Puerto Rico’s Population Still In Decline, Says Latest Census

The population of Puerto Rico continued to decline in 2013, according to the latest U.S. Census, which indicated that the territory lost some 36,459 residents in the twelve months between July 2012 and July 2013 – about 1 percent of the island’s population. The Census found that Puerto Rico’s population declined every year in the three-year period beginning in 2010, with every year marking a greater loss in residents than the one before it: from 2010-2011, the population fell by 34,628 and by 35,035 in 2011-2012.

US News notes that the territory’s percentage of decline was more than seven times that of the next closest US territory or state, West Virginia, which lost about 0.13 percent of its population. The only US state to lose 1 percent or more of its population in a year since 2000 was Louisiana, which saw 6 percent of its population dispersed after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Meanwhile, according to El Nuevo Dia, a recent report from the Puerto Rican Planning Board found that fewer babies were being born in the territory in the ten-year period from 2000 – when about 60,000 were born – to around 42,000 in 2010, a reduction of about 30 percent.

Puerto Rico’s economy has continued its slide as well despite the claims of then-Governor Luis Fortuño in 2012, the territory hasn’t managed to pull itself out of an eight-year recession even after the imposition of a tough austerity program. After the unemployment rate fell to 13.2 percent in Dec. 2011, down from 16.1 percent in 2010, it rose again to 13.9 percent in 2012, higher than any U.S. state. Its $69 billion in debt and a liability-ridden public pension system have also put off investors, who in September raised the yield on Puerto Rican bonds to over 10 percent.

Ingrid Vila, Puerto Rican Chief of Staff, said during an interview with El Nuevo Dia that the new figures were unsurprising, given that the territory had declined in population over the last nine years. “It’s a tendency we’re aware of and which the Governor and his staff have incorporated into the agenda of their government,” she said, adding that the island’s government hopes to “create conditions which improve the quality of life” there in order to discourage migration out of it. “Improving public security and encouraging the development of work opportunities in the country. That’s been our focus over the past year and it will continue to be that during the year that’s beginning.”