; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a

self-governing Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

archipelago and island organized as an

unincorporated territory Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territory, dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indi ...

of the United States under the designation of

commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

. Located about southeast of

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

between the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

in the

Greater Antilles The Greater Antilles is a grouping of the larger islands in the Caribbean Sea, including Cuba, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica, together with Navassa Island and the Cayman Islands. Seven island states share the region of the Greater Antille ...

and the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

in the

Lesser Antilles The Lesser Antilles is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea, forming part of the West Indies in Caribbean, Caribbean region of the Americas. They are distinguished from the larger islands of the Greater Antilles to the west. They form an arc w ...

, it consists of the

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous main island and numerous smaller islands, including

Vieques Vieques (; ), officially Isla de Vieques, is an island, town and municipality of Puerto Rico, and together with Culebra, it is geographically part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. Vieques lies about east of the mainland of Puerto Rico, measuri ...

, Culebra, and Mona. With approximately 3.2 million

residents In law and conflict of laws, domicile is relevant to an individual's "personal law", which includes the law that governs a person's status and their property. It is independent of a person's nationality. Although a domicile may change from time t ...

, it is divided into 78 municipalities, of which the most populous is the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

municipality of

San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...

, followed by those within the San Juan metropolitan area.

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and English are the

official languages An official language is defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary as, "the language or one of the languages that is accepted by a country's government, is taught in schools, used in the courts of law, etc." Depending on the decree, establishmen ...

of the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

, though Spanish predominates. Puerto Rico was settled by a succession of

Amerindian peoples In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

beginning 2,000 to 4,000 years ago; these included the

Ortoiroid The Ortoiroid people were the second wave of human settlers of the Caribbean who began their migration into the Antilles around 2000 BC. They were preceded by the Casimiroid peoples (~4190-2165 BC). They are believed to have originated in the Orino ...

Saladoid The Saladoid culture is a pre-Columbian Indigenous culture of territory in present-day Venezuela and the Caribbean that flourished from 500 BCE to 545 CE. Concentrated along the lowlands of the Orinoco River, the people migrated by sea to the Less ...

, and

Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...

. It was claimed by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

following the

arrival Arrival(s) or The Arrival(s) may refer to: Film * ''The Arrival'' (1991 film), an American science fiction horror film * ''The Arrival'' (1996 film), an American-Mexican science fiction horror film * ''Arrival'' (film), a 2016 American science ...

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...

in 1493 and subsequently

colonized 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León ( – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Florida in 1513. He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, Spain, in ...

in 1508. Puerto Rico was contested by other

European powers A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power ...

into the 18th century but remained a Spanish possession for the next 400 years. The decline of the Indigenous population, followed by an influx of

settlers, primarily from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

and

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, and

African slaves Slavery has historically been widespread in Africa. Systems of servitude and slavery were once commonplace in parts of Africa, as they were in much of the rest of the ancient and medieval world. When the trans-Saharan slave trade, Red Sea sl ...

vastly changed the cultural and demographic landscape of the archipelago. Within the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

, Puerto Rico played a secondary but strategically significant role compared to larger and wealthier colonies like

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

. By the late 19th century, a distinct Puerto Rican identity began to emerge, centered on a fusion of

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

, African, and

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

elements. In 1898, following the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, Puerto Rico was acquired by the United States.

Puerto Ricans Puerto Ricans (), most commonly known as Puerto Rico#Etymology, Boricuas, but also occasionally referred to as '':es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general, Borinqueños'', '':es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general, Borincan ...

have been

U.S. citizens Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Constitu ...

since 1917 and can move freely between the

archipelago An archipelago ( ), sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster, or collection of islands. An archipelago may be in an ocean, a sea, or a smaller body of water. Example archipelagos include the Aegean Islands (the o ...

and the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or demogr ...

. However, residents of Puerto Rico are disenfranchised from federal elections and generally do not pay

federal income tax The United States federal government and most state governments impose an income tax. They are determined by applying a tax rate, which may increase as income increases, to taxable income, which is the total income less allowable deductio ...

. In common with four other

territories A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

, Puerto Rico sends a nonvoting representative to the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

, called a

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such a ...

, and participates in

presidential primaries Each of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five territories of the United States holds either primary elections or caucuses to help nominate individual candidates for president of the United States. This process is designed t ...

; as it is not a state, Puerto Rico does not have a vote in the U.S. Congress, which oversees it under the

Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 The Puerto Rico Federal Relations Act of 1950 () was an Act of Congress of the 81st United States Congress. The United States Senate passed it unanimously.territorial constitution in 1952, allowing residents of the archipelago to elect a

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

in addition to a

senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and

house of representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. The

political status of Puerto Rico The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico () is an unincorporated territory of the United States. As such, the archipelago and island of Puerto Rico is neither a sovereign nation nor a U.S. state. The U.S. Constitution does not apply directly or un ...

is an ongoing debate. Beginning in the mid-20th century, the

U.S. government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct branches: legislative, executi ...

, together with the

Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company The Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) — (or simply ''Fomento'')— is a government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico authorized and empowered to attract private capital to Puerto Rico to establish trade, cooperatives, ...

, launched a series of economic projects to develop Puerto Rico into an industrial high-income economy. It is classified by the

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

as a developed jurisdiction with an advanced,

high-income economy A high-income economy is defined by the World Bank as a country with a gross national income per capita of US$14,005 or more in 2023, calculated using the Atlas method. While the term "high-income" is often used interchangeably with "First World" ...

; it ranks 47th on the

Human Development Index The Human Development Index (HDI) is a statistical composite index of life expectancy, Education Index, education (mean years of schooling completed and expected years of schooling upon entering the education system), and per capita income i ...

. The major sectors of Puerto Rico's economy are

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer ...

, primarily

pharmaceuticals Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable s ...

s, and electronics, followed by

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a ...

, namely

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

and hospitality.

Etymology

Puerto Rico is Spanish for "rich port".

often call the island , a derivation of , its

name, which is popularly said to mean "Land of the Valiant Lord". The terms , , and are commonly used to identify someone of Puerto Rican heritage, and derive from and respectively. The island is also popularly known in Spanish as , meaning "the island of enchantment". Columbus named the island , in honor of Saint

John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

, while the capital city was named ("Rich Port City"). Eventually traders and other maritime visitors came to refer to the entire island as Puerto Rico, while San Juan became the name used for the main trading/shipping port and the capital city. The island's name was changed to ''Porto Rico'' by the United States after the

Treaty of Paris of 1898 The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898, was signed by Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States on December 10, 1898, and marked the end of the ...

. The anglicized name was used by the U.S. government and private enterprises (also ''Porto'' in Italian, French, and Portuguese). The name was changed back to Puerto Rico in 1931 by a joint resolution in Congress introduced by

Félix Córdova Dávila Félix Lope María Córdova Dávila (November 20, 1878 – December 3, 1938) was a political leader and judge from Puerto Rico who served as Puerto Rico's fourth Resident Commissioner in Congress and later as an associate justice of the Supre ...

. The official name of the entity in Spanish is ("Free

Associated State An associated state is the minor partner or dependent territory in a formal, free relationship between a political territory (some of them dependent states, most of them fully sovereign) and a major party—usually a larger state. The details ...

of Puerto Rico"), while its official English name is

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

. The Spanish official name was suggested by its architect

Luis Muñoz Marín José Luis Alberto Muñoz Marín (February 18, 1898April 30, 1980) was a Puerto Rican journalist, politician, statesman and was the first elected governor of Puerto Rico, regarded as the "Architect of the Puerto Rico Commonwealth." In 1948 he ...

and adopted by a constitutional assembly on July 25, 1952. Some authorities have called it a

euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...

and have charged that the official name in English of "Commonwealth" constitutes a

fig leaf thumb In culture, a "fig leaf" or "fig-leaf" is a literal or figurative method of obscuring an act or object considered embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance. The use of an actual fig leaf for the purpose originates i ...

, i.e., associated with the covering up of an act that is actually embarrassing or distasteful with something of innocuous appearance. Puerto Rico remains a

territory of the United States Territories of the United States are sub-national administrative divisions and dependent territory, dependent territories overseen by the federal government of the United States. The American territories differ from the U.S. states and Indi ...

, exercising substantial internal self-government, but subordinated to the U.S. Constitution in areas such as foreign affairs or defense. For this reason, it is not considered to be a full-fledged associated state under either international or U.S. domestic law.

History

Indigenous settlement and European conquest

The history of Puerto Rico began with the settlement of the

Ortoiroid people The Ortoiroid people were the second wave of human settlers of the Caribbean who began their migration into the Antilles around 2000 BC. They were preceded by the Casimiroid peoples (~4190-2165 BC). They are believed to have originated in the Orin ...

before 430 BC. At the time of

's arrival in the

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

in 1493, the dominant Indigenous culture was that of the Taínos. The Taíno people's numbers went dangerously low during the later half of the 16th century because of new infectious diseases carried by Europeans, exploitation by Spanish settlers, and warfare. Located in the northeastern Caribbean, Puerto Rico formed a key part of the Spanish Empire from the early years of the exploration, conquest and colonization of the

. The island was a major military post during many wars between Spain and other European powers for control of the region in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Puerto Rico departamentos 1886

In 1593, Portuguese soldiers, sent from Lisbon by order of Phillip II, composed the first garrison of the San Felipe del Morro fortress in Puerto Rico. Some brought their wives, while others married Puerto Rican women, and today there are many Puerto Rican families with Portuguese last names. The smallest of the

, Puerto Rico was a stepping-stone in the passage from Europe to Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and the northern territories of South America. Throughout most of the 19th century until the conclusion of the

, Puerto Rico and Cuba were the last two Spanish colonies in the New World; they served as Spain's final outposts in a strategy to regain control of the American continents. Realizing that it was in danger of losing its two remaining Caribbean territories, the Spanish Crown revived the

Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 The Royal Decree of Graces of 1815 ( Spanish: '' Real Cédula de Gracia de 1815'') is a decree approved by the Spanish Crown in August 1815 to encourage Spaniards, and Europeans of non-Spanish origin but coming from countries in good standing wit ...

. The decree was printed in Spanish, English and French in order to attract Europeans, with the hope that the independence movements would lose their popularity and strength with the arrival of new settlers. Free land was offered to those who wanted to populate the islands on the condition that they swear their loyalty to the Spanish Crown and allegiance to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

U.S. era

In 1898, during the

, Puerto Rico was invaded and subsequently became a possession of the U.S. The first years of the 20th century were marked by the struggle to obtain greater democratic rights from the U.S. The

Foraker Act The Foraker Act, , officially known as the Organic Act of 1900, is a United States federal law that established civilian (albeit limited popular) government on the island of Puerto Rico, which had recently become a possession of the United State ...

of 1900 established a civil government, ending rule by American generals and the Department of War. A

U.S. Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

ruling, ''Ortega v. Lara'', , involving the Foraker Act and referring to the island as "the acquired country", soon affirmed that the

U.S. Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, on March 4, 1789. Originally including seven articles, the Constituti ...

applied within its territory and that any domestic Puerto Rican laws which did not conflict with it remained in force. The Jones Act of 1917 made Puerto Ricans

. The Jones act paved the way for the drafting of Puerto Rico's Constitution and its approval by Congress and Puerto Rican voters in 1952 Puerto Rico is one of five territories with less representation in the Federal government, along with the Federal District.

21st century

In 2009, the

United Nations Special Committee on Decolonization The United Nations Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, or the Special Committee on Decolonization (C-24), is a committee of ...

approved a draft resolution calling on the U.S. government to expedite a process that would allow the Puerto Rican people to exercise fully their inalienable right to self-determination and independence. In November 2012, a two-question referendum took place, simultaneous with the general elections.''Ley Numero 283 del 28 de diciembre de 2011.''
Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico. 28 December 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2012. The first question, voted on in August, asked voters whether they wanted to maintain the current status under the territorial clause of the U.S. Constitution. 54% voted against the status quo, effectively approving the second question to be voted on in November. The second question posed three alternate status options: statehood, independence, or free association. 61.16% voted for statehood, 33.34% for a sovereign free-associated state, and 5.49% for independence. In 2016, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

signed into law ''H.R. 5278:

PROMESA The Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) is a U.S. federal law enacted in 2016 that serves as a custom-made Bankruptcy law for Puerto Rico. It establishes a process for restructuring debt, and expedited proc ...

'', establishing a Control Board over the Puerto Rican government. This board will have a significant degree of federal control involved in its establishment and operations. In particular, the authority to establish the control board derives from the federal government's constitutional power to "make all needful rules and regulations" regarding U.S. territories; The president would appoint all seven voting members of the board; and the board would have broad sovereign powers to effectively overrule decisions by Puerto Rico's legislature, governor, and other public authorities. There would be another referendum in 2017 in Puerto Rico, in favor of statehood although it was boycotted by some political opponents of it. (see

2017 Puerto Rican status referendum A referendum on the political status of Puerto Rico was held in Puerto Rico on June 11, 2017. The referendum had three options: becoming a state of the United States, independence/ free association, or maintaining the current territorial stat ...

)

Puerto Rico Rainfall Totals from Hurricane Maria Updated 2022

In 2017, Puerto Rico suffered back-to-back large hurricanes: the Category 5

Hurricane Irma Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Hurricane Maria, Maria two weeks later. At the time, it was considered ...

(September 7, 2017) and the Category 4

Hurricane Maria Hurricane Maria was an extremely powerful and devastating tropical cyclone that affected the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, which accounted for 2,975 of the 3,059 deaths. It is the ...

(September 20, 2017).RAND - Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Impact and Aftermath
/ref> The storms caused an extreme amount of damage to the island, causing the following effects: all power was knocked out, 95% cell service, 43% of waste water treatment plants, 40 thousand land slides, 97% of roads blocked, 28% of health facilities damaged, leading to over 90% of the population applying for assistance after the storms. See also

Effects of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico Between September 19–21, 2017, Hurricane Maria devastated the entire island of Puerto Rico and caused a major humanitarian crisis. Maria was the strongest storm to impact the island in nearly 90 years. Prior to reaching Puerto Rico, Maria ...

It is thought that a combination of the debt crisis and two major hurricanes in the late 2010s, caused further departures from the island. Overall the population has decreased by about half a million in the 21st century, with many seeking better opportunities on the mainland. Puerto Rico held its statehood referendum during the 3 November 2020 general elections; the ballot asked one question: "Should Puerto Rico be admitted immediately into the Union as a State?" The results showed that 52 percent of Puerto Rico voters answered yes. In the United States in the early 2020s, the

Puerto Rico Status Act The Puerto Rico Status Act, H.R. 2757, was a bill introduced during the 116th United States Congress. The intention of the bill is to grant Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States, admission into the Union as a state. The ...

was being worked on by Congress, and H.R. 8393 passed the House in 2022—though it has not passed the Senate; this bill would support PR making a binding referendum. The bill does not decide PR's fate, it simply prepares the United States to respond the outcome of referendum. In the 5 November 2024 elections, there was three choices in a non-binding referendum which included Statehood, Independence, or Independence with Free Association on the ballot; Statehood won with 59%. In addition, on November 5, 2024, Jennifer Gonzalez, who is pro-statehood, won the office of Governor of Puerto Rico in the 2024 general election with nearly 40% of the vote.

Geography

Puerto Rico consists of the main island of Puerto Rico and various smaller islands, including

, Culebra, Mona,

Desecheo Desecheo () () is a small uninhabited island of the archipelago of Puerto Rico in the northeast of the Mona Passage; from the municipality of Rincón on the west coast ( Punta Higüero) of the main island of Puerto Rico and northeast of Mon ...

, and

Caja de Muertos Caja de Muertos (; also in English: ''Deadman's Chest'' or ''Coffin Island'') is an uninhabited island off the southern coast of Puerto Rico, in the municipality of Ponce. The island and its surrounding waters are protected by the Caja de Muer ...

. Of these five, only Culebra and Vieques are inhabited year-round. Mona, which has played a key role in maritime history, is uninhabited most of the year except for employees of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural Resources. There are many other even smaller

islets An islet ( ) is generally a small island. Definitions vary, and are not precise, but some suggest that an islet is a very small, often unnamed, island with little or no vegetation to support human habitation. It may be made of rock, sand and ...

, like Monito, located near Mona, and

Isla de Cabras Isla de Cabras ( Spanish for "goat island") is a small islet in the middle of the mouth of San Juan Bay in northeastern Puerto Rico. Part of the Palo Seco barrio in the Toa Baja municipality, the islet is located at the entrance to San Juan Bay ...

and La Isleta de San Juan, both located on the

San Juan Bay San Juan Bay () is a Bay#Types, semi-enclosed bay, estuary, and harbor connected to the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the northeastern coastal plain of Puerto Rico. Surrounded by the capital Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality o ...

. The latter is the only inhabited islet with communities like

Old San Juan Old San Juan () is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the San Juan Islet, islet of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Old San Juan, Ballajá, Catedral, Old San Juan, ...

and

Puerta de Tierra Puerta de Tierra is a ''subbarrio'' (subdistrict) occupying the eastern portion of the Islet of San Juan and the ''barrio'' of San Juan Antiguo in the municipality of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The name Puerta de Tierra (Spanish for ''land gate'') d ...

, which are connected to the main island by bridges. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico has an area of , of which is land and is water. Puerto Rico is larger than

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

and

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

but smaller than

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. The maximum length of the main island from east to west is , and the maximum width from north to south is . Puerto Rico is the smallest of the

. It is 80% of the size of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, just over 18% of the size of

Hispaniola Hispaniola (, also ) is an island between Geography of Cuba, Cuba and Geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean. Hispaniola is the most populous island in the West Indies, and the second-largest by List of C ...

and 8% of the size of Cuba, the largest of the Greater Antilles. The topography of the island is mostly mountainous with large flat areas in the northern and southern coasts. The main mountain range that crosses the island from east to west is called the

Cordillera Central Central Cordillera refers to the New Guinea Highlands. Cordillera Central, meaning ''central range'' in Spanish, may refer to the following mountain ranges: * Cordillera Central, Andes (disambiguation), several mountain ranges in South America ** ...

(also known as the Central Mountain Range in English). The highest elevation in Puerto Rico,

Cerro de Punta Cerro de Punta or Cerro Punta is the highest peak in Puerto Rico, rising to above sea level.As of February, 1981, the US Geological Survey reports the height as 1,328 meters. (See''Geographic Names Information System: Feature Query Results.''Un ...

, is located in this range. Another important peak is El Yunque, one of the highest in the

Sierra de Luquillo The Sierra de Luquillo (English: "Luquillo Mountains") is a steep-sided, high-precipitation, and deeply-forested subrange of the Cordillera Central mountain range in the main island of Puerto Rico. Separated from the southeastern Sierra de Cayey ...

at the

El Yunque National Forest El Yunque National Forest (), formerly known as the Caribbean National Forest (or ''Bosque Nacional del Caribe''), is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico. While there are both temperate and tropical rainforests in other states and terri ...

, with an elevation of . Puerto Rico has 17 lakes, all man-made, and more than 50 rivers, most of which originate in the Cordillera Central. Rivers in the northern region of the island are typically longer and of higher water flow rates than those of the south, since the south receives less rain than the central and northern regions. Puerto Rico is composed of

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

Eocene The Eocene ( ) is a geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (Ma). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period (geology), Period in the modern Cenozoic Era (geology), Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes ...

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

and

plutonic Intrusive rock is formed when magma penetrates existing rock, crystallizes, and solidifies underground to form ''intrusions'', such as batholiths, dikes, sills, laccoliths, and volcanic necks.Intrusive RocksIntrusive rocks accessdate: Marc ...

rocks, overlain by younger

Oligocene The Oligocene ( ) is a geologic epoch (geology), epoch of the Paleogene Geologic time scale, Period that extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present ( to ). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that defin ...

and more recent

carbonate A carbonate is a salt of carbonic acid, (), characterized by the presence of the carbonate ion, a polyatomic ion with the formula . The word "carbonate" may also refer to a carbonate ester, an organic compound containing the carbonate group ...

s and other

sedimentary rocks Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedim ...

. Most of the

caverns Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance underground (such as rock sh ...

and

karst Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...

topography on the island occurs in the northern region. The oldest rocks are approximately years old (

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately 143.1 Mya. ...

) and are located at

Sierra Bermeja Sierra Bermeja is a mountain range in southwestern Puerto Rico. It forms the southern boundary of the Lajas Valley and it is bordered by La Parguera in the Caribbean Sea coast. It extends from the municipality of Cabo Rojo in the west to Lajas ...

in the southwest part of the island. They may represent part of the

oceanic crust Oceanic crust is the uppermost layer of the oceanic portion of the tectonic plates. It is composed of the upper oceanic crust, with pillow lavas and a dike complex, and the lower oceanic crust, composed of troctolite, gabbro and ultramaf ...

and are believed to come from the Pacific Ocean realm. Puerto Rico lies at the boundary between the

and North American Plates and is being deformed by the

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

stresses caused by their interaction. These stresses may cause

earthquakes An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they c ...

and

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

s. These

seismic Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

events, along with

landslide Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...

s, represent some of the most dangerous

geologic hazards A geologic hazard or geohazard is an adverse geologic condition capable of causing widespread damage or loss of property and life. These hazards are geological and environmental conditions and involve long-term or short-term geological process ...

in the island and in the northeastern Caribbean. The

1918 San Fermín earthquake The 1918 San Fermín earthquake, also known as the Puerto Rico earthquake of 1918, struck the island of Puerto Rico at on October 11. The earthquake measured 7.1 on the moment magnitude scale and IX (''Violent'') on the Mercalli intensity scale. ...

occurred on , 1918 and had an estimated magnitude of 7.5 on the

Richter scale The Richter scale (), also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale, is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

. It originated off the coast of

Aguadilla Aguadilla (, ), founded in 1775 by Luis de Córdova, is a city and municipality located in the northwestern tip of Puerto Rico, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, north of Aguada, and Moca and west of Isabela. Aguadilla is s ...

, several kilometers off the northern coast, and was accompanied by a

. It caused extensive property damage and widespread losses, damaging infrastructure, especially bridges. It resulted in an estimated 116 deaths and $4 million in property damage. The failure of the government to move rapidly to provide for the general welfare contributed to political activism by opponents and eventually to the rise of the

Puerto Rican Nationalist Party The Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico (, PNPR) was a Puerto Rican political party founded on September 17, 1922, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Its primary goal was to work for Puerto Rico's independence. The Party's selection in 1930 of Pedro Alb ...

. On 7 January 2020, the country experienced its largest earthquake since 1918, estimated at magnitude 6.4. Economic losses were estimated to be more than $3.1 billion. The

Puerto Rico Trench The Puerto Rico Trench is located on the boundary between the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, parallel to and north of Puerto Rico, where the oceanic trench reaches the deepest points in the Atlantic Ocean. The trench is associated with ...

, the largest and deepest trench in the Atlantic, is located about north of Puerto Rico at the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates. It is long. At its deepest point, named the

Milwaukee Deep Milwaukee Deep, also known as the Milwaukee Depth, is the deepest part of the Puerto Rico Trench, constituting the deepest points in the Atlantic Ocean. Together with the surrounding seabed area, known as Brownson Deep, the Milwaukee Deep forms ...

, it is almost deep. The Mona Canyon, located in the

Mona Passage The Mona Passage () is a strait that separates the islands of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico. The Mona Passage connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Caribbean Sea and is an important shipping route between the Atlantic and the Panama Canal. The Mona Pas ...

between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, is another prominent oceanic landform with steep walls measuring between in height from bottom to top.

Climate

The climate of Puerto Rico in the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

is mostly

tropical rainforest Tropical rainforests are dense and warm rainforests with high rainfall typically found between 10° north and south of the Equator. They are a subset of the tropical forest biome that occurs roughly within the 28° latitudes (in the torrid zo ...

. Temperatures are warm to hot year round, averaging near in lower elevations and in the mountains. Easterly

trade winds The trade winds or easterlies are permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere ...

pass across the island year round. Puerto Rico has a

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * '' ...

, which stretches from April into November, and a

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The t ...

stretching from December to March. The mountains of the Cordillera Central create a

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

and are the main cause of the variations in the temperature and rainfall that occur over very short distances. The mountains can also cause wide variation in local wind speed and direction due to their sheltering and channeling effects, adding to the climatic variation. Daily temperature changes seasonally are quite small in the lowlands and coastal areas. Between the dry and wet seasons, there is a temperature change of around . This change is due mainly to the warm waters of the tropical

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

, which significantly modify cooler air moving in from the north and northwest. Coastal water temperatures during the year are about in February and in August. The highest temperature ever recorded was at

Arecibo Arecibo (; ) is a Arecibo barrio-pueblo, city and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the northern coast of Puerto Rico, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, located north of Utuado, Puerto Rico, Utuado and Ciales, Puerto Rico, Ciale ...

, while the lowest temperature ever recorded was in the mountains at

Adjuntas Adjuntas () is a small mountainside Adjuntas barrio-pueblo, town and Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality in Puerto Rico located in the central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, Puerto Rico, Cordillera Central, no ...

Aibonito Aibonito () is a small mountain town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the Sierra de Cayey mountain range, north of Salinas; south of Barranquitas and Comerío; east of Coamo; and west of Cidra, and Cayey. Aibonito is spread over 8 ...

, and Corozal. The average yearly precipitation is . Climate change in Puerto Rico has had a large impact on the ecosystems and landscapes. Puerto Rico experiences the

Atlantic hurricane season The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year, from June 1 through November 30, when Tropical cyclone, tropical or subtropical cyclones are most likely to form in the North Atlantic Ocean. These dates, adopted by convention ...

, similar to the rest of the Caribbean Sea and North Atlantic Ocean. On average, a quarter of its annual rainfall is contributed from

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

s, which are more prevalent during periods of

La Niña LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second most populous city in the United States of America. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music *La (musical note), or A, the sixth note *"L.A.", a song by Elliott Smit ...

than

El Niño EL, El or el may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * El, a character from the manga series ''Shugo Chara!'' by Peach-Pit * Eleven (''Stranger Things'') (El), a fictional character in the TV series ''Stranger Things'' * El, fami ...

. A cyclone of tropical storm strength passes near Puerto Rico, on average, every five years. A hurricane passes in the vicinity of the island, on average, every seven years. Since 1851, the Lake Okeechobee Hurricane (also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane in Puerto Rico) of September 1928 is the only hurricane to make landfall as a Category 5 hurricane. In 2017, Puerto Rico was affected by Category 5

and Category 4

,RAND - Hurricanes Irma and Maria: Impact and Aftermath
rand.org causing widespread and devastating impacts, particularly to the electric grid.

Biodiversity

Puerto Rico is home to three terrestrial ecoregions:

Puerto Rican moist forests The Puerto Rican moist forests are a Tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion in Puerto Rico. They cover an area of . Lowland forests Lowland forests are found throughout the island's coastal lo ...

Puerto Rican dry forests The Puerto Rican dry forests are a tropical dry forest ecoregion located in southwestern and eastern Puerto Rico and on the offshore islands. They cover an area of . These forests grow in areas receiving less than of rain annually. Many of the ...

, and

Greater Antilles mangroves The Greater Antilles mangroves is a mangrove ecoregion that includes the coastal mangrove forests of the Greater Antilles – Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico. Geography Mangroves are estimated to cover 5,569 km in Cuba (or 4.8% of th ...

. Puerto Rico has two biosphere reserves recognized by the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

Man and the Biosphere Programme Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) is an intergovernmental scientific program, launched in 1971 by UNESCO, that aims to establish a scientific basis for the 'improvement of relationships' between people and their environments. MAB engages w ...

: Luquillo Biosphere Reserve represented by

and the Guánica Biosphere Reserve. Species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the archipelago number 239 plants, 16 birds and 39

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s, recognized as of 1998. Most of these (234, 12 and 33 respectively) are found on the main island. The most recognizable endemic species and a symbol of Puerto Rican pride is the ''

coquí Coquí is a common name for several species of small frogs in the genus ''Eleutherodactylus'' native to Puerto Rico. They are Onomatopoeia, onomatopoeically named for the very loud mating call which the males of two species, the common coqui an ...

'', a small frog easily identified by the sound of its call, from which it gets its name. Most ''coquí'' species (13 of 17) live in the

, the only

in the

U.S. Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands covering of land. The major divisions of the agency are the Chief's ...

system, located in the northeast of the island. It was previously known as the Caribbean National Forest. El Yunque is home to more than 240 plants, 26 of which are endemic to the island. It is also home to 50 bird species, including the critically endangered

Puerto Rican amazon The Puerto Rican amazon (''Amazona vittata''), also known as the Puerto Rican parrot ( Spanish: ''cotorra puertorriqueña'') or ''iguaca'' (Taíno), is the only extant parrot endemic to the archipelago of Puerto Rico, and belongs to the Neotro ...

. In addition to El Yunque National Forest, the Puerto Rican moist forest ecoregion is represented by protected areas such as the

Maricao Maricao () is a town and the second-least populous municipality of Puerto Rico; it is located at the western edge of the Cordillera Central. It is a small town set around a small square in hilly terrain, north of San Germán, Sabana Grande and ...

and Toro Negro

state forests A state forest or national forest is a forest that is administered or protected by a sovereign or federated state, or territory. Background State forests are forests that are administered or protected by some agency of a sovereign or federate ...

. These areas are home to endangered endemic species such as the Puerto Rican boa ('' Chilabothrus inornatus''), the Puerto Rican sharp-shinned hawk ('' Accipiter striatus venator''), the Puerto Rican broad-winged hawk ('' Buteo platypterus brunnescens'') and the elfin woods warbler ( Setophaga angelae). The

Northern Karst The Northern Karst Belt (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Cinturón del Carso Norteño'') is a limestone karst landscape located in the northwestern region of Puerto Rico. A karst is a topographical zone formed by the dissolution of soluble porous roc ...

country of Puerto Rico is also home to one of the remaining rainforest tracts in the island, with the

Río Abajo State Forest Rio Abajo State Forest is a forest preserve in Puerto Rico owned by the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources, Department of Natural Resources and one of the 20 List of Puerto Rico state forests, state forests in the islan ...

being the first focus for the reintroduction of the highly endangered Puerto Rican parrot outside of the Sierra de Luquillo. In the southwest, the Guánica State Forest and Biosphere Reserve contain over 600 uncommon species of plants and animals, including 48 endangered species and 16 that are endemic to Puerto Rico, and is considered a prime example of the Puerto Rican dry forest ecoregion and the best-preserved dry forest in the Caribbean. Other protected dry forests in Puerto Rico can be formed within the

Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Refuge complex Caribbean Islands National Wildlife Complex is an administrative unit of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service which oversees National Wildlife Refuges in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Navassa Island of the U.S. Minor Outlying ...

at the Cabo Rojo,

, Culebra and

Vieques National Wildlife Refuge The Vieques National Wildlife Refuge (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Refugio nacional de vida silvestre de Vieques'') is a National Wildlife Refuge on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico, Vieques in the Puerto Rico archipelago. It is part of the ...

s, and in the

and

Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve Mona and Monito Islands Nature Reserve (Spanish: ''Reserva Natural Islas Mona y Monito'') consists of two islands, Isla de Mona, Mona and Monito Island, Monito, in the Mona Passage off western Puerto Rico in the Caribbean. Mona and Monito Island ...

s. Examples of endemic species found in this ecoregion are the higo chumbo (''

Harrisia portoricensis ''Harrisia portoricensis'' is a species of cactus in the genus ''Harrisia (plant), Harrisia''. Its common names include ''higo chumbo'' and Puerto Rico applecactus. Description ''Harrisia portoricensis'' grows upright with only a few branches an ...

''), the Puerto Rican crested toad (''

Peltophryne lemur The Puerto Rican crested toad (''Peltophryne lemur''), or simply Puerto Rican toad, is a species of toad found only in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It is the only species of toad native to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. The species fo ...

''), and the Mona ground iguana ('' Cyclura stejnegeri''), the largest land animal native to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has three of the seven year-long

bioluminescent bay Bioluminescence is the emission of light during a chemiluminescence reaction by living organisms. Bioluminescence occurs in multifarious organisms ranging from marine vertebrates and invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms incl ...

s in the Caribbean:

Laguna Grande Lake Elsinore is a natural freshwater lake in Riverside County, California, United States, located east of the Santa Ana Mountains and fed by the San Jacinto River. Originally named ''Laguna Grande'' by Spanish explorers, it was renamed for t ...

Fajardo Fajardo () is a Fajardo barrio-pueblo, town and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality part of the San Juan–Caguas–Guaynabo metropolitan area, San Juan-Caguas-Fajardo Combined Statistical Area in Puerto Rico. Fajardo is the hub of mu ...

, La Parguera in Lajas and

Puerto Mosquito The Puerto Mosquito Bioluminescent Bay (), or Mosquito Bio Bay, is a bay in the island of Vieques famous for its bioluminescence produced by the dinoflagellate '' Pyrodinium bahamense'', which glows blue when agitated. This species of phytoplankt ...

. These are unique bodies of water surrounded by

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s that are inhabited by the

dinoflagellate The Dinoflagellates (), also called Dinophytes, are a monophyletic group of single-celled eukaryotes constituting the phylum Dinoflagellata and are usually considered protists. Dinoflagellates are mostly marine plankton, but they are also commo ...

'' Pyrodinium bahamense''. However, tourism, pollution, and hurricanes have highly threatened these unique ecosystems.

Government and politics

Puerto Rico has a

republican form of government Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

based on the American model, with

separation of powers The separation of powers principle functionally differentiates several types of state (polity), state power (usually Legislature#Legislation, law-making, adjudication, and Executive (government)#Function, execution) and requires these operat ...

subject to the jurisdiction and sovereignty of the United States. All governmental powers are delegated by the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

, with the head of state being the

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

. As an

, Puerto Rico lacks full protection under the U.S. Constitution. The government of Puerto Rico is composed of three branches. The executive is headed by the

, currently

Jenniffer González-Colón Jenniffer González Colón (born August 5, 1976) is a Puerto Rican politician who is currently serving as the governor of Puerto Rico since 2025. She previously served as the 20th resident commissioner of Puerto Rico from 2017 to 2025. Gonzále ...

. The

legislative branch A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

consists of the

bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate Deliberative assembly, assemblies, chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature. Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate ...

Legislative Assembly, made up of a

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

as its upper chamber and a

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

as its lower chamber; the Senate is headed by a

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, currently José Luis Dalmau, while the House is headed by the

speaker of the House The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England. Usage The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hung ...

, currently

Tatito Hernández Rafael "Tatito" Hernández Montañez (born April 14, 1972) is a Puerto Rican politician affiliated with the Popular Democratic Party (PPD). He is also a Democrat. He has been a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives since 2009, rep ...

. The governor and legislators are elected by popular vote every four years, with the last election held in November 2024. The

judicial branch The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

is headed by the

chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico The chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico () is the Chief Justice, presiding officer of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. The post of chief justice was created by Article V of Constitution of Puerto Rico, Article V of the Constitution ...

, currently

Maite Oronoz Rodríguez Maite Oronoz Rodríguez (born 1976) is a Puerto Rican jurist who serves as the 17th chief justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico since 2016. Oronoz Rodríguez is Puerto Rico's first openly gay chief justice. Early years and education Oro ...

. Members of the judiciary are appointed by the governor with the

advice and consent Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in List of enacting formulae, enacting formulae of bill (proposed law), bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts. It describes either of two situations: where a weak executive ...

of the Senate. Puerto Rico is represented in the U.S. Congress by a nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, the

resident commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such a ...

, currently

Pablo Hernández Rivera Pablo José Hernández Rivera (born May 11, 1991) is a Puerto Rican politician who is the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico. Early life and education Pablo José Hernández Rivera is the grandson of the former governor Rafael Hernández Co ...

. Current congressional rules have removed the commissioner's power to vote in the

Committee of the Whole A committee of the whole is a meeting of a legislative or deliberative assembly using procedural rules that are based on those of a committee, except that in this case the committee includes all members of the assembly. As with other (standing) ...

, but the commissioner can vote in committee.Rules of the House of Representatives. Rule III
. Puerto Rican elections are governed by the

Federal Election Commission The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government that enforces U.S. campaign finance laws and oversees U.S. federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign ...

and the State Elections Commission of Puerto Rico. Residents of Puerto Rico, including other U.S. citizens, cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, but can vote in

primaries Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...

. Puerto Ricans who become residents of a

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

can vote in presidential elections. Puerto Rico has eight senatorial districts, 40 representative districts, and 78 municipalities; there are no first-order administrative divisions as defined by the U.S. government. Municipalities are subdivided into wards or

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city delimited by functional (e.g. residential, comm ...

s, and those into sectors. Each municipality has a

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and a municipal legislature elected for a four-year term. The municipality of

is the oldest, founded in 1521; the next earliest settlements are San Germán in 1570, Coamo in 1579,

in 1614, Aguada in 1692 and Ponce in 1692. Increased settlement in the 18th century saw 30 more communities established, following 34 in the 19th century. Six were founded in the 20th century, the most recent being

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

in 1971.

Political parties and elections

Political-party-strength-in-puerto-rico-2012

Since 1952, Puerto Rico has had three main political parties: the Popular Democratic Party (PPD in Spanish), the New Progressive Party (PNP in Spanish) and the

Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party (, PIP) is a social-democratic political party in Puerto Rico that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. Those who follow the PIP ideology are usually called ''independentist ...

(PIP). The three parties stand for different political status. The PPD, for example, seeks to maintain the island's status with the U.S. as a commonwealth, while the PNP seeks to make Puerto Rico a U.S. state. Meanwhile, the PIP seeks to make Puerto Rico a sovereign nation free from U.S. authority. In terms of party strength, the PPD and PNP usually hold about 47% of the vote each while the PIP holds about 5%. After 2007, other parties emerged on the island. The first, the

Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party The Puerto Ricans for Puerto Rico Party (, PPR) was a Puerto Rican political party. Founded in 2003, it was certified for the first time by the State Electoral Commission in May 2007. History In April 2007, it submitted the signatures requi ...

was registered that same year. The party claims that it seeks to address the islands' problems from a status-neutral platform. But it ceased to remain as a registered party when it failed to obtain the required number of votes in the 2008 general election. Four years later, the 2012 election saw the emergence of the ''

Movimiento Unión Soberanista (MUS) (English: Sovereign Union Movement) was a Puerto Rican political party. The party was founded in October 2010 in the city of Caguas, Puerto Rico. Certification On March 20, 2012, the Puerto Rico State Commission on Elections (CEE) ce ...

'' (English: Sovereign Union Movement) and the ''

Partido del Pueblo Trabajador The Working People's Party ( or PPT) was a Puerto Rican socialist political party. It was founded on December 5, 2010, in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, by a group of activists, students, teachers, professors, union workers, actors, and pub ...

'' (English: Working People's Party) but none obtained more than 1% of the vote. Other non-registered parties include the

, the Socialist Workers Movement, and the

Hostosian National Independence Movement The Hostosian National Independence Movement (, MINH) is a political organization in Puerto Rico. In 2015, Julio Muriente was its leader. History The MINH was formed on May 6, 2004, by a merger of the National Hostosian Congress (CNH) and the ...

Political status

The nature of Puerto Rico's political relationship with the U.S. is the subject of ongoing debate in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Congress, and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. Specifically, the basic question is whether Puerto Rico should remain an unincorporated territory of the U.S., become a U.S. state, or become an independent country. Constitutionally, Puerto Rico is subject to the

plenary powers A plenary power or plenary authority is a complete and absolute power to take action on a particular issue, with no limitations. It is derived from the Latin term . United States In United States constitutional law, plenary power is a power tha ...

of the U.S. Congress under the

territorial clause Article Four of the United States Constitution outlines the relationship between the various states, as well as the relationship between each state and the United States federal government. It also empowers Congress to admit new states and admini ...

of Article IV of the U.S. Constitution. Laws enacted at the federal level in the U.S. apply to Puerto Rico as well, regardless of its political status. Their residents do not have voting representation in the U.S. Congress. Puerto Rico lacks "the full sovereignty of an independent nation", for example, the power to manage its "external relations with other nations", which is held by the U.S. federal government. The U.S. Supreme Court has indicated that once the U.S. Constitution has been extended to an area (by Congress or the courts), its coverage is irrevocable. To hold that the political branches may switch the Constitution on or off at will would lead to a regime in which they, not this Court, say "what the law is". Puerto Ricans "were collectively made U.S. citizens" in 1917 as a result of the

Jones–Shafroth Act The Jones–Shafroth Act () – also known as the Jones Act of Puerto Rico, Jones Law of Puerto Rico, or as the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act of 1917 – was an Act of the United States Congress, signed by President Woodrow Wilson on Mar ...

. U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico cannot vote in U.S. presidential elections, though both major parties, Republican and Democratic, hold primary elections in Puerto Rico to choose delegates to vote on the parties' presidential candidates. Since Puerto Rico is an unincorporated territory and not a U.S. state, the U.S. Constitution does not fully enfranchise U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico. Only

fundamental right Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...

s under the American federal constitution and adjudications are applied to Puerto Ricans. Various other U.S. Supreme Court decisions have held which rights apply in Puerto Rico and which ones do not. Puerto Ricans have a long history of service in the U.S. Armed Forces and, since 1917, they have been included in the U.S. compulsory draft when it has been in effect. Though the Commonwealth government has its own tax laws, residents of Puerto Rico, contrary to a popular misconception, do pay U.S. federal taxes: customs taxes (which are subsequently returned to the Puerto Rico Treasury), import/export taxes, federal commodity taxes, social security taxes, etc. Residents pay federal

payroll tax Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees. They are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the ...

es, such as

Social Security Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance ...

and Medicare, as well as Commonwealth of Puerto Rico income taxes. All federal employees, those who do business with the federal government, Puerto Rico-based corporations that intend to send funds to the U.S., and some others, such as Puerto Rican residents that are members of the U.S. military, and Puerto Rico residents who earned income from sources outside Puerto Rico also pay federal income taxes. In addition, because the cutoff point for income taxation is lower than that of the U.S. IRS code, and because the per-capita income in Puerto Rico is much lower than the average per-capita income on the mainland, more Puerto Rico residents pay income taxes to the local taxation authority than if the IRS code were applied to the island. This occurs because "the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico government has a wider set of responsibilities than do U.S. State and local governments." In 2009, Puerto Rico paid into the

U.S. Treasury The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the Treasury, national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States. It is one of 15 current United States federal executive departments, U.S. government departments. ...

. Residents of Puerto Rico pay into Social Security, and are thus eligible for Social Security benefits upon retirement. They are excluded from the

Supplemental Security Income Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a means-tested program that provides cash payments to disabled children, disabled adults, and individuals aged 65 or older who are citizens or nationals of the United States. SSI was created by the Social S ...

, and the island receives a smaller fraction of the Medicaid funding it would receive if it were a U.S. state. Also, Medicare providers receive less-than-full state-like reimbursements for services rendered to beneficiaries in Puerto Rico, even though the latter paid fully into the system. Puerto Rico's authority to enact a criminal code derives from Congress and not from local sovereignty as with the states. Thus, individuals committing a crime can only be tried in federal or territorial court, otherwise it would constitute double jeopardy and is constitutionally impermissible. In 1992, President George H. W. Bush issued a memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies establishing the current administrative relationship between the federal government and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. This memorandum directs all federal departments, agencies, and officials to treat Puerto Rico administratively as if it were a state, insofar as doing so would not disrupt federal programs or operations. Many federal executive branch agencies have significant presence in Puerto Rico, just as in any state, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Transportation Security Administration, Social Security Administration, and others. While Puerto Rico has its own judiciary of Puerto Rico, Commonwealth judicial system similar to that of a U.S. state, there is also a U.S. federal district court in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Ricans have served as judges in that Court and in other federal courts on the U.S. mainland regardless of their residency status at the time of their appointment. Sonia Sotomayor, a Nuyorican, New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent, serves as an Associate Justice, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Puerto Ricans have also been frequently appointed to high-level federal positions, including serving as U.S. ambassadors to other nations.

Administrative divisions

Unlike the vast majority of U.S. states, Puerto Rico has no first-order administrative divisions akin to County (United States), counties, but has 78 Municipality, municipalities or Municipio, ''municipios'' as the secondary unit of administration; for United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census purposes, the municipalities are considered County (United States)#County equivalents, county equivalents. Municipalities are subdivided into ''

s'', and those into sectors. Each municipality has a mayor and a municipal legislature elected for four-year terms, per the Autonomous Municipalities Act of 1991.

Foreign and intergovernmental relations

Puerto Rico is subject to the Commerce Clause, Commerce and Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is thus restricted on how it can engage with other nations, sharing the opportunities and limitations that state governments have albeit not being one. As is the case with state governments, it has established several trade agreements with other nations, particularly with Latin American countries such as Colombia and Panamá. It has also established trade promotion offices in many foreign countries, all Spanish-speaking, and within the U.S. itself, which now include Spain, the Dominican Republic, Panama, Colombia,

, New York City and Florida, and has included in the past offices in Chile, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Such agreements require permission from the U.S. Department of State; most are simply allowed by existing laws or trade treaties between the U.S. and other nations which supersede trade agreements pursued by Puerto Rico and different U.S. states. Puerto Rico hosts Consul (representative), consulates from 41 countries, mainly from the Americas and Europe, with most located in San Juan. At the local level, Puerto Rico established by law that the international relations which states and territories are allowed to engage must be handled by the Department of State of Puerto Rico, an executive departments of the government of Puerto Rico, executive department, headed by the Secretary of State of Puerto Rico, secretary of state of Puerto Rico, who also serves as the unincorporated territory's lieutenant governor. It is also charged to liaise with general consul (representative), consuls and honorary consuls based in Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, along with the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Office of the Resident Commissioner, manages all its intergovernmental affairs before entities of or in the U.S. (including the federal government of the U.S., local and state governments of the U.S., and public or private entities in the U.S.). Both entities frequently assist the Department of State of Puerto Rico in engaging with Washington, D.C.-based ambassadors and federal agencies that handle Puerto Rico's foreign affairs, such as the U.S. Department of State, the Agency for International Development, and others. The current secretary of state is Larry Seilhamer Rodríguez from the New Progressive Party, while the current List of Directors of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, director of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration is Jennifer M. Stopiran also from the NPP and a member of the Republican Party of the U.S. The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, resident commissioner of Puerto Rico, the delegate (United States Congress), delegate elected by Puerto Ricans to represent them before the federal government, including the U.S. Congress, sits in the U.S. House of Representatives, serves and votes on congressional committees, and functions in every respect as a legislator except being denied a vote on the final disposition of legislation on the House floor. The current resident commissioner is Jenniffer González, Jenniffer González-Colón, a member of the New Progressive Party and the Republican Party, elected in 2016. She received more votes than any other official elected in Puerto Rico that year. Many Puerto Ricans have served as U.S. ambassadors to different nations and international organizations, such as the Organization of American States, mostly but not exclusively in Latin America. For example, Maricarmen Aponte, a Puerto Rican and now an acting assistant secretary of state, previously served as List of ambassadors of the United States to El Salvador, U.S. ambassador to El Salvador.

Military

As it is an unincorporated U.S. territory, the defense of Puerto Rico is provided by the U.S. as part of the Treaty of Paris (1898), Treaty of Paris with the president of the U.S. as its commander-in-chief. Puerto Rico has its own Puerto Rico National Guard, National Guard, and its own state defense force, the Puerto Rico State Guard, which by local law is under the authority of the Puerto Rico National Guard. The commander-in-chief of both local forces is the governor of Puerto Rico who delegates his authority to the Puerto Rico Adjutant General, Puerto Rico adjutant general, currently Major General José J. Reyes. The Adjutant General, in turn, delegates the authority over the State Guard to another officer but retains the authority over the Puerto Rico National Guard as a whole. U.S. military installations in Puerto Rico were part of the United States Atlantic Command, U.S. Atlantic Command (LANTCOM after 1993 USACOM), which had authority over all U.S. military operations that took place throughout the Atlantic. Puerto Rico had been seen as crucial in supporting LANTCOM's mission until 1999, when U.S. Atlantic Command was renamed and given a new mission as U.S. Joint Forces Command. Puerto Rico is currently under the responsibility of U.S. Northern Command. Both the Naval Forces Caribbean (NFC) and the Fleet Air Caribbean (FAIR) were formerly based at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station. The NFC had authority over all U.S. Naval activity in the waters of the Caribbean while FAIR had authority over all U.S. military flights and air operations over the Caribbean. With the closing of the Roosevelt Roads and Vieques Island training facilities, the U.S. Navy has basically exited from Puerto Rico, except for the ships that steam by, and the only significant military presence in the island is the U.S. Army at Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, Ft Buchanan, the Puerto Rican Army and Air National Guards, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Protests over the noise of bombing practice forced the closure of the naval base. This resulted in a loss of 6,000 jobs and an annual decrease in local income of $300 million. A branch of the U.S. Army National Guard is stationed in Puerto Rico – known as the Puerto Rico Army National Guard – which performs missions equivalent to those of the Army National Guards of different U.S. states, including ground defense, disaster relief, and control of civil unrest. The local National Guard also incorporates a branch of the U.S. Air National Guard – known as the Puerto Rico Air National Guard – which performs missions equivalent to those of the Air National Guards of each one of the U.S. states. At different times in the 20th century, the U.S. had about 25 military or naval installations in Puerto Rico.OSD, Washington Headquarters Services, Directorate for Information Operations and Reports (DIOR); "Atlas/Data Abstract for the United States and Selected Areas – Fiscal Year 1997;" Department of Defense; 1998. Note: The count of 25 military installations included the branch component of the Roosevelt Roads Naval facility on the island of Vieques, as distinct from the Roosevelt Roads Naval station in Cieba The largest of these installations were the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico, Ceiba, the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility (AFWTF) on Vieques, the National Guard training facility at Camp Santiago in Salinas, Puerto Rico, Salinas, Fort Allen, Puerto Rico, Fort Allen in Juana Diaz, the Army's Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico, Fort Buchanan in San Juan, the former U.S. Air Force's Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla, and the Puerto Rico Air National Guard's Muñiz Air National Guard Base in

.Meléndez, Edwin; Meléndez, Edgardo; Colonial Dilemma; South End Press; Boston; 1993 The former U.S. Navy facilities at Roosevelt Roads, Vieques, and Sabana Seca have been deactivated and partially turned over to the local government. Other than U.S. Coast Guard and Puerto Rico National Guard facilities, there are only two remaining military installations in Puerto Rico: the U.S. Army's small Ft. Buchanan (supporting local veterans and reserve units) and the PRANG (Puerto Rico Air National Guard) Muñiz Air Base (the C-130 Fleet). In recent years, the U.S. Congress has considered their deactivations, but these have been opposed by diverse public and private entities in Puerto Rico – such as retired military who rely on Ft. Buchanan for the services available there. Puerto Ricans have participated in many U.S. military conflicts, including the American Revolution, when volunteers from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico fought the Kingdom of Great Britain, British in 1779 under the command of General Bernardo de Gálvez (1746–1786). They continue to be disproportionately represented in present-day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The most notable example is the 65th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, nicknamed ''The Borinqueneers,'' from the original Taíno name of the island (Borinquen). The all-Puerto Rican people, Puerto Rican regiment participated in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the War on Terror; in 2014, it was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal for its heroism during the Korean War. A significant number of Puerto Ricans serve in the U.S. Armed Forces, largely as National Guard of the United States, National Guard members and civilian employees. The size of the overall military-related community is estimated to be 100,000, including retired personnel. Fort Buchanan has about 4,000 military and civilian personnel. In addition, approximately 17,000 people are members of the Puerto Rico Army and Air National Guards, or the U.S. Reserve forces.Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Reserve Affairs; "Official Guard and Reserve Manpower Strengths and Statistics – Summary End Fiscal Year 1996;" 1996

Law

The insular legal system is a blend of Civil law (legal system), civil law and the common law systems. Puerto Rico is the only current U.S. jurisdiction whose legal system operates primarily in a language other than American English: namely, Spanish language, Spanish. Because the U.S. federal government operates primarily in English, all Puerto Rican attorneys must be bilingual in order to litigate in English in U.S. federal courts, and litigate federal preemption issues in Puerto Rican courts. Title 48 of the United States Code outlines the role of the U.S. Code to U.S. territories and insular areas such as Puerto Rico. After the U.S. government assumed control of Puerto Rico in 1901, it initiated legal reforms resulting in the adoption of codes of criminal law, criminal procedure, and civil procedure modeled after those then in effect in California. Although Puerto Rico has since followed the federal example of transferring criminal and civil procedure from statutory law to rules promulgated by the judiciary, several portions of its criminal law still reflect the influence of the California Penal Code. The judicial branch is headed by the Chief Justice, chief justice of the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, which is the only appellate court required by the Constitution. All other courts are created by the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico. There is also a United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, Federal District Court for Puerto Rico, and someone accused of a criminal act at the federal level may not be accused for the same act in a Commonwealth court, and vice versa, since Puerto Rico as an unincorporated territory lacks sovereignty separate from Congress as a state does. The U.S. Supreme Court held in 2016 that such a parallel accusation would constitute double jeopardy.

Crime

The homicide rate of 19.2 per 100,000 inhabitants was significantly higher than any U.S. state in 2014. Most homicide victims are gang members and drug traffickers with about 80% of homicides in Puerto Rico being drug related. In 1992, the FBI made armed carjacking a federal crime and rates decreased per statistics, but as of 2019, the problem continued in municipalities like Guaynabo and others. From 1 January 2019 to 14 March 2019, thirty carjackings had occurred on the island.

Economy

GDP_per_capita_development_in_Puerto_Rico

Puerto Rico is classified as a high income economy by the World Bank and

. It is considered the most competitive economy in Latin America by the World Economic Forum and ranks highly on the

. According to World Bank, gross national income per capita in Puerto Rico in 2020 was $21,740. Puerto Rico's economy is mainly driven by Manufacturing in Puerto Rico, manufacturing (primarily pharmaceuticals, textiles, petrochemicals and electronics) followed by services (primarily finance, insurance, real estate in Puerto Rico, real estate and tourism in Puerto Rico, tourism); agriculture represents less than 1% of GNP. In recent years, it has also become a popular destination for MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions), with a modern Isla Verde, Puerto Rico, convention center district overlooking the Port of San Juan. Responsibility for San Juan port inspections lies with Plant Protection and Quarantine, PPQ. So high is the volume of cargo traffic that between 19842000 the San Juan PPQ station recorded 7.74% of all pest surveillance, interceptions, #4 in the country, #2 for insects and #3 for agricultural pathogen, pathogens. Most species are originally from South America or elsewhere in the

due to PR's position as an intermediary on the way to the mainland. This is one of the worst locations for cut flowers and other plant parts both in terms of number of problems and diversity of species for insects in plant parts in baggage, and for pathogens in plant parts in baggage and cargo. Pathogen interceptions were dramatically (17%) higher 19992000 than in 19851986. geography of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico's geography and political status of Puerto Rico, political status are both determining factors for its economic prosperity, primarily due to its relatively small size; Natural resource economics, lack of natural resources and subsequent dependence on imports; and vulnerability to U.S. foreign policy and trading restrictions, particularly concerning transportation in Puerto Rico, its shipping industry. Puerto Rico experienced a recession from 2006 to 2011, interrupted by four quarters of economic growth, and entered into recession again in 2013, following growing fiscal imbalance and the expiration of the IRS Section 936 corporate incentives that the Internal Revenue Code, U.S. Internal Revenue Code had applied to Puerto Rico. This IRS section was critical to the economy, as it established tax exemptions for U.S. corporations that settled in Puerto Rico and allowed their insular subsidiaries to send their earnings to the parent corporation at any time, without paying federal tax on corporate income. Puerto Rico has been able to maintain a relatively low inflation in the past decade while maintaining a purchasing power parity per capita higher than 80% of the rest of the world. Puerto-rico-gdp-by-sector

Academically, most of Puerto Rico's economic woes stem from federal regulations that expired, have been repealed, or no longer apply to Puerto Rico; its inability to become self-sufficient and self-sustainable throughout history; its highly politicized public policy which tends to change political party strength in Puerto Rico, whenever a political party gains power; as well as government of Puerto Rico, its highly inefficient local government which has accrued a public debt of Puerto Rico, public debt equal to 68% of its gross domestic product throughout time. Puerto Rico currently has a public debt of $72.204 billion (equivalent to 103% of GNP), and a government deficit of $2.5 billion. By American standards, Puerto Rico is underdeveloped: It is poorer than Mississippi, the poorest state of the U.S., with 41% of its population below the poverty threshold, poverty line. However, it has the highest Gross domestic product, GDP per capita in Latin America. Puerto Rico's main trading partners are the United States, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, and Japan, with most products coming from East Asia, mainly China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Puerto Rico's dependency on oil for transportation in Puerto Rico, transportation and electricity generation, as well as its dependency on food imports and raw materials, makes Puerto Rico volatile and highly reactive to changes in global economy, the world economy and climate.

Tourism

Tourism in Puerto Rico is also an important part of the economy. In 2017,

caused severe damage to the island and its infrastructure, disrupting tourism for many months. The damage was estimated at $100 billion. An April 2019 report indicated that by that time, only a few hotels were still closed, that life for tourists in and around the capital had, for the most part, returned to normal. By October 2019, nearly all of the popular amenities for tourists, in the major destinations such as San Juan, Ponce and Arecibo, were in operation on the island and tourism was rebounding. This was important for the economy, since tourism provides up to 10% of Puerto Rico's GDP, according to Discover Puerto Rico. A tourism campaign was launched by Discover Puerto Rico in 2018 intended to highlight the island's culture and history, branding it distinct, and different from other Caribbean destinations. In 2019, Discover Puerto Rico planned to continue that campaign.

Fiscal debt

In early 2017, the Puerto Rican government-debt crisis posed serious problems for the government which was saddled with outstanding bond debt that had climbed to $70 billion. The debt had been increasing during a decade-long recession. The Commonwealth had been defaulting on many debts, including bonds, since 2015. With debt payments due, the governor was facing the risk of a government shutdown and failure to fund the managed health care system. "Without action before April, Puerto Rico's ability to execute contracts for Fiscal Year 2018 with its managed care organizations will be threatened, thereby putting at risk beginning July 1, 2017 the health care of up to 900,000 impoverished U.S. citizens living in Puerto Rico", according to a letter sent to Congress by the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. They also said that "Congress must enact measures recommended by both Republicans and Democrats that fix Puerto Rico's inequitable health care financing structure and promote sustained economic growth." Initially, the oversight board created under

called for Puerto Rico's governor Ricardo Rosselló to deliver a fiscal turnaround plan by 28 January. Just before that deadline, the control board gave the Commonwealth government until 28 February to present a fiscal plan (including negotiations with creditors for restructuring debt) to solve the problems. A moratorium on lawsuits by debtors was extended to 31 May. It is essential for Puerto Rico to reach restructuring deals to avoid a bankruptcy-like process under PROMESA. An internal survey conducted by the Puerto Rican Economists Association revealed that the majority of Puerto Rican economists reject the policy recommendations of the Board and the Rosselló government, with more than 80% of economists arguing in favor of auditing the debt. In early August 2017, the island's financial oversight board (created by PROMESA) planned to institute two days off without pay per month for government employees, down from the original plan of four days per month; the latter had been expected to achieve $218 million in savings. Governor Rossello rejected this plan as unjustified and unnecessary. Pension reforms were also discussed including a proposal for a 10% reduction in benefits to begin addressing the $50 billion in unfunded pension liabilities.

Public finances

Puerto Rico has an operating budget of about U.S.$9.8 billion with expenses at about $10.4 billion, creating a structural deficit of $775 million (about 7.9% of the budget). The practice of approving budgets with a structural deficit has been done for consecutive years starting in 2000. Throughout those years, including present time, all budgets contemplated issuing bonds to cover these projected deficits rather than making structural adjustments. This practice increased Puerto Rico's cumulative debt, as the government had already been issuing bonds Puerto Rico government budget balance, to balance its actual budget for four decades beginning in 1973. Budget-of-the-government-of-puerto-rico-2012-percentage

Budget-of-the-government-of-puerto-rico-2012-percentage

Projected deficits added substantial burdens to an already indebted nation which accrued Public debt of Puerto Rico, a public debt of $71B or about 70% of Puerto Rico's gross domestic product. This sparked Puerto Rico government-debt crisis, an ongoing government-debt crisis after Puerto Rico's general obligation bonds were downgraded to speculative non-investment grade ("junk status") by three credit-rating agencies. In terms of financial control, almost 9.6%—or about $1.5 billion—of Puerto Rico's central government budget expenses for FY2014 is expected to be spent on debt service. Harsher budget cuts are expected as Puerto Rico must now repay larger chunks of debts in the coming years. For practical reasons the budget is divided into two aspects: a "general budget" which comprises the assignments funded exclusively by the Department of Treasury of Puerto Rico, and the "consolidated budget" which comprises the assignments funded by the general budget, by List of government-owned corporations of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico's government-owned corporations, by revenue expected from loans, by the sale of government bonds, by subsidies extended by the federal government of the United States, and by other funds. Both budgets contrast each other drastically, with the consolidated budget being usually thrice the size of the general budget; currently $29B and $9.0B respectively. Almost one out of every four dollars in the consolidated budget comes from U.S. federal subsidies while government-owned corporations compose more than 31% of the consolidated budget. The critical aspects come from the sale of bonds, which comprise 7% of the consolidated budget – a ratio that increased annually due to the government's inability to prepare a balanced budget in addition to being incapable of generating enough income to cover all its expenses. In particular, the government-owned corporations add a heavy burden to the overall budget and public debt, as none is self-sufficient. For example, in FY2011 the government-owned corporations reported aggregated losses of more than $1.3B with the Puerto Rico Highways and Transportation Authority (PRHTA) reporting losses of $409M, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; the government monopoly that controls all electricity on the island) reporting losses of $272M, while the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA; the government monopoly that controls all water utilities on the island) reported losses of $112M. Losses by government-owned corporations have been defrayed through the issuance of bonds compounding more than 40% of Puerto Rico's entire public debt today. Holistically, from FY2000–FY2010 Puerto Rico's debt grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9% while GDP remained stagnant. This has not always provided a long-term solution. In early July 2017 for example, the PREPA power authority was effectively bankrupt after defaulting in a plan to restructure $9 billion in bond debt; the agency planned to seek Court protection.

Cost of living

Map-of-jones-act-carrier-routes-for-puerto-rico

The cost of living in Puerto Rico is high and has increased over the past decade. Statistics used for cost of living sometimes do not take into account certain costs, such as the high cost of electricity, which has hovered in the 24¢ to 30¢ range per kilowatt-hour, two to three times the national average, increased travel costs for longer flights, additional shipping fees, and the loss of promotional participation opportunities for customers "outside the continental United States". While some online stores do offer free shipping on orders to Puerto Rico, many merchants exclude Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. The household median income is stated as $19,350 and the mean income as $30,463 in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2015 update. The report also indicates that 45.5% of individuals are below the poverty level. In 2011, median home value in Puerto Rico ranged from U.S.$100,000 to U.S.$214,000, while the national median home value was $119,600. Flying into San Juan-Puerto Rico

One of the most cited contributors to the high cost of living in Puerto Rico is the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, also known as the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, Jones Act, which prevents foreign-flagged ships from carrying cargo between two American ports, a practice known as cabotage. Because of the Jones Act, foreign ships inbound with goods from Central America, Central and South America, Western Europe, and Africa cannot stop in Puerto Rico, offload Puerto Rico-bound goods, load mainland-bound Puerto Rico-manufactured goods, and continue to U.S. ports. Instead, they must proceed directly to U.S. ports, where distributors break bulk cargo, break bulk and send Puerto Rico-bound manufactured goods to Puerto Rico across the ocean by U.S.-flagged ships. The government of Puerto Rico, local government of Puerto Rico has requested several times to the U.S. Congress to exclude Puerto Rico from the Jones Act restrictions without success. In 2013 the Government Accountability Office published a report which concluded that "repealing or amending the Jones Act cabotage law might cut Puerto Rico shipping costs" and that "shippers believed that opening the trade to non-U.S.-flag competition could lower costs". Ultimately, the report concluded that "[the] effects of modifying the application of the Jones Act for Puerto Rico are highly uncertain" for both Puerto Rico and the U.S., particularly for the United States Merchant Marine, U.S. shipping industry and the military preparedness of the U.S. A 2018 study by economists at Boston-based Reeve & Associates and Puerto Rico-based Estudios Tecnicos has concluded that the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, 1920 Jones Act has no impact on either retail prices or the cost of living on Puerto Rico.

Transportation

Cities and towns in Puerto Rico are interconnected by a system of roads, freeways, limited-access road, expressways, and highways maintained by the Highways and Transportation Authority under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and patrolled by the Puerto Rico Police Department. The island's San Juan metropolitan area is served by a Autoridad Metropolitana de Autobuses, public bus transit system and a rapid transit, metro system called ('Urban Train'). Other forms of Puerto Rican public transport include seaborne ferries that serve Puerto Rico's archipelago as well as (Share taxi, private mini buses). Puerto Rico has three international airports, the Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Carolina, Mercedita International Airport in Ponce, and the Rafael Hernández International Airport in Aguadilla, and 27 local airports. The Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport is the largest aerial transportation hub in the Caribbean. Puerto Rico has nine ports in different cities across the main island. The San Juan Port is the largest in Puerto Rico, and the busiest port in the Caribbean and the 10th busiest in the United States in terms of commercial activity and cargo movement, respectively. The second largest port is the Port of the Americas in Ponce, currently under expansion to increase cargo capacity to twenty-foot containers (Twenty-foot equivalent unit, TEUs) per year.

Utilities

Electricity

The Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA, )—is an electric power company and the List of government-owned corporations of Puerto Rico, government-owned corporation of Puerto Rico responsible for electricity generation, electric power transmission, power transmission, and electric power distribution, power distribution in Puerto Rico. PREPA was, by law, the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, effectively making it a government monopoly until 2018. The Authority is ruled by a governing board appointed by the governor with the

of the Senate of Puerto Rico, and is run by an executive director. On 20 July 2018, Puerto Rico Law 120-2018 () was signed. This law authorized PREPA to sell infrastructure and services to other providers. As a result, a contract was signed on 22 June 2020, making LUMA Energy the new operator of the energy distribution and transmission infrastructure, as well as other areas of PREPA's operations, in effect partially privatizing the Puerto Rican power grid. The takeover was set for 1 June 2021, amidst protests and uncertainty from the point of view of the general public and the former-PREPA workers and Trade union, union members.

Water and sewage

Similarly, the Puerto Rico Aqueducts and Sewers Authority (PRASA, )—is a water company and the government-owned corporation responsible for water quality, water resource management, management, and water supply, supply in Puerto Rico. It is the only entity authorized to conduct such business in Puerto Rico, effectively making it a government monopoly. Its existence is designated by Law No. 40 of 1 May 1945, including the corresponding amendments.

Telecommunications

Telecommunications in Puerto Rico includes radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Broadcasting in Puerto Rico is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC). , there were 30 TV stations, 125 radio stations and roughly 1 million TV sets on the island. Cable TV subscription services are available, and the U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Service also broadcast on the island."Communications: Puerto Rico"
''World Factbook'', U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, 9 December 2013. Retrieved 8 January 2014. Puerto Rico also has its own Amateur radio, amateur radio prefixes, which differ from those of the contiguous United States in that there are two letter before the number. The most well-known prefix is KP4, but others separated for use on the archipelago (including Desecheo and Mona) are: KP3/KP4/NP3/NP4/WP3/WP4 (Puerto Rico,

and Culebra) and KP5/NP5/WP5 (Desecheo Island). Amateur radio operators (also known as ham radio operators) are a well-known group in the island and can obtain special vehicle license plates with their callsign on them. They have been a key element in disaster relief.

Demographics

The Demographics of Puerto Rico, population of Puerto Rico reflects influences from initial Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Amerindian settlement, Spanish Empire, European colonization, slavery, economic migration, and the archipelago's status as unincorporated territory of the United States.

are characterized by a high degree of ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as a long history of intermarriage and acculturation among different demographics; racial and ethnic identity is subsequently complex and often nebulous, shaped by the broader attitudes and policies of the Spanish colonial period, 20th century Racial politics in the United States, American racial politics, and modern trends in cultural and identity in the 21st century United States. According to the most recent 2020 United States census, Puerto Rico had 3,285,874 residents, an 11.8% decrease since 2010 United States census, 2010. The commonwealth's population peaked in 2000, when it was 3,808,610, before declining (for the first time in census history) to 3,725,789 in 2010. Emigration due to economic difficulties and natural disasters, coupled with a low birth rate, have resulted in continued population decline into the 21st century.

Population distribution

The most populous municipality is the capital,

, with 342,259 people based on the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. Other major cities include Bayamón, Puerto Rico, Bayamón, Carolina, Puerto Rico, Carolina, Ponce, and Caguas, Puerto Rico, Caguas. Of the ten most populous cities on the island, eight are located within what is considered San Juan-Caguas-Guaynabo metropolitan area, San Juan's metropolitan area, while the other two are located in the south (Ponce metropolitan area, Ponce) and west (Mayagüez metropolitan area, Mayagüez) of the island.

Population makeup

As of 2020, Hispanic or Latinos made up 98.9 percent of the population, of which 95.5 percent were Puerto Ricans, Puerto Rican and 3.4% were Hispanic of non-Puerto Rican origins; only 1.1 percent of the population was non-Hispanic. Fewer than one-fifth of people (17.1 percent) identified as "White", a decline of almost 80 percent; by contrast, nearly half of Puerto Ricans (49.8 percent) reported being Multiracial Americans, multiracial—compared to just 3 percent in 2010Multiracial Americans, —while roughly one-quarter chose "some other race alone" (25.5 percent). Censuses of Puerto Rico were completed by Spain in 1765, 1775, 1800, 1815, 1832, 1846 and 1857, yet some of the data remained untabulated and were considered reliable in a 1943 report by Irene Barnes Taeuber, an American demographer at the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. Continuous European immigration and high natural increase helped the population of Puerto Rico grow from 155,426 in 1800 to almost a million by the end of the 19th century. A census conducted by royal decree on 30 September 1858 gave the following totals of the Puerto Rican population at that time: 341,015 were free people of color, free colored; 300,430 were white people, white; and 41,736 were slaves. A census in 1887 found a population of around 800,000, of which 320,000 were black. Puerto Rico single age population pyramid 2020

Puerto Rico single age population pyramid 2020

During the 19th century, hundreds of families arrived in Puerto Rico, primarily from the

and

, but also from other parts of Spain such as Catalonia, Asturias, Galicia (Spain), Galicia and the Balearic Islands; they were later joined by numerous Spanish loyalists from Spain's former colonies in South America. There were also smaller numbers of settlers from outside Spain, including from Corsica, France, Lebanon, Portugal, Irish immigration to Puerto Rico, Ireland, Scotland, German immigration to Puerto Rico, Germany and Italian people, Italy; this immigration from non-Hispanic countries was largely the result of the ''Real Cédula de Gracias de 1815'' (

), which provided European Catholics with land allotments in the sparsely inhabited interior of the island, provided they paid taxes and continued to support the Catholic Church. Between 1960 and 1990, the census questionnaire in Puerto Rico did not ask about race or ethnicity. The 2000 United States Census included a racial self-identification question in Puerto Rico, according to which most Puerto Ricans identified as white and Latino and few identified as black or some other race. Although less than one percent of the population identifies as Indigenous, a large proportion of Puerto Ricans have Native ancestry: A 2003 study by the University of Puerto Rico, which took genetic samples from 800 randomly selected subjects throughout the island, found that 61.1 percent of those surveyed had mitochondrial DNA of Indigenous origin; additionally, 26.4 percent had African markers and 12.5 percent showed European descent. The study reportedly resulted in a resurgence of Indigenous and Taíno identity among Puerto Ricans; in the 2010 census, 19,839 respondents identified as "American Indian and Alaska Native, American Indian or Alaskan Native", an increase of almost 49 percent from 2000 count.

Immigration and emigration

The vast majority of recent immigrants, both legal and illegal, come from Latin America, over half come from the Dominican Republic immigration to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic. Dominicans represent 53% of non-Puerto Rican Hispanics, about 1.8% of Puerto Rico's population. Some illegal immigrants, particularly from Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba, use Puerto Rico as a temporary stop-over point to get to the U.S. mainland. Other major sources of recent immigrants include Cuba, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Ecuador, Spain, and

.PLACE OF BIRTH FOR THE FOREIGN-BORN POPULATION IN PUERTO RICO
Universe: Foreign-born population in Puerto Rico excluding population born at sea. 2010–2014 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates Additionally, there are many non-Puerto Rican U.S. citizens settling in Puerto Rico from the U.S. mainland, majority of which are Non-Hispanic Whites, White Americans and a smaller number are African Americans, Black Americans. In fact, non-Hispanic people represent 1.1% and majority of them are from the U.S. mainland. Smaller numbers of U.S. citizens come from the U.S. Virgin Islands. There are also large numbers of Nuyoricans and other stateside Puerto Ricans coming back, as many Puerto Ricans engage in 'circular migration'. Small numbers of non-Puerto Rican Hispanics in Puerto Rico are actually American-born migrants from the mainland U.S. and not recent immigrants. Most recent immigrants settle in and around the San Juan metropolitan area. Emigration is a major part of contemporary Puerto Rican history. Starting soon after World War II, poverty, cheap airfares, and promotion by the island government caused waves of Puerto Ricans to move to the U.S. mainland, particularly to the Northeastern United States, northeastern states and nearby Florida. This trend continued even as Puerto Rico's economy improved and its birth rate declined. Puerto Ricans continue to follow a pattern of "circular migration", with some migrants returning to the island. In recent years, the population has declined markedly, falling nearly 1% in 2012 and an additional 1% (36,000 people) in 2013 due to a falling birthrate and emigration. The impact of hurricanes Hurricane Maria, Maria and Hurricane Irma, Irma in 2017, combined with the unincorporated territory's worsening economy, led to its greatest population decline since the U.S. acquired the archipelago. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the number of Puerto Ricans living outside of Puerto Rico in the U.S. is almost twice as many as those living in Puerto Rico. As those who leave tend to be better educated than those who remain, this accentuates the drain on Puerto Rico's economy. Based on 1 July 2019 estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of the Commonwealth had declined by 532,095 people since the 2010 Census data had been tabulated.

Languages

The official languages of the executive branch of government of Puerto Rico are Spanish and English, with Spanish being the primary language. Spanish is, and has been, the only official language of the entire Commonwealth judiciary system, despite a 1902 English-only language law. However, all official business of the U.S. District Court for the District of Puerto Rico is conducted in English. English is the primary language of less than 10% of the population. Spanish is the dominant language of business, education and daily life on the island, spoken by nearly 95% of the population. Out of people aged five and older, 94.3% speak only Spanish at home, 5.5% speak English, and 0.2% speak other languages. A Pew Research Center, Pew Research survey indicated an adult literacy rate of 90.4% in 2012 based on data from the

. In Puerto Rico, public school instruction is conducted almost entirely in Spanish. There have been pilot programs in about a dozen of the over 1,400 public schools aimed at conducting instruction in English only. Objections from teaching staff are common, perhaps because many of them are not fully fluent in English. English is taught as a second language and is a compulsory subject from elementary levels to high school. The languages of the deaf community are American Sign Language and its local variant, Puerto Rican Sign Language. The Puerto Rican Spanish, Spanish of Puerto Rico has evolved into having many idiosyncrasies in vocabulary and syntax that differentiate it from the Spanish spoken elsewhere. Puerto Rican Spanish utilizes many Taíno language, Taíno words, as well as English words. The largest influence on the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico is Canarian Spanish, that of the Canary Islands. Taíno loanwords are most often used in the context of vegetation, natural phenomena, and native musical instruments. Similarly, words attributed to primarily Niger–Congo languages, West African languages were adopted in the contexts of foods, music, and dances, particularly in coastal towns with concentrations of descendants of Sub-Saharan Africans.

Religion

Christianity is the dominant religion in Puerto Rico. Catholic Church in Puerto Rico, Catholicism was brought by Spanish colonists and gradually became the prevailing faith. The first dioceses in the Americas, including Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Juan de Puerto Rico, that of Puerto Rico, were authorized by Pope Julius II in 1511. In 1512, priests were established for the parochial churches. By 1759, there was a priest for each church. One Pope, John Paul II, visited Puerto Rico in October 1984. All Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipalities in Puerto Rico have at least one Catholic church, most of which are located at the town center, or plaza. Protestantism in Puerto Rico, Protestantism, which was suppressed under the Spanish Catholic regime, reemerged under U.S. rule, making contemporary Puerto Rico more interconfessional than in previous centuries, although Catholicism continues to be the dominant religion. The first Protestant church, Iglesia de la Santísima Trinidad, was established in Ponce by the Anglican Diocese of Antigua in 1872. It was the first non-Catholic church in the entire

in the Americas. Sources differ on the Christian denomination, denominational breakdown of the population. Pollster Pablo Ramos stated in 1998 that the population was 38 percent Catholic, 28 percent Pentecostal, and 18 percent independent churches; the total number of Protestants collectively added up to almost two million people, or 46 percent of the population. Another researcher gave a more conservative assessment of the proportion of Protestants in 1997, finding a Protestant population of approximately 33 to 38 percent, the majority of whom are Pentecostal; however, it estimated that Puerto Rico would become 75 percent evangelical by 2022. A 2014 Pew Research Center, Pew Research report found that only 56% of Puerto Ricans were Catholic, while 33% were Protestant and 8% were unaffiliated; these figures are shared by the CIA World Factbook, which further notes that Protestants are "largely Pentecostal", while other religions make up 2 percent and atheists only one percent. Pew Research from the year before, which surveyed Puerto Ricans living in the mainland United States, found that only about 45% of Puerto Rican adults identified themselves as Catholic, 29% as Protestant and 20% as unaffiliated with a religion. By contrast, an Associated Press article in March 2014 stated that "more than 70 percent" of Puerto Ricans identified as Catholic. Catedral de San Juan Bautista a

There is a small Eastern Orthodox community, centered mostly around two Eastern Orthodox Churches in the territory: the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, Russian Orthodox Missionary, mission of Saint John Climacus in San Germán, Puerto Rico, San German and the Saint George Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, Antiochian Orthodox Church in Carolina, Puerto Rico, Carolina; both have services in English and Spanish. There is a small Syriac Orthodox Church, Syriac Orthodox church in Aguada and a Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church in Utuado, Puerto Rico, which represents the only Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox denominations in the Island. The Roman Catholic Church has a Greek Catholic Church in Trujillo Alto as well, Orthodox Christians accounted for one percent of the population in 2010. In 2017, the first Eastern Catholic Church was established in Puerto Rico. In 2023, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated a Temple (LDS Church), temple in San Juan Puerto Rico Temple, San Juan, and reported having a membership of approximately 23,000 in the commonwealth. In 2015, the 25,832 Jehovah's Witnesses represented about 0.70% of the population, with 324 congregations. Puerto Rico has the largest Jewish community in the Caribbean, at roughly 3,000, and is the only Caribbean island where Conservative Jews, Conservative, Reform Jews, Reform and Orthodox Jews, Orthodox Jewish movements are all represented. The island's first synagogue, ''Sha'are Zedeck,'' was established in 1952 by American Jews.''Eduardo Giorgetti Y Su Mundo: La Aparente Paradoja De Un Millonario Genio Empresarial Y Su Noble Humanismo''; by Delma S. Arrigoitia; Publisher: Ediciones Puerto; In 2007, there were about 5,000 Muslims in Puerto Rico, representing about 0.13% of the population. Eight mosques are located throughout the island, with most Muslims living in Río Piedras and Caguas; most Muslims are of Palestinian and Jordanian descent. There is also a Baháʼí Faith, Baháʼí community. Buddhism in Puerto Rico is represented with Nichiren Buddhism, Nichiren, Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, with the Khenchen Palden Sherab Rinpoche, New York Padmasambhava Buddhist Center for example having a branch in San Juan. There are several atheist activist and educational organizations, and an atheistic parody religion called the Pastafarian Church of Puerto Rico. An International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON temple in Gurabo is devoted to Krishna, with two preaching centers in the San Juan metropolitan area. Taíno people, Taíno religious practices have been rediscovered and reinvented to some degree by a handful of advocates. Similarly, some aspects of African religious traditions have persisted, as African slaves maintained various ethnic African religious practices associated with different peoples; in particular, the Yoruba religion, Yoruba beliefs of Santería or Ifá, and the Kongo people, Kongo-derived Palo Mayombe. Some Indigenous and African practices and beliefs are Syncretism, syncretized with Christianity. In 1940, Juanita García Peraza founded the Mita Congregation, the first religion of Puerto Rican origin.

Education and literacy

The first school in Puerto Rico was the (Grammar School). It was established by Bishop Alonso Manso in 1513, in the area where the Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista, Cathedral of San Juan was to be constructed. The school was free of charge and the courses taught were Latin, Latin language, literature, history, science, art, philosophy and theology. Education in Puerto Rico is divided in three levels—Primary (elementary school grades 1–6), Secondary (intermediate and high school grades 7–12), and Higher Level (undergraduate and graduate studies). As of 2002, the literacy rate of the Puerto Rican population was 94.1%; by gender, it was 93.9% for males and 94.4% for females. According to the 2000 Census, 60.0% of the population attained a high school degree or higher level of education, and 18.3% has a bachelor's degree or higher. Instruction at the primary school level is compulsory between the ages of 5 and 18. , there are 1539 public schools and 806 private schools. The largest and oldest university system is the public University of Puerto Rico (UPR) with 11 campuses. The largest private university systems on the island are the which operates the , Metropolitan University (Puerto Rico), Metropolitan University and . Other private universities include the multi-campus Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Inter American University, the Catholic University of Puerto Rico, Pontifical Catholic University, , and the . Puerto Rico has four schools of Medicine and three American Bar Association, ABA-approved Law Schools.

Health

In 2017, there were 69 hospitals in Puerto Rico. As of 2021, average life expectancy is approximately 82.1 years according to the CIA World Factbook, an improvement from 78.7 years in 2010. (Puerto Rico Health Reform) – locally referred to as ('The Reform') – is a government-run program which provides medical and health care services to the indigent and impoverished, by means of contracting private health insurance companies, rather than employing government-owned hospitals and emergency centers. The Reform is administered by the Puerto Rico Health Insurance Administration.Triple-S Management Corporation Annual Report (Form 10-K)
for the fiscal year ended on 31 December 2005, pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, accessed on 4 November 2006.

Culture

Modern Puerto Rican culture is a unique mix of cultural antecedents: including European (predominantly Spanish, Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico, Italian, French immigration to Puerto Rico, French, German immigration to Puerto Rico, German and Irish immigration to Puerto Rico, Irish), African, and, more recently, some North American and many South Americans. Many Cubans and Dominicans have relocated to the island in the past few decades. From the Spanish, Puerto Rico received the Spanish language, the Catholic religion and the vast majority of their cultural and moral values and traditions. The United States added English-language influence, the university system and the adoption of some holidays and practices. On 12 March 1903, the University of Puerto Rico was officially founded, branching out from the "Escuela Normal Industrial", a smaller organization that was founded in Fajardo three years earlier. Much of Puerto Rican culture centers on the influence of music and has been shaped by other cultures combining with local and traditional rhythms. Early in the history of Puerto Rican music, the influences of Spanish and African traditions were most noticeable. The cultural movements across the Caribbean and North America have played a vital role in the more recent musical influences which have reached Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has many symbols, but only the Thespesia grandiflora, Flor de Maga has been made official by the Government of Puerto Rico. Other popular, traditional, or unofficial symbols of Puerto Rico are the Puerto Rican spindalis, the Ceiba pentandra, kapok tree, the Coquí, coquí frog, the Jíbaro (Puerto Rico), jíbaro, the Taíno, Taíno Indian, and Cerro Las Tetas with its Monumento al Jíbaro Puertorriqueño, jíbaro culture monument.

Architecture

The architecture of Puerto Rico demonstrates a broad variety of traditions, styles and national influences accumulated over four centuries of Spanish rule, and a century of American rule. Spanish colonial architecture, Islamic architecture, Ibero-Islamic, art deco, Post-modern architecture, post-modern, and many other architectural forms are visible throughout the island. From town to town, there are also many regional distinctions. Old San Juan is one of the two ''barrios'', in addition to Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Santurce, that made up the municipality of San Juan from 1864 to 1951, at which time the former independent municipality of Río Piedras was annexed. With its abundance of shops, historic places, museums, open air cafés, restaurants, gracious homes, tree-shaded plazas, and its old beauty and architectonical peculiarity, Old San Juan is a main spot for local and internal tourism. The district is also characterized by numerous public plazas and churches including San José Church and the Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista (San Juan, Puerto Rico), Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, which contains the tomb of the Spanish explorer

. It also houses the oldest Catholic school for elementary education in Puerto Rico, the Colegio de Párvulos, built in 1865. The oldest parts of the district of Old San Juan remain partly enclosed by massive walls. Several defensive structures and notable forts, such as the emblematic Fort San Felipe del Morro, Castillo San Cristóbal (San Juan), Fort San Cristóbal, and El Palacio de Santa Catalina, also known as La Fortaleza, acted as the primary defenses of the settlement which was subjected to numerous attacks. La Fortaleza continues to serve also as the executive mansion for the governor of Puerto Rico. Many of the historic fortifications are part of San Juan National Historic Site. During the 1940s, sections of Old San Juan fell into disrepair, and many renovation plans were suggested in the following decades and into the present. There was even a strong push to develop Old San Juan as a "small Manhattan". Strict remodeling codes were implemented to prevent new constructions from affecting the common colonial Spanish architectural themes of the old city. When a project proposal suggested that the old Carmelite Convent in San Juan be demolished to erect a new hotel, the Institute had the building declared as a historic building, and then asked that it be converted to a hotel in a renewed facility. This was what became the ''Hotel El Convento'' in Old San Juan. The paradigm to reconstruct and renovate the old city and revitalize it has been followed by other cities in the Americas, particularly Havana, Lima and Cartagena de Indias. Parque de Bombas - Ponce Puerto Rico

Ponce Creole is a unique architectural style created in Ponce, Puerto Rico, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This style of Puerto Rican buildings is found predominantly in residential homes in Ponce that developed between 1895 and 1920. Ponce Creole architecture borrows heavily from the traditions of France, Spain and the Caribbean vernacular to create houses that were especially built to withstand the hot and dry climate of the region, and to take advantage of the sun and sea breezes characteristic of the southern Puerto Rico's Caribbean Sea coast. It is a blend of wood and masonry, incorporating architectural elements of other styles, from Classical revival and Spanish Revival to Victorian architecture, Victorian.

Arts

Puerto Rican art reflects many influences, much from its ethnically diverse background. A form of folk art, called ''santos'' evolved from the Catholic Church's use of sculptures to convert Indigenous Puerto Ricans to Christianity. ''Santos'' depict figures of saints and other religious icons and are made from native wood, clay, and stone. After shaping simple, they are often finished by painting them in vivid colors. ''Santos'' vary in size, with the smallest examples around eight inches tall and the largest about twenty inches tall. Traditionally, santos were seen as messengers between the earth and Heaven. As such, they occupied a special place on household altars, where people prayed to them, asked for help, or tried to summon their protection. Also popular, ''caretas'' or ''vejigantes'' are masks worn during carnivals. Similar masks signifying evil spirits were used in both Spain and Africa, though for different purposes. The Spanish used their masks to frighten lapsed Christians into returning to the church, while tribal Africans used them as protection from the evil spirits they represented. True to their historic origins, Puerto Rican ''caretas'' always bear at least several horns and fangs. While usually constructed of papier-mâché, coconut shells and fine metal screening are sometimes used as well. Red and black were the typical colors for ''caretas'' but their palette has expanded to include a wide variety of bright hues and patterns.

Literature

Retrato de EMdeHostos por Francisco Oller

Puerto Rican literature evolved from the art of oral literature, oral story telling to its present-day status. Written works by the native islanders of Puerto Rico were prohibited and repressed by the Spanish colonial government. Only those who were commissioned by the Spanish Crown to document the chronological history of the island were allowed to write. Diego de Torres Vargas was allowed to circumvent this strict prohibition and in 1647 wrote ("Description of the Island and City of Puerto Rico"). This historical book was the first to make a detailed geographic description of the island. Some of Puerto Rico's earliest writers were influenced by the teachings of Rafael Cordero (educator), Rafael Cordero. Among these was Manuel A. Alonso, the first Puerto Rican writer of notable importance. In 1849 he published , a collection of verses whose main themes were the poor Puerto Rican country farmer. Eugenio María de Hostos wrote in 1863, which used Bartolomé de las Casas as a springboard to reflect on Caribbean identity. After this first novel, Hostos abandoned fiction in favor of the essay which he saw as offering greater possibilities for inspiring social change. In the late 19th century, with the arrival of the first printing press and the founding of the Royal Academy of Belles Letters, Puerto Rican literature began to flourish. The first writers to express their political views in regard to Spanish colonial rule of the island were journalists. Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, also known as the Father of Puerto Rican Literature, ushered in a new age of historiography with the publication of ''The Historical Library of Puerto Rico''. Cayetano Coll y Toste was another Puerto Rican historian and writer. His work ''The Indo-Antillano Vocabulary'' is valuable in understanding the way the Taínos lived. Manuel Zeno Gandía in 1894 wrote and talked about the harsh life in the remote and mountainous coffee regions in Puerto Rico. Antonio S. Pedreira, described in his work the cultural survival of the Puerto Rican identity after the American invasion. With the Puerto Rican diaspora of the 1940s, Puerto Rican literature was greatly influenced by a phenomenon known as the Nuyorican Movement. Puerto Rican literature continued to flourish, and many Puerto Ricans have since distinguished themselves as authors, journalists, poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists, and screenwriters. The influence of Puerto Rican literature has transcended the boundaries of the island to the U.S. and the rest of the world. Over the past fifty years, significant writers include Ed Vega (The Lamentable Journey of Omaha Bigelow into the Impenetrable Loisaida Jungle, Omaha Bigelow), Miguel Piñero (Short Eyes (play), Short Eyes), Piri Thomas (Down These Mean Streets), Giannina Braschi (Yo-Yo Boing!), Rosario Ferré, Rosario Ferrer (Eccentric Neighborhoods). and Esmeralda Santiago (''When I was Puerto Rican).''

Media

The mass media in Puerto Rico includes local radio stations, television stations and newspapers, the majority of which are conducted in Spanish language, Spanish. There are also three stations of the American Forces Network, U.S. Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. Newspapers with daily distribution are , and , , and . is distributed free of charge, as are and . Newspapers distributed on a weekly or regional basis include , , , , and , among others. Several television channels provide local content in the island. These include WIPR-TV, , Univision affiliate WLII-DT (), WAPA-TV, and WKAQ-TV.

Music

The music of Puerto Rico has evolved as a heterogeneous and dynamic product of diverse cultural resources. The most conspicuous musical sources have been Spain and West Africa, although many aspects of Puerto Rican music reflect origins elsewhere in Europe and the Caribbean and, over the last century, from the U.S. Puerto Rican music culture today comprises a wide and rich variety of genres, ranging from Indigenous genres like Bomba (Puerto Rico), bomba, plena, aguinaldo (music), aguinaldo, danza and the popular Salsa music, salsa to recent hybrids like reggaeton, popular with the new generation of musicians and popularized across the world by Puerto Rican musician Bad Bunny. Puerto Rico has some national instruments, like the Puerto Rican cuatro, cuatro (Spanish for "four"). The cuatro is a local instrument that was made by the "Jibaro" or people from the mountains. Originally, the Cuatro consisted of four steel strings, hence its name, but currently the Cuatro consists of five double steel strings. It is easily confused with a guitar, even by locals. When held upright, from right to left, the strings are G, D, A, E, B. In the realm of classical music, the island hosts two main orchestras, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Puerto Rico and the Orquesta Filarmónica de Puerto Rico. The Casals Festival takes place annually in San Juan, drawing in classical musicians from around the world. With respect to opera, the legendary Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli was so celebrated, that he performed private recitals for Pope Pius X and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. In 1907, Paoli was the first operatic artist in world history to record an entire opera – when he participated in a performance of ''Pagliacci'' by Ruggiero Leoncavallo in Milan, Italy. Musical artists with great international success include Menudo (group), Menudo, Ricky Martin, Bad Bunny and others.

Philately

Puerto Rico has been commemorated on four U.S. postal stamps. Insular Territories were commemorated in 1937, the third stamp honored Puerto Rico featuring 'La Fortaleza', the Spanish Governor's Palace. The first free election for governor of the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico was honored on 27 April 1949, at San Juan, Puerto Rico. 'Inauguration' on the 3-cent stamp refers to the election of

, the first democratically elected governor of Puerto Rico.Rod, Steven J
Puerto Rico Election Issue
Arago: people, postage & the post. Viewed 4 March 2014. San Juan, Puerto Rico was commemorated with an 8-cent stamp on its 450th anniversary issued 12 September 1971, featuring a sentry box from Castillo San Felipe del Morro. In the "Flags of our nation series" 2008–2012, of the fifty-five, five territorial flags were featured. Forever stamps included the Flags of Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico Flag illustrated by a bird issued 2011.

Cuisine

Puerto Rican cuisine has its roots in the cooking traditions and practices of Europe (Spain), Africa and the Native

s. Basic ingredients include grains and legumes, herbs and spices, starchy tropical tubers, vegetables, meat and poultry, seafood and shellfish, and fruits. Main dishes include ''mofongo'', ''arroz con gandules'', ''pasteles'', and pig roast (or Suckling pig, lechón). Beverages include ''mauby, maví'' and ''piña colada''. Desserts include flan, ''arroz con dulce'' (sweet rice pudding), ''Piragua (food), piraguas'', ''brazo gitanos'', ''tembleque'', ''Polvorón, polvorones'', and ''dulce de leche''.

Sports

Baseball was one of the first sports to gain widespread popularity in Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico Baseball League serves as the only active professional league, operating as a winter league. No Major League Baseball franchise or affiliate plays in Puerto Rico; however, San Juan hosted the Montreal Expos for several series in 2003 and 2004 before they moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. The Puerto Rico national baseball team has participated in the World Cup of Baseball winning one gold (1951), four silver and four bronze medals, the Caribbean Series (winning fourteen times) and the World Baseball Classic. In , San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium hosted the opening round as well as the second round of the newly formed World Baseball Classic. Puerto Rican baseball players include Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda and Roberto Alomar, enshrined in 1973, 1999, and 2011 respectively. Boxing, basketball, and volleyball are considered popular sports as well. Wilfredo Gómez and McWilliams Arroyo have won their respective divisions at the World Amateur Boxing Championships. Other medalists include José Pedraza (boxer), José Pedraza, who holds a silver medal, and three boxers who finished in third place, José Luis Vellón, Nelson Dieppa and McJoe Arroyo. In the professional circuit, Puerto Rico has the third-most List of Puerto Rican boxing world champions, boxing world champions and it is the global leader in champions per capita. These include Miguel Cotto, Félix Trinidad, Wilfred Benítez and Gómez among others. The Puerto Rico national basketball team joined the International Basketball Federation in 1957. Since then, it has won more than 30 medals in international competitions, including gold in three FIBA Americas Championships and the 1994 Goodwill Games 8 August 2004, became a landmark date for the team when it became the first team to defeat the United States men's national basketball team, United States in an Olympic tournament since the integration of National Basketball Association players. Winning the inaugural game with scores of 92–73 as part of the 2004 Summer Olympics organized in Athens, Greece. Baloncesto Superior Nacional acts as the top-level professional basketball league in Puerto Rico and has experienced success since its beginning in 1930. Puerto Rico national football team, Puerto Rico is also a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. In 2008, the archipelago's first unified league, the Puerto Rico Soccer League, was established. Other sports include professional wrestling and road running. The World Wrestling Council and International Wrestling Association (Puerto Rico), International Wrestling Association are the largest wrestling promotions in the main island. The World's Best 10K, held annually in San Juan, has been ranked among the 20 most competitive races globally. The "Puerto Rico All Stars" team, which has won twelve world championships in unicycle basketball. Organized streetball has gathered some exposition, with teams like "Puerto Rico Street Ball" competing against established organizations including the Arecibo Captains, Capitanes de Arecibo and AND1's AND1 Mixtape Tour, Mixtape Tour Team. Six years after the first visit, AND1 returned as part of their renamed Live Tour, losing to the Puerto Rico Streetballers. Consequently, practitioners of this style have earned participation in international teams, including Orlando Melendez, Orlando "El Gato" Meléndez, who became the first Puerto Rican born athlete to play for the Harlem Globetrotters. Puerto Rico has representation in all international competitions including the Summer Olympics, Summer and Winter Olympics, the Pan American Games, the Caribbean World Series, and the Central American and Caribbean Games. Puerto Rico hosted the Pan Am Games in 1979 (officially in San Juan), and The Central American and Caribbean Games were hosted in 1993 Central American and Caribbean Games, 1993 in Ponce and in 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, 2010 in Mayagüez. Puerto Rican athletes have won ten medals in Olympic competition (two gold, two silver, six bronze), the first one in 1948 by boxer Juan Evangelista Venegas. Monica Puig won the first gold medal for Puerto Rico in the Olympic Games by winning the Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics#Medal events, Women's Tennis singles title in Rio 2016. File:DR_vs_PR._World_Baseball_Classic.jpg, 2013 World Baseball Classic championship between Puerto Rico national baseball team, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic national baseball team, Dominican Republic, 20 March 2013 File:Orangestarsultra.jpg, alt=, Puerto Rico Islanders fans at a soccer game

Notes

References

External links

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Department of Economic Development and Commerce
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Geography

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United States government

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United Nations Declaration on Puerto Rico

* {{Coord, 18.2, -66.5, dim:300000_region:US-PR_type:adm1st, name=Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, display=title Puerto Rico, Caribbean islands of the United States Countries and territories where English is an official language Island countries Dependent territories in the Caribbean Greater Antilles Former colonies in North America Former Spanish colonies Insular areas of the United States Islands of Puerto Rico, * New Spain Spanish colonization of the Americas Spanish-speaking countries and territories Spanish West Indies States and territories established in 1898 Articles containing video clips 1490s establishments in the Spanish West Indies 1890s disestablishments in the Spanish West Indies 1898 disestablishments in the Spanish Empire Small Island Developing States