Puerto Rico
Immigration and emigration

The vast majority of recent immigrants, both legal and illegal, come from Latin America, over half come from the 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 Jamaica. Additionally, there are many non-Puerto Rican U.S. citizens settling in Puerto Rico from the U.S. mainland, majority of which are White Americans and a smaller number are 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 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 Maria and 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.
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