SAN JUAN – The Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics (IEPR) reported Thursday that in a two-year period, from 2020 to 2022, the island suffered a 2% drop in its population, estimated at 64,000 inhabitants.
The population indicates this estimates as of July 2022 compared to the same month in 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau and given by the IEPR in a press release.
These statistics refer to July 1, 2022, and include the total population estimates for each municipality and the population change in the current decade, explained the IEPR in the release.
Compared to the 2020 Decennial Census with a reference date of April 1, 2020, versus the most recent year available, July 1, 2022, the estimates indicate that the changes in the population of residents in the municipalities ranged from 0.8 to -7.2 %.
Ninety-nine percent of the 78 municipalities that make up Puerto Rico suffered a population decline. Only the municipality of Rincón, on the northwest coast, achieved a slight increase of 0.8%.
Meanwhile, some 15 municipalities reflected an estimated reduction of more than 3% in the comparative period.
The five municipalities with the highest percentages of population decrease were Guánica (-7.2%), Loíza (-4.4%), Guayanilla (-4%), Ponce (-3.9%), and Maricao (-3.8%).
Four of the five municipalities are located in the south and west of Puerto Rico, while Loíza is in the northeast.
Likewise, the five municipalities with the lowest percentages of population decrease were Barranquitas (-0.1%), Naranjito (-0.1%), Aibonito (-0.3%), Isabela (-0.4%) and Moca (-0.5%).
The first three municipalities are located in the central zone (Barranquitas, Naranjito, and Aibonito), and the last two (Isabela and Moca) are in the western zone of Puerto Rico.
Given all this data, IEPR’s Senior Manager of Statistical Projects, Alberto Velázquez Estrada, said that “the pattern of population estimates continues to show a tendency to decrease.
Puerto Rico, moreover, is approaching two decades -since 2005- “of being an increasingly smaller resident population but with a different demographic composition.”