Document Type
Report
Publication Date
9-2018
Abstract
One year since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, nearly 160,000 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. The new emigration estimates — of 159,415 with an upper bound confidence interval of 176,603 — is as high as the net migration flow in the previous two years combined (144,801).1
However, measuring population movement in real time, especially after a natural disaster like Hurricane Maria, continues to be a major undertaking that presents various methodological challenges. The need for migration estimates drew attention in states that experienced an influx of Hurricane Maria evacuees, which included both states of traditional Puerto Rican settlement as well as those in which Puerto Rican settlement is relativelyrecent.
Included in
Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Emergency and Disaster Management Commons, Migration Studies Commons
