Document Type
Report
Publication Date
8-2018
Abstract
Two years since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, between 220,000 to 255,000 residents of the island have relocated to the United States. This exodus represents one of the most significant movements of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland in the island’s history in terms of both volume and duration. Two-years post-Hurricane Maria, we expect that an estimate of 60,000 to as high as 78,751 left the Island in 2019. One year since Hurricane-Maria, emigration estimates — of 159,415, with an upper bound confidence interval of 176,603 — is as high as the net migration estimates in the previous two years combined (144,801).1 All in all, migration is expected to level off at ‘pre-Hurricane Maria’ levels. Whether migration levels return to those of the ‘economic crisis period,’ will be confirmed when the 2018 Census estimates are released by the end of the 2019.
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Economics Commons, Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Migration Studies Commons
