Why did 440,000 Puerto Ricans leave the island?
During the last census, the US Census reported that the population of Puerto Rico decreased by about 440,000 people or close to 12% between 2010 and 2020. During these years, not only has the island suffered from the COVID-19 pandemic with the rest of the world, but it has also suffered from extreme damage from hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 and has yet to recover fully.
One of the most popular ways for Puerto Rico to lose people is young adults leaving to look for better education in the states causing the collapse of the island's public university system.
“I have more opportunities here in ‘the states’ than in Puerto Rico, unfortunately” — Nataly Nales, Former resident of Puerto Rico.
This chart shows the five municipalities with the largest populations on the island and the comparison between the year 2010 and the year 2020, showing a significant drop in population in each one.
While most students graduate high school and immediately start looking for universities in the states, younger kids, likely meaning entire families have also decreased to the point where the number of K-12 schools has also been declining.
“I don't really have to worry about not being able to make ends meet and pay my bills because I have a decent paying job right now [in the US].” — Nataly Nales, Former Resident of Puerto Rico.
With this map, we can see exactly how many much the population of each municipality in Puerto Rico has decreased as well as see which one of these has had the greater concentration of people leaving.
It just so happens that the Top 5 Municipalities we saw earlier are the ones with the highest number of people leaving.
