As Americans are being asked to stand up and be counted in the 2020 Census, Puerto Ricans are taking a pass.
The U.S. commonwealth has a census self-response rate of just 27%—the lowest of any U.S. jurisdiction and well behind the national average of 63%. Alaska, the other national laggard, has a comparatively robust response rate of 49%.
Just how many people the island has lost in the last decade—driven away by a deep recession, political instability, and natural disasters—remains a matter of contention, particularly on Wall Street. The territory has been mired in court proceedings since 2017, when it sought to reduce nearly $125 billion in debt and pension liabilities by filing for municipal bankruptcy–the largest in U.S. history. As investors try to claw their money back, the question of how many taxpayers remain on the island to shoulder that burden has taken center stage.
The accuracy of the count will also have deep repercussions for the island, which is why Governor Wanda Vázquez regularly issues statements urging residents to fill out the paperwork, saying the territory’s economic health depends on it. More than 300 federal agencies use data from the decennial census to allocate an estimated $1.5 trillion in funds to states each year, says Andrew Reamer, a research professor at George Washington University—everything from lunch money to disbursements for highway construction.
“This will be the first time we can officially assess how much migration there was during the decade,” says Alexis Santos, an assistant professor of demography at Pennsylvania State University. “I think it’s safe to say that this is the most important census that Puerto Rico has ever had.” Continue Reading>>
