pr), Twitter (@EstadisticasPR) and LinkedIn (Institute of Statistics of Puerto Rico) accounts.

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Contacts:

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

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

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PRESS RELEASE
DR. MARIO MARAZZI‐SANTIAGO
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

February 22, 2018

AUTHORIZED STATEMENTS BY THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS REGARDING THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO AND GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY REGARDING THE STATISTICS OF DEATHS RELATED TO HURRICANES IRMA AND MARIA

Today, we welcomed with great joy the formalization of an agreement between the University of Puerto Rico and George Washington University for the purpose of studying the deaths associated with hurricanes Irma and María.

We have learned that a group of researchers from George Washington University will collaborate in this project, and a group of researchers from the University of Puerto Rico, a public entity that is part of and belongs to the Government of Puerto Rico. We think it's excellent that the research team includes not only experts from outside Puerto Rico, but also people with local knowledge and expertise.

On behalf of the Institute of Statistics, we take this opportunity to make available to researchers from both educational entities our expertise and experience with the Death Registration System of the Government of Puerto Rico. As is public knowledge, the Institute of Statistics has worked with the System in the past and, thanks to our intervention, problems were identified and corrected by the Demographic Registry in accounting for deaths and classification of related causes. Our findings resulted in improvements in the quality of these statistics that have been recognized by the American Statistical Association.

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

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