FIGURE1 Puerto Rico Lost More Migrants to Puerto 1980s Mainland Rico 1990s Since 2010 Than Migrants During 1980s or 1990s Average island net migration sper year Note: Net migration is the number of migrants to Puerto Rico from the U.S. ma inland minus the number of migrants from
U.S. Census Bureau data show that 144,000 more people left the island for the mainland than the other way around from mid-2010 to 2013, a larger gap between emigrants and migrants than during the entire decades of the 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. This escalated loss of migrants fueled the island’s first sustained population decline in its history as a U.S. territory, even as the stateside Puerto Rican population grew briskly.
FIGURE1  | Puerto Rico Lost More Migrants to  | Puerto 1980s Mainland Rico 1990s Since 2010 Than Migrants During  | 1980s or 1990s  | Average island net migration sper year  | 1980-1990  | 1990-2000  | 2010-2013  | (10 years)  | (10 years)  | (3 years)  | -13, 000  | 11. .000  | -48 000  | Note: Net migration is the number of migrants to Puerto Rico  | from the U.S. ma inland minus the number of migrants from  | Puerto Rico to the U.S mainland. Average annual numbers in  | Puerto chart 1980-1990; are based on 000 total net 1990 migration 2000 Average of 126 000 000 for  | 1980-1990; 111, 000 for 1990 migration 2000 and --144 000 for  | 2010-2013  | Source: Christenson, 2001 and U.S Census Bureau 2013  | population estimates  | PEW RESEARCH CENTER 