Editing Puerto Ricans

{{Short description|People from Puerto Rico or who identify culturally as Puerto Rican}}
{{About||other uses|Stateside Puerto Ricans}}
{{pp-semi-indef}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2019}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Puerto Ricans {{Plainlist|*{{lang|es|Puertorriqueños}}}}
| flag             = Flag of Puerto Rico.svg
| flag_caption     = [[Flag of Puerto Rico]]
| population       = [[Puerto Rico|Puerto Ricans]]: ~'''9 million'''<br /><small> [[Diaspora]]: ~'''6 million'''</small><ref name="pop-2018">{{cite web|title=Nevada and Idaho Are the Nation's Fastest-Growing States|url=https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/estimates-national-state.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date=December 19, 2018|access-date=December 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181220230402/https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2018/estimates-national-state.html|archive-date=December 20, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="PopEstUS">{{Cite web|title= Cumulative Population Change: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2017 for Puerto Rico |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|date= July 1, 2017|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=puerto%20rico&g=0400000US72&hidePreview=false&table=DP05&tid=ACSDP1Y2018.DP05&vintage=2018&cid=DP05_0001E&lastDisplayedRow=89|access-date=January 13, 2020}}</ref>
| region1          = {{flagcountry|Puerto Rico}} (2023)
| pop1             = 3,105,723
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://data.census.gov/table/ACSDT5Y2023.B03001?q=B03001:%20HISPANIC%20OR%20LATINO%20ORIGIN%20BY%20SPECIFIC%20ORIGIN&g=040XX00US72 |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |title=Quick Facts Puerto Rico: Population Estimates, July 1, 2023 |date=1 July 2023 |access-date=15 March 2024 |archive-date=30 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210330054937/https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/PR |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region2          = {{flagcountry|United States}} (2023)
| pop2             = 5,932,219
| ref2             = <ref>{{cite web|url=  https://data.census.gov/table?q=B03001:%20HISPANIC%20OR%20LATINO%20ORIGIN%20BY%20SPECIFIC%20ORIGIN|title=B03001 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY SPECIFIC ORIGIN - United States - 2023 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates|date=July 1, 2022 |publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]] |access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref>
| region3          = {{flagcountry|United States Virgin Islands}}<br /> (2020)
| pop3             = 7,759
| ref3             = <ref>[https://data.census.gov/table?g=040XX00US78&d=DECIA+U.S.+Virgin+Islands+Demographic+Profile&tid=DECENNIALDPVI2020.DP1]</ref>
| region4          = {{flagcountry|Dominican Republic}} (2015)
| pop4             = 6,083
| ref4             = <ref name="oecd-ilibrary.org">[https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/el-panorama-de-la-migracion-en-republica-dominicana_5jft8jpm6wvj.pdf?itemId=%2Fcontent%2Fcomponent%2F9789264276918-6-es&mimeType=pdf ''El panorama de la migración en República Dominicana: Cuadro 2.4. Los Haitianos son el principal grupo de inmigrantes'']</ref>
| region5          = {{flagcountry|Canada}} (2016)
| pop5             = 3,405
| ref5             = <ref>{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Ethnic%20origin&TABID=1 |title=2016 Census of Canada: Topic-based tabulations |publisher=2.statcan.ca |date=2011-04-02 |access-date=2016-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422053324/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Ethnic%20origin&TABID=1 |archive-date=April 22, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref>
| region6          = {{flagcountry|Mexico}} (2000)
| pop6             = 1,970
| ref6             = <ref>[http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/estudios/sociodemografico/ext_en_mex/extraen_mex.pdf#22 ''Los extranjeros en México''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214112327/http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/estudios/sociodemografico/ext_en_mex/extraen_mex.pdf|date=February 14, 2007}}</ref>
| region7          = 
| pop7             = 
| ref7             = 
| region8          = {{flagcountry|Netherlands}} (2019)
| pop8             = 241
| ref8             = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/|work=[[Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek]]|title=Bevolking; geslacht, leeftijd, generatie en migratieachtergrond|date=1 January 2019|language=nl|access-date=April 19, 2022|archive-date=May 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220507004157/https://opendata.cbs.nl/statline/#/CBS/nl/dataset/37325/table?dl=2779A|url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref>
| langs            = Mostly [[Spanish language|Spanish]]; also [[Puerto Rican English|English]]
| religions        = {{hlist|[[Catholicism]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/03/29/key-findings-about-puerto-rico/ |title=Key findings about Puerto Rico |date=March 29, 2017 }}</ref> | [[Protestantism]]}}
| related-c        = {{hlist|[[White Puerto Ricans|Europeans]]|[[Afro-Puerto Ricans|Africans]]|[[Amerindians]]|[[Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico|Chinese]]|[[Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico|Corsican]]|[[Criollo people|Criollos]]|[[French immigration to Puerto Rico|French]]|[[German immigration to Puerto Rico|German]]|[[Irish immigration to Puerto Rico|Irish]]|[[Italian people|Italian]]|[[Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico|Jewish]]|[[Maltese people|Maltese]]|[[Mestizos]]|[[Mulattos]]|[[Spanish people|Spanish]]|[[Portuguese people|Portuguese]]}}
| native_name      = {{Plainlist|*{{lang|es|Boricuas}}}}
| native_name_lang = 
| related_groups   = 
}}
{{Puerto Ricans}}
'''Puerto Ricans''' ({{langx|es| [[:es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general|Puertorriqueños]]}}),<ref>{{cite web |title=puertorriqueño, ña|website=Diccionario de la Lengua Española por la Real Academia Española |url=https://dle.rae.es/puertorrique%C3%B1o#D2Prb5S |language=es |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=puertorriqueño -ña |website=Diccionario de la Lengua Española por la Real Academia Española |url=https://www.rae.es/dpd/puertorrique%C3%B1o |language=es |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref> most commonly known as [[Puerto Rico#Etymology|'''Boricuas''']],{{efn|name=note1}}<ref>{{cite web |title=puertorriqueño |website=Diccionario de la Lengua Española por la Real Academia Española |url=https://dle.rae.es/puertorrique%C3%B1o#D2Prb5S |language=es |access-date=January 19, 2024}}</ref> but also occasionally referred to as ''[[:es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general|Borinqueños]]'', ''[[:es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general|Borincanos]]'',{{efn|name=note2|The terms ''Boricua'', ''Borinqueños'', and ''Borincanos'' derive from «[[Puerto Rico#Etymology|Borikén]]» and «Borinquen», indigenous [[Taíno]] names for Puerto Rico.}} or ''[[:es:Anexo:Gentilicios de Puerto Rico#Lista general|Puertorros]]'',{{efn|name=note}}<ref>{{cite web |title=puertorro, -a|website=Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española: Diccionario de Americanismos |url= https://www.asale.org/damer/puertorro |language=es |access-date=2024-01-19}}</ref> are an [[ethnic group]] native to the [[Caribbean]] [[Geography of Puerto Rico|archipelago and island of Puerto Rico]], and a [[nation]] identified with the [[Commonwealth (U.S. insular area)|Commonwealth]] of [[Puerto Rico]] through [[Genetics|ancestry]], [[Culture of Puerto Rico|culture]], or [[History of Puerto Rico|history]]. Puerto Ricans are predominately a [[Multiracial people|tri-racial]], [[Hispanophone|Spanish-speaking]], [[Christianity|Christian]] society, descending in varying degrees from [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]] [[Taíno|Taíno natives]], [[Southern Europe|Southwestern European]] [[Spanish colonization of the Americas|colonists]], and [[West Africa|West]] and [[Central Africa]]n [[Atlantic slave trade|slaves]], [[Freedman|freedmen]], and [[Free Negro|free Blacks]]. As citizens of a [[Territories of the United States|U.S. territory]], Puerto Ricans have automatic [[Birthright citizenship in the United States|birthright American citizenship]], and are considerably influenced by [[Culture of the United States|American culture]]. The population of Puerto Ricans is between 9 and 10 million worldwide, with the overwhelming majority residing in [[Puerto Rico]] and [[Stateside Puerto Ricans|mainland United States]].

==Overview==
{{Main|Demographics of Puerto Rico}}
The culture held in common by most Puerto Ricans is referred to as a [[Western culture]] largely derived from the traditions of [[Spain]], and more specifically [[Andalusia]] and the [[Canary Islands]].  Puerto Rico has also received immigration from other parts of Spain such as Catalonia as well as from other European countries such as France, Ireland, Italy and Germany. Puerto Rico has also been influenced by [[Culture of Africa|African culture]], with many Puerto Ricans partially descended from Africans, though [[Afro-Puerto Rican]]s of unmixed African descent are only a significant minority. Also present in today's Puerto Ricans are traces (about 10-15%) of the aboriginal [[Taíno]] natives that inhabited the island at the time European colonizers arrived in 1493.<ref>[Puerto Rico is a melting pot of cultures -- Taíno (Native Indian), Spanish, African, and North American. ''How Ancient DNA Can Help Recast Colonial History: The people of pre-colonial Puerto Rico did not disappear entirely—a new study shows that the island’s residents still carry bits of their DNA.''] The Atlantic. Ed Yong. September 18, 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2021.</ref><ref>[https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/indigenous-puerto-rico-dna-evidence-upsets-established-history ''Indigenous Puerto Rico: DNA evidence upsets established history: DNA evidence shows that most Puerto Ricans are a blending of Taino (Indian), Spanish and African according to studies by Dr. Juan Martinez-Cruzado.''] Rick Kearns  Updated: Sep 13, 2018. Original: Sep 6, 2017. Retrieved 3 October 2021.</ref> Recent studies in population genetics have concluded that Puerto Rican gene pool is on average predominantly European, with a significant Sub-Saharan African, North African [[Guanches|Guanche]], and Indigenous American substrate, the latter two originating in the aboriginal people of the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico's pre-Columbian [[Taíno]] inhabitants, respectively.<ref name="archive.org1">{{cite web|url=http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/amazonasfilm/2009/7/12/un-estudio-del-genoma-taino-y-guanche-adn-o-dna-primera-parte|title=La Comunidad » DOCUMENTALES GRATIS » UN ESTUDIO DEL GENOMA TAINO Y GUANCHE. ADN o DNA. Primera parte|date=February 6, 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206133647/http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/amazonasfilm/2009/7/12/un-estudio-del-genoma-taino-y-guanche-adn-o-dna-primera-parte|archive-date=February 6, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/reference-populations/|journal=The Genographic Project|title=Your Regional Ancestry: Reference Populations|access-date=October 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227020449/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/reference-populations/|archive-date=February 27, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tang|first1=Hua|last2=Choudhry|first2=Shweta|last3=Mei|first3=Rui|last4=Morgan|first4=Martin|last5=Rodríguez-Clintron|first5=William|last6=González Burchard|first6=Esteban|last7=Risch|first7=Neil|title=Recent Genetic Selection in the Ancestral Admixture of Puerto Ricans|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|date=August 1, 2007|volume=81 | issue = 3 |pages=626–633|doi=10.1086/520769 |pmid=17701908 |pmc=1950843}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Via|first1=Mark|last2=Gignoux|first2=Christopher R.|last3=Roth|first3=Lindsey|last4=Fejerman|first4=Laura|last5=Galander|first5=Joshua|last6=Choudhry|first6=Shweta|last7=Toro-Labrador|first7=Gladys|last8=Viera-Vera|first8=Jorge|last9=Oleksyk|first9=Taras K.|last10=Beckman|first10=Kenneth|last11=Ziv|first11=Elad|last12=Risch|first12=Neil|last13=González Burchard|first13=Esteban|last14=Nartínez-Cruzado|first14=Juan Carlos|title=History Shaped the Geographic Distribution of Genomic Admixture on the Island of Puerto Rico|journal= PLOS ONE|volume= 6|issue=1|pages= e16513|doi= 10.1371/journal.pone.0016513|pmid=21304981|pmc=3031579|year=2011|bibcode=2011PLoSO...616513V|doi-access=free}}
</ref>

The population of Puerto Ricans and descendants is estimated to be between 8 and 10 million worldwide, with most living on the islands of Puerto Rico and in the United States mainland. Within the United States, Puerto Ricans are present in all states of the Union, and the states with the largest populations of Puerto Ricans relative to the national population of Puerto Ricans in the United States at large are the states of [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Florida]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Pennsylvania]], with large populations also in [[Massachusetts]], [[Connecticut]], [[California]], [[Illinois]], and [[Texas]].<ref name="2010 Census">{{cite news | title=2010 Census | publisher=Medgar Evers College | url=http://2010.census.gov/partners/materials/factsheets-pr.php | access-date=2010-04-13 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611082314/http://2010.census.gov/partners/materials/factsheets-pr.php | archive-date=2010-06-11 }}</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20200212055907/http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=DEC_10_SF1_QTP10&prodType=table US Census Bureau: Table QT-P10 Hispanic or Latino by Type: 2010] Retrieved March 25, 2012 - select state from drop-down menu</ref>

For 2009,<ref>[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP2PR&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-format=] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20200210210602/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-qr_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_DP2PR&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2009_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-format=|date=February 10, 2020}}</ref> the [[American Community Survey]] estimates give a total of 3,859,026 Puerto Ricans classified as "Native" Puerto Ricans. It also gives a total of 3,644,515 (91.9%) of the population being born in Puerto Rico and 201,310 (5.1%) born in the United States. The total population born outside Puerto Rico is 322,773 (8.1%). Of the 108,262 who were foreign born outside the United States (2.7% of Puerto Ricans), 92.9% were born in Latin America, 3.8% in Europe, 2.7% in Asia, 0.2% in [[Northern America]], and 0.1% in Africa and [[Oceania]] each.<ref name="U.S ACS Puerto Rico 2008">[http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format=] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606042041/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2008_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format=|date=June 6, 2011}}</ref>

==Number of Puerto Ricans==
===Population (1765–1897)===
The populations during Spanish rule of Puerto Rico were:
{|class="sort wikitable" style="font-size: 90%"
|-
!colspan=9| Ethnic composition of Puerto Rico 1765 - 1897
|-
! style="background:#efefef;" |1765
! style="background:#efefef;" |Population
! style="background:#efefef;" |Percent
! style="background:#efefef;" |1802
! style="background:#efefef;" |Population
! style="background:#efefef;" |Percent
! style="background:#efefef;" |1897
! style="background:#efefef;" |Population
! style="background:#efefef;" |Percent
|-
| Other (incl: African, <br />[[Mulatto]], [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indigenous]]){{ref|1|1}} ||22,274 || 49.6%
| White||78,281 || 48.0%
| White|| 573,187 || 64.3%
|-
| [[White Puerto Ricans|White]] ||17,572 || 39.2%
| African|| 16,414 || 10.0%
| African||75,824 || 8.6%
|-
| [[Afro-Puerto Ricans|African]]{{ref|2|2}}||5,037 || 11.2%
| Mulatto || 55,164 || 33.8%
| [[Multiracial|Mixed]] ||241,900 || 27.1%
|-
| - || - || -
| Other African{{ref|2|2}} || 13,333 || 8.2%
| - || - || -
|-
| - || - || -
| - || - || -
| - || - || -
|-
|-class= "sortbottom" bgcolor="lightgrey"
| [[File:Bandera de Costas.svg|25px|border]] '''Puerto Rico'''||align = center|'''44,833''' ||align = center| '''100.0%'''
| {{flagicon|Spain|1785}} '''Puerto Rico'''||align = center|'''163,192''' ||align = center| '''100.0%'''
| {{flagicon|Spain|1785}} '''Puerto Rico'''||align = center|'''890,911'''||align = center| '''100.0%'''
|-
|-
| colspan="9" style="text-align:left;"| <small> 1765 Census. (First census)</small><ref name="books.google.com">[https://books.google.com/books?id=BPdgiysIVcgC&pg=PA495 A Population History of North America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203200718/https://books.google.com/books?id=BPdgiysIVcgC&pg=PA495 |date=February 3, 2017 }} By Michael R. Haines, Richard H. Steckel</ref><ref name="auto">[https://repasopcmasumet.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/hpr_s-xvi1.pdf HISTORIA DE PUERTO RICO] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304223337/https://repasopcmasumet.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/hpr_s-xvi1.pdf |date=March 4, 2016 }} Page 17.</ref> 1802 Census.<ref name="auto"/><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=kxYcQpXcLIgC&dq=163%2C192+puerto+rico+1802+census&pg=PA206 An Account of the Present State of the Island of Puerto Rico] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225054904/https://books.google.com/books?id=kxYcQpXcLIgC&pg=PA206&lpg=PA206&dq=163,192+puerto+rico+1802+census&source=bl&ots=RwewJPONY7&sig=dpAv9L28chMvi40Wy2VyVFT9WCs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiq5_Tpv4fNAhWGQBoKHemYBvgQ6AEIQjAF#v=onepage&q=163%2C192%20puerto%20rico%201802%20census&f=false |date=February 25, 2017 }} By George D. Flinter (Page: 206)</ref> 1897 Census<ref name="archive.org">[https://archive.org/stream/reportoncensusof00unitiala#page/58/mode/2up Report on the census of Porto Rico, 1899] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170716033905/https://archive.org/stream/reportoncensusof00unitiala#page/58/mode/2up |date=July 16, 2017 }} Census of "Porto Rico" (Old Spelling) Page 57.</ref> <small>{{note|1|1}} Indigenous: Taino people, Also Arawak people.</small><small>{{note|2|2}}: Slave population.</small>
|}

===Current population and ethnic identity (2020)===
{{bar box
|title=Self-identified racial and ethnic composition in Puerto Rico - 2020 Census <ref name="data.census.gov">[https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALPL2020.P1?g=040XX00US72]</ref>
|title bar=#fff
|left1=Ethnicity
|bars=
{{bar percent|[[White Puerto Ricans|White]] (560,592)|Blue|17.1}}
{{bar percent|[[Afro-Puerto Ricans|Black or African American]] (228,711)|Black|7.0}}
{{bar percent|[[Asian Puerto Ricans|Asian]] (4,001)|yellow|0.1}}
{{bar percent|[[Multiracial Americans|Two or more races]] (1,635,791)|green|49.8}}
{{bar percent|[[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] (17,870)|red|0.5}}
{{bar percent|[[Pacific Islander Americans|Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander]] (593)|orange|0.0}}
{{bar percent|Other races (838,316)|#9999FF|25.5}}
{{bar percent|'''Total:3,285,874'''<ref name="auto1">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/BZA010212/72/embed/accessible |title=Quick Facts |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2016 |website=US Census |publisher=Department of Commerce |access-date=February 21, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206171312/http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/BZA010212/72/embed/accessible |archive-date=February 6, 2017 }}</ref>|navy|100.0}} (2020 Census)
}}
{{clear}}

==Ancestry and genetics ==
{{Essay-like|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Crowd gathering on a street, Puerto Rico (8364101673).jpg|thumb|Crowd gathering on a street in Puerto Rico in 1939, photographed by Robert Yarnall Richie]]
The original inhabitants of Puerto Rico are the [[Taíno people|Taíno]], who called the island [[Puerto Rico#Etymology|''Borikén or Borinquen'']]; however, as in other parts of the Americas, the native people soon diminished in number after the arrival of Spanish settlers. Besides [[miscegenation]], the negative impact on the numbers of Amerindian people, especially in Puerto Rico, was almost entirely the result of Old World diseases that the Amerindians had no natural/bodily defenses against, including [[measles]], [[chicken pox]], [[mumps]], [[influenza]], and even the [[common cold]]. In fact, it was estimated that the majority of all the Amerindian inhabitants of the New World died out due to contact and contamination with those Old World diseases, while those that survived were further reduced through deaths by warfare with Spanish colonizers and settlers.

Thousands of Spanish settlers also immigrated to Puerto Rico from the [[Canary Islands]] during the 18th and 19th centuries, so many so that whole Puerto Rican villages and towns were founded by Canarian immigrants, and their descendants would later form a majority of the population on the island.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

In 1791, the slaves in Saint-Domingue ([[Haiti]]) revolted against their [[French immigration to Puerto Rico|French]] masters. Many of the French escaped to Puerto Rico via what is now the [[Dominican Republic]] and settled in the west coast of the island, especially in [[Mayagüez, Puerto Rico|Mayagüez]]. Some Puerto Ricans are of [[British people|British]] heritage, most notably [[Scottish people]] and [[English people]] who came to reside there in the 17th and 18th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

When Spain revived the [[Royal Decree of Graces of 1815]] with the intention of attracting non-Spanish Europeans to settle in the island, thousands of [[Corsicans]] (though the island was French since 1768 the population spoke an Italian dialect similar to Tuscan Italian) during the 19th century immigrated to Puerto Rico, along with [[German immigration to Puerto Rico|German immigrants]] as well as [[Irish immigration to Puerto Rico|Irish immigrants]] who were affected by the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine of the 1840s]], immigrated to Puerto Rico. They were followed by smaller waves from other European countries and China.{{Citation needed|date=July 2021}}

During the early 20th century [[Jewish immigration to Puerto Rico|Jews]] began to settle in Puerto Rico. The first large group of [[Sephardi Jews|Jews]] to settle in Puerto Rico were European [[refugee]]s fleeing [[German–occupied Europe]] in the 1930s and 1940s. The second influx of Jews to the island came in the 1950s, when thousands of [[History of the Jews in Cuba|Cuban Jews]] fled [[Cuba]] after [[Fidel Castro]] came to power.<ref name="JVL">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Puerto_Rico.html |title=Puerto Rico Virtual Jewish History Tour |encyclopedia=Jewish Virtual Library |access-date=2015-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226202626/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Puerto_Rico.html |archive-date=December 26, 2015 |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Ethnogenesis===
The native Taino population began to dwindle, with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, through disease and intermarriage.<ref name="kacike.org">[http://www.kacike.org/GuitarEnglish.html ''Documenting the Myth of Taino Extinction.'' Dr. Lynne Guitar. KACIKE: Journal of Caribbean Amerindian History and Anthropology.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627042932/http://www.kacike.org/GuitarEnglish.html |date=June 27, 2009 }} Retrieved May 23, 2010.</ref> Many Spaniard men took Taino and West African wives and in the first centuries of the Spanish colonial period the island was overwhelmingly racially mixed. "By 1530 there were 14 native women married to Spaniards, not to mention Spaniards with concubines."<ref name="El Jibaro">{{cite book|jstor=j.ctvbcd2vs.13|title=Mirada al Caribe|first=Luis A.|last=Santullano|chapter=El jíbaro|date=March 10, 2019|publisher=Colegio de Mexico|volume=54|pages=79–82 |language=es|doi=10.2307/j.ctvbcd2vs.13}}</ref> Under Spanish rule, mass immigration shifted the ethnic make-up of the island, as a result of the Royal Decree of Graces of 1815. Puerto Rico went from being two-thirds black and mulatto in the beginning of the 19th century, to being nearly 80% white by the middle of the 20th century. This was compounded by more flexible attitudes to race under Spanish rule, as epitomized by the ''Regla del Sacar''.<ref name="Puerto Rico's History on race">{{cite web|url=http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/demsem/loveman-muniz.pdf|title=Puerto Rico's History on race|access-date=2018-11-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207224431/http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/demsem/loveman-muniz.pdf|archive-date=2012-02-07|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="mona.uwi.edu">{{cite web|url=http://myspot.mona.uwi.edu/liteng/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212130544/http://myspot.mona.uwi.edu/liteng/|url-status=dead|title=Representation of racial identity among Puerto Ricans and in the u.s. mainland|archive-date=December 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>[https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/puerto-rico/ CIA World Factbook]  Retrieved June 8, 2009.</ref><ref>[http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ 2010.census.gov] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110705043714/http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ |date=July 5, 2011 }}</ref><ref>[http://stewartsynopsis.com/racial_amnesia.htm Puerto Rico's Historical Demographics] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171842/http://stewartsynopsis.com/racial_amnesia.htm |date=2016-03-03 }} Retrieved November 10, 2011.</ref> Under Spanish rule, Puerto Rico had laws such as ''Regla del Sacar'' or ''[[Gracias al Sacar]]'', which allowed persons of mixed ancestry to pay a fee to be classified as white,<ref>{{Cite news|last=Alford|first=Natasha S.|date=2020-02-09|title=Why Some Black Puerto Ricans Choose 'White' on the Census|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/09/us/puerto-rico-census-black-race.html|access-date=2021-07-23|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> which was the opposite of the [[one-drop rule]] in US society after the American Civil War.<ref name="ReferenceA">Falcón in Falcón, Haslip-Viera and Matos-Rodríguez 2004: Ch. 6</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qLSU-SiojsYC&q=Jay+Kinsbruner,+Not+of+Pure+Blood,|title=Not of Pure Blood: The Free People of Color and Racial Prejudice in Nineteenth-century Puerto Rico|first=Jay|last=Kinsbruner|date=February 22, 1996|publisher=Duke University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=978-0822318422}}</ref>
[[File:Waiting by the side of the road in Puerto Rico.jpg|thumb|left|Two men sit by the side of a road with the ocean behind them in Puerto Rico.]]
Studies have shown that the racial ancestry mixture of the average Puerto Rican (regardless of racial self-identity) is about 64% European, 21% African, and 15% Native Taino, with European ancestry strongest on the west side of the island and West African ancestry strongest on the east side, and the levels of Taino ancestry (which, according to some research, ranges from about 5%-35%) generally highest in the southwest of the island.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://m.livescience.com/37624-mapping-puerto-rican-heritage.html|title=Mapping Puerto Rican Heritage with Spit and Genomics|website=[[Live Science]]|access-date=October 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000922/http://m.livescience.com/37624-mapping-puerto-rican-heritage.html|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.eldiario.es/canariasahora/sociedad/cerca-puertorriquenos-europeos-descienden-canarias_1_3275441.html|title = Cerca del 40% de los puertorriqueños con genes europeos descienden de Canarias|date = July 19, 2017}}</ref><ref name="Via">{{cite journal|last1=Via|first1=Marc|last2=Gignoux|first2=Christopher R.|last3=Roth|first3=Lindsay A.|display-authors=etal|date=Jan 2011|title=History Shaped the Geographic Distribution of Genomic Admixture on the Island of Puerto Rico|journal=PLOS ONE|volume=6|issue=1|pages=e16513|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0016513|pmid=21304981|pmc=3031579|bibcode=2011PLoSO...616513V|doi-access=free}}</ref>

A study of a sample of 96 healthy self-identified White Puerto Ricans and self-identified Black Puerto Ricans in the U.S. showed that, although all carried a contribution from all 3 ancestral populations (European, African, and Amerindian), the proportions showed significant variation. Depending on individuals, although often correlating with their self-identified race, African ancestry ranged from less than 10% to over 50%, while European ancestry ranged from under 20% to over 80%. Amerindian ancestry showed less fluctuation, generally hovering between 5% and 20% irrespective of self-identified race.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/demsem/loveman-muniz.pdf |title=How Puerto Rico Became White |date=February 7, 2006 |website=SSC WISC Edu |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=February 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123151459/https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/demsem/loveman-muniz.pdf |archive-date=November 23, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="genographic.nationalgeographic.com">{{cite web|url=https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/reference-populations/|title=Your Regional Ancestry: Reference Populations|access-date=October 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170227020449/https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/reference-populations/|archive-date=February 27, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Latino populations: a unique opport">{{cite journal | pmc= 1449501 | pmid=16257940 | doi=10.2105/AJPH.2005.068668 | volume=95 | issue=12 | title=Latino populations: a unique opportunity for the study of race, genetics, and social environment in epidemiological research | date=December 2005 | journal=Am J Public Health | pages=2161–8 | last1 = González Burchard | first1 = E | last2 = Borrell | first2 = LN | last3 = Choudhry | first3 = S |display-authors=etal }}</ref>

The majority of the European ancestry in Puerto Ricans comes from southern Spain, more specifically the [[Canary Islands]]; this is also true for many Dominicans and Cubans. Canarians are of partial [[Guanches|Guanche]] ancestry, a North African Berber ethnic group who were the original inhabitants before Spanish conquest. This means that by extension, many Puerto Ricans have minuscule amounts of North African blood through the indigenous Guanches of the Canary Islands.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2008/10/09/info/1223573146_635959.html |title=Un estudio descubre la presencia de genes guanches en la República Dominicana |access-date=2018-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216163707/http://www.soitu.es/soitu/2008/10/09/info/1223573146_635959.html |archive-date=2018-12-16 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/amazonasfilm/2009/7/12/un-estudio-del-genoma-taino-y-guanche-adn-o-dna-primera-parte|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100206133647/http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/amazonasfilm/2009/7/12/un-estudio-del-genoma-taino-y-guanche-adn-o-dna-primera-parte|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 6, 2010|title=La Comunidad » DOCUMENTALES GRATIS » UN ESTUDIO DEL GENOMA TAINO Y GUANCHE. ADN o DNA. Primera parte|date=February 6, 2010}}</ref>

==Race and ethnicity==
===White===
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{{Main|White Puerto Ricans|Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico}}
In the [[1899 Puerto Rico Census|1899 census]], taken the year Spain ceded Puerto Rico to the United States following its invasion and annexation in the [[Spanish–American War]], 61.8% of the people were identified as [[White people|White]]. In the [[2020 United States census]] the total of Puerto Ricans that self-identified as White was 17.1% or 560,592 out of the 3,285,874 people living in Puerto Rico,<ref name="data.census.gov">[https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALPL2020.P1?g=040XX00US72]</ref> down from 75.8% in the 2010 Census, reflecting a change in perceptions of race in Puerto Rico.<ref name="Puerto Rico's History on race" /><ref name="2010.census.gov">{{cite web|url=http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ |title=2010.census.gov |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110706203009/http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ |archive-date=2011-07-06}}</ref><ref>[http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=72] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120628161934/http://2010.census.gov/2010census/popmap/ipmtext.php?fl=72|date=June 28, 2012}}</ref> For every United States census until 2010, most Puerto Ricans self identified as "white".<ref name="CIA World Factbook">{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/puerto-rico/ |title=The World Factbook |publisher=Cia.gov |access-date=2015-07-23}}</ref><ref name="Puerto Rico's History on race" /><ref name="mona.uwi.edu 2">{{cite web |url=http://www.mona.uwi.edu/liteng/courses/e21h_2007/documents/santiago/Neither%20Black%20nor%20White-The%20Representation%20of%20Puerto%20Rican%20Racial%20Identity.RTF |title=Department of Literatures in English &#124; Department of Literatures in English &#124; the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica |website=www.mona.uwi.edu |access-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121212130544/http://www.mona.uwi.edu/liteng/courses/e21h_2007/documents/santiago/Neither%20Black%20nor%20White-The%20Representation%20of%20Puerto%20Rican%20Racial%20Identity.RTF |archive-date=12 December 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/puerto-rico/|title=The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency|website=Cia.gov|access-date=October 14, 2017}}</ref><ref>[http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ 2010.census.gov] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110324073045/http://2010.census.gov/2010census/data/ |date=March 24, 2011 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://stewartsynopsis.com/racial_amnesia.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303171842/http://stewartsynopsis.com/racial_amnesia.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 3, 2016|title=Racial Amnesia|date=March 3, 2016|access-date=October 14, 2017}}</ref>

The [[European ethnic groups|European]] ancestry of Puerto Ricans comes primarily from one source: [[Spanish people|Spaniards]] (including [[Canarian people|Canarians]], [[Catalan people|Catalans]], [[Castilian people|Castilians]], [[Galician people|Galicians]], [[Asturian people|Asturians]], [[Andalusian people|Andalusians]], and [[Basque people|Basques]]).
The Canarian cultural influence in Puerto Rico is one of the most important components in which many villages were founded from these immigrants, which started from 1493 to 1890 and beyond. Many Spaniards, especially Canarians, chose Puerto Rico because of its Hispanic ties and relative proximity in comparison with other former Spanish colonies. They searched for security and stability in an environment similar to that of the Canary Islands and Puerto Rico was the most suitable. This began as a temporary exile which became a permanent relocation and the last significant wave of Spanish or European migration to Puerto Rico.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&v=HmRIxmMxY6c&gl=GB |title=MANUEL MORA MORALES: Canarios en Puerto Rico. CANARIAS EMIGRACIÓN |publisher=YouTube |date=2008-01-20 |access-date=2015-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102154030/https://www.youtube.com/watch?hl=en-GB&v=HmRIxmMxY6c&gl=GB |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.personal.psu.edu/jml34/Canary.htm |title=The Spanish Of The Canary Islands |publisher=Personal.psu.edu |access-date=2015-07-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924071931/http://www.personal.psu.edu/jml34/Canary.htm |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Other sources of European populations are [[Corsican immigration to Puerto Rico|Corsicans]], [[French immigration to Puerto Rico|French]], [[Italian Puerto Ricans|Italians]], [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] (especially Azoreans), [[Greek people|Greeks]], [[German immigration to Puerto Rico|Germans]], [[Irish immigration to Puerto Rico|Irish]], [[Scottish people|Scots]], [[Maltese people|Maltese]], [[Dutch people|Dutch]], [[English people|English]], and [[Danish people|Danes]].

===Black===
{{Main|Afro-Puerto Ricans}}
In the [[2020 United States census]], 7.0% of people self-identified as Black.<ref name="2010.census.gov"/> Africans were brought by [[Spain|Spanish]] [[Conquistador]]s.{{citation needed|date=August 2017}} The vast majority of the Africans who were brought to [[Puerto Rico]] did so as a result of the [[History of slavery|slave trade]] taking place from many groups in the African continent, but particularly the [[West Africa]]ns, the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]],<ref name=Africans>{{cite book |title=A History of Afro-Hispanic Language: Five Centuries, Five Continents |first=John M. |last=Lipski |publisher=by Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-521-82265-7 |page=115 |location=middle of second paragraph under 'Africans in Puerto Rico' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U0xyRU7QoK4C&pg=PA115 |access-date=December 26, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102154030/https://books.google.com/books?id=U0xyRU7QoK4C&pg=PA115 |archive-date=January 2, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> the [[Igbo people|Igbo]],<ref name="Africans" /> and the [[Kongo people]].

===Indigenous===
{{Main|Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean|Mestizo|Taino people}}
Indigenous people make up the third largest racial identity among Puerto Ricans, comprising 0.5% of the population,<ref name="2010.census.gov" /><ref name="data.census.gov">[https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALPL2020.P1?g=040XX00US72]</ref> although this self-identification may be ethno-political in nature since unmixed Tainos no longer exist as a discrete genetic population. Native American admixture in Puerto Ricans ranges between about 5% and 35%, with around 15% being the approximate average.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/demsem/loveman-muniz.pdf |title=How Puerto Rico Became White |date=February 7, 2006 |website=SSC WISC Edu |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Madison |access-date=February 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171123151459/https://www.ssc.wisc.edu/cde/demsem/loveman-muniz.pdf |archive-date=November 23, 2017 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="genographic.nationalgeographic.com"/><ref name="Latino populations: a unique opport" /><ref name="Via" />

Puerto Rico's self-identified indigenous population therefore consist mostly of indigenous-identified persons (oftentimes with predominant Indigenous ancestry, but not always) from within the genetically mestizo population of mixed European and Amerindian ancestry, even when most other Puerto Ricans of their exact same mixture would identify either as mixed-race or even as white.

===Asian===
{{Main|Asian Puerto Ricans|Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico|Indo-Caribbean}}
For its 2020 census, the U.S. Census Bureau listed the following groups to constitute "Asian":<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/help/en/american_factfinder_help.htm#glossary/glossary.htm |title=Explore Census Data |access-date=December 16, 2011 |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20190404132643/http://factfinder2.census.gov/help/en/american_factfinder_help.htm#glossary/glossary.htm |archive-date=April 4, 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Asian Indian, [[Bangladeshis|Bangladeshi]], Bhutanese, Cambodian, [[Chinese immigration to Puerto Rico|Chinese]], Filipino, [[Hmong people|Hmong]], Indonesian, [[Japanese people|Japanese]], Korean, Laotian, [[Malaysians|Malaysian]], Nepalese, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, [[Vietnamese people|Vietnamese]], and Other Asian. Though, the largest groups come from China and [[India]]. These groups represented 0.1% of the population.

===Other===
[[File:José Campeche.JPG|right|thumb|165px|[[José Campeche]] is the first known [[Puerto Rican people|Puerto Rican]] [[visual artist]].]]
{{Main|Mulatto|Multiracial}}
People of "Some other race alone" or "Two or more races" constituted 75.3% of the population in the 2020 [[United States 2020 Census|Census]].<ref name="data.census.gov">[https://data.census.gov/table/DECENNIALPL2020.P1?g=040XX00US72]</ref>

Although the average Puerto Rican is of mixed race,<ref name="Rivera 2015" /> few actually identified as multiracial ("two or more races") in the 2010 census; only 3.3% did so.<ref name="auto1"/><ref>[https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/decade.2010.htmldata/ ''2010 Census Data - 2010 Census: 2010 Census Results, Puerto Rico.''] U.S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. Retrieved July 1, 2013.</ref> They more often identified with their predominant heritage or phenotype. However, in the 2020 census, the amount of Puerto Ricans identifying as multiracial went up to 49.8% and an additional 25.5% identified as "some other race", showing a marked change in the way Puerto Ricans view themselves. This may show that Puerto Ricans are now more open to embracing all sides of their mixed-race heritage and do not view themselves as part of the standard race dynamic in the United States — hence the high number of people identifying as "some other race." A similar phenomenon went on in the mainland United States with the overall US Hispanic/Latino population.<ref>[https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/08/improved-race-ethnicity-measures-reveal-united-states-population-much-more-multiracial.html]</ref> 
Most have significant ancestry from two or more of the founding source populations of Spaniards, Africans, and Tainos, although Spanish ancestry is predominant in a majority of the population. Small amounts of Puerto Ricans may have additional ancestries from other parts of the world. Similar to many other Latin American ethnic groups, Puerto Ricans are multi-generationally mixed race, though most are European-dominant in ancestry; Puerto Ricans who are "evenly mixed" can accurately be described as "''[[Mulatto]]''", "''[[Quadroon]]''", or ''Tri-racial'', very similar to mixed populations in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. According to the [[National Geographic Society|National Geographic]] [[Genographic Project]], "the average Puerto Rican individual carries 12% Native American, 65% West Eurasian (Mediterranean, Northern European and/or Middle Eastern) and 20% Sub-Saharan African DNA."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/07/25/genographic-project-dna-results-reveals-details-of-puerto-rican-history/|title=Genographic Project DNA Results Reveal Details of Puerto Rican History|date=2014-07-25|website=National Geographic Society Newsroom|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200324164653/https://blog.nationalgeographic.org/2014/07/25/genographic-project-dna-results-reveals-details-of-puerto-rican-history/|archive-date=March 24, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In genetic terms, even many of those of pure Spanish origin would have North and, in some cases, West African ancestry brought from founder populations, particularly in the Canary Islands.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Fregel R, Pestano J, Arnay M, Cabrera VM, Larruga JM, González AM |title=The maternal aborigine colonization of La Palma (Canary Islands) |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |volume=17 |issue=10 |pages=1314–24 |date=October 2009 |pmid=19337312 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2009.46 |pmc=2986650}}</ref> Along with European, West African, and Taino, many Puerto Ricans have small amounts of North African blood due to [[Canary Islanders|settlers from Canary Islands]], the Spanish province from which most Puerto Ricans draw their European ancestry, being of partial North African blood. Very few self-identified Black Puerto Ricans are of unmixed African ancestry, while a genetically unmixed Amerindian population in Puerto Rico is technically extinct despite a minuscule segment of self-identified Amerindian Puerto Ricans due to a minor Amerindian component in their ancestral mixture. Research data shows that 60% of Puerto Ricans carry maternal lineages of Native American origin and the typical Puerto Rican has between 5% and 15% Native American admixture.<ref name=":0" />

===Modern identity===
{{Main|Culture of Puerto Rico}}
[[File:Aqui vive una familia puertorriqueña 2006 (San Juan, Puerto Rico).jpg|thumb|"A Puerto Rican family lives here" sign on a wall in San Juan]]
The Puerto Rico of today has come to form some of its own social customs, cultural matrix, historically rooted traditions, and its own unique pronunciation, vocabulary, and idiomatic expressions within the [[Spanish language]], known as [[Puerto Rican Spanish]]. Even after the attempted assimilation of Puerto Rico into the United States in the early 20th century, the majority of the people of Puerto Rico feel pride in their Puerto Rican nationality,<ref name="CIA">{{cite web |title=Explore all countries |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/puerto-rico/ |website=cia.gov |publisher=CIA |access-date=26 February 2021}}</ref> regardless of the individual's particular racial, ethnic, political, or economic background. Many Puerto Ricans are consciously aware of the rich contribution of all cultures represented on the island. This diversity can be seen in the everyday lifestyle of many Puerto Ricans such as the profound Latin, African, and Taíno influences regarding food, music, dance, and architecture.<ref name="NPR.org 2014">{{cite web | title=Reconnecting The Circuit Of Puerto Rican Identity Through Music | website=NPR.org | date=2 November 2014 | url=https://www.npr.org/2014/11/02/360078925/reconnecting-the-circuit-of-puerto-rican-identity-through-music | access-date=4 June 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190108122403/https://www.npr.org/2014/11/02/360078925/reconnecting-the-circuit-of-puerto-rican-identity-through-music | archive-date=January 8, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Emigration==
{{See also|Stateside Puerto Ricans}}
During the Spanish colonial period, there was significant migration from Puerto Rico to [[Santo Domingo]], [[Cuba]], the [[Virgin Islands]], and [[Venezuela]], and vice versa, because migration between neighboring colonies especially under the same European power, was common. Nearly all Puerto Ricans who migrated to these areas during these times, assimilated and intermixed with the local populations. In the early days of US rule, from 1900 to the 1940s, the Puerto Rican economy was small and undeveloped, it relied heavily on agriculture. At this time, Puerto Rican migration waves were mainly to Dominican Republic,<ref>[https://catalogo.uasd.edu.do/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=17104]</ref> the Virgin Islands, and US cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Miami, New Orleans, and most importantly metropolitan area surrounding New York City and North Jersey. Over 5,000 [[Puerto Rican immigration to Hawaii|Puerto Ricans migrated to Hawaii]] from 1900 to 1901.<ref name="CEP Part 2">{{cite web | title=History of Puerto Ricans In the US - PART TWO | website=Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños | date=2021-08-23 | url=https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/education/story-us-puerto-ricans-part-two | access-date=2021-09-04}}</ref><ref name="Lehman">{{cite web | title=Puerto Rican Migration Before World War II | website=Lehman College | url=https://lcw.lehman.edu/lehman/depts/latinampuertorican/latinoweb/PuertoRico/beforeww2.htm | access-date=2021-09-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Teaching Guide for The History of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. - Part Two: ''Labor Migration and U.S. Policies'' |url=https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/edu/VSK%20Teaching%20Guide%20Part%202.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420134408/https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/edu/VSK%20Teaching%20Guide%20Part%202.pdf |archive-date=Apr 20, 2021 |website=Center for Puerto Rican Studies}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/labor/article-abstract/13/3-4/83/41760/Building-an-Occupation-Puerto-Rican-Laborers-in|doi = 10.1215/15476715-3595964|title = Building an Occupation: Puerto Rican Laborers in the Dominican Republic, 1916–1924|year = 2016|last1 = Wright|first1 = Micah|journal = Labor|volume = 13|issue = 3–4|pages = 83–103|s2cid = 156241283}}</ref> Puerto Rican migration to the US northeast started as early as the 1890s; however, it was a very, very small flow at the time. During the 1940s, Puerto Rican desire for independence slowly started to decline while desire for statehood and dependence on the US started rise, due to this more Puerto Ricans started to look at the US more favorably and take full advantage of their US citizenship, huge flows of Puerto Ricans started to arrive in the United States, particularly industrial cities in the Northeast and Midwest, coinciding with a strong decline in Puerto Ricans migrating to other countries and even other areas in the US like Baltimore, New Orleans, and Hawaii.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.americansall.org/sites/default/files/resources/pdf/ethnic-and-cultural/9.9_Puerto_Ricans_Immigrants_and_Migrants.pdf |title=PUERTO RICANS: IMMIGRANTS AND MIGRANTS |website=americansall.org |access-date=2024-12-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175-e-32|isbn=978-0-19-932917-5|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.32|chapter=Puerto Ricans in the United States|title=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History|year=2015|last1=Thomas|first1=Lorrin}}</ref> From 1940 to 1960, the stateside Puerto Rican population rose from 69,967 to 892,513, the majority of which went to the New York metro area.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html]</ref> For the bulk of the 1900s, New York City was the center of the Puerto Rican diaspora.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070613011114/http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/pub/puerto.shtml]</ref><ref>[https://academicworks.cuny.edu/clacls_pubs/112/]</ref> However, since the start of the 2000s, the Puerto Rican population in the NYC area has declined and the total Puerto Rican population in the mainland United States has since spread out, with Florida (especially the Orlando area) being the most popular destination.<ref>[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/09/29/puerto-ricos-exodus-maria-orlando-215659/]</ref><ref>[https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2014/08/11/puerto-rican-population-declines-on-island-grows-on-u-s-mainland/]</ref>

In the modern day, there are about 5.9 million Puerto Ricans in the US mainland.<ref name=ACS-B03001-2019>{{cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=B03001%3A%20HISPANIC%20OR%20LATINO%20ORIGIN%20BY%20SPECIFIC%20ORIGIN&tid=ACSDT1Y2019.B03001&hidePreview=true|title=B03001 HISPANIC OR LATINO ORIGIN BY SPECIFIC ORIGIN - United States - 2019 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates|date=July 1, 2019|publisher=[[U.S. Census Bureau]]|access-date=February 4, 2021}}</ref> Large concentrations can be found in the Northeast region and in Florida, in the metropolitan areas of [[New York metropolitan area|New York]], [[Greater Orlando|Orlando]], [[Delaware Valley|Philadelphia]], [[Miami metropolitan area|Miami]], [[Chicago metropolitan area|Chicago]], [[Tampa Bay area|Tampa]], and [[Greater Boston|Boston]], among others. Although over 95% of Puerto Ricans living outside of Puerto Rico live in the mainland United States, there is a significant and growing number of Puerto Ricans – mainly from Puerto Rico itself but also to a lesser degree from the 50 states – living in other countries. Puerto Rican populations in other countries are very small, not large enough to have dominance over certain neighborhoods and cities like in Florida and the US Northeast. Unsurprisingly, Puerto Rico's neighbors have the biggest Puerto Rican communities outside Puerto Rico and the US mainland, to the west Dominican Republic with as high as 34,000 Puerto Ricans according to some sources,<ref>[https://www.elnuevodia.com/negocios/economia/notas/en-busca-del-retiro-sonado-mas-puertorriquenos-jubilados-se-mudan-a-la-tierra-del-merengue/]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.metro.pr/pr/sin-categoria/2013/09/30/migracion-inversa-boricuas-se-establecen-dominicana.html | title=Migración a la inversa: Boricuas se establecen en Dominicana | date=September 30, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://elnacional.com.do/puertorriquenos-emigran-en-masa-hacia-dominicana/ | title=Puertorriqueños emigran en masa hacia Dominicana | date=September 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.notiuno.com/noticias/en-aumento-emigraci-n-de-puertorrique-os-a-rep-blica-dominicana/article_fd3bb279-25da-5269-a417-75b3e87d6497.html | title=En aumento emigración de puertorriqueños a República Dominicana | date=August 31, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/video/migracion-de-puerto-rico-a-republica-dominicana-a-estados-unidos-mala-economia-pkg-rafy-rivera/ | title=Puertorriqueños buscan nuevas oportunidades en República Dominicana &#124; Video | date=May 16, 2019 }}</ref> and to the east US Virgin Islands with 7,759, 8.9% of the territory's population, second highest percentage of any US state or territory, after Puerto Rico (95.5%) and before Connecticut (8.0%).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/02/05/us-census-shows-vi-aging-growing-more-hispanic |title=U.S. Census Shows V.I. Aging, Growing More Hispanic &#124; St. Thomas Source |website=stthomassource.com |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210025647/http://stthomassource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/02/05/us-census-shows-vi-aging-growing-more-hispanic |archive-date=10 February 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="CB2016">{{cite web | title=Dominican Economy Lures Puerto Ricans in Crisis | website=Caribbean Business | date=2016-01-25 | url=https://caribbeanbusiness.com/dominican-economy-lures-puerto-ricans-in-crisis/ | access-date=2021-09-04 | archive-date=April 10, 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210410145410/https://caribbeanbusiness.com/dominican-economy-lures-puerto-ricans-in-crisis/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> There are small numbers of Puerto Ricans in other countries like Canada, Spain, Mexico, United Kingdom, and other countries in Europe and the Caribbean/Latin America. Due to Puerto Rico being a US territory, the vast majority of Puerto Ricans leaving the island go to the mainland United States, comprising Puerto Ricans of all income brackets and lifestyles. However, majority of the small number of Puerto Ricans living outside of the United States, including outside of Puerto Rico and other territories, are usually financially well-off and entrepreneurial, owning homes and businesses in the countries they choose to settle in.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.metro.pr/pr/sin-categoria/2013/10/01/moda-que-boricuas-hagan-negocios-dominicana.html#:~:text=De%20acuerdo%20con%20el%20Centro%20de%20Exportaci%C3%B3n%20e,miner%C3%ADa%2C%20construcci%C3%B3n%2C%20manufactura%2C%20energ%C3%ADa%2C%20turismo%2C%20servicios%20e%20inmobiliarios | title=De moda el que boricuas hagan negocios en Dominicana | date=October 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://eldinero.com.do/181112/empresarios-de-puerto-rico-buscan-oportunidades-de-negocios-en-republica-dominicana/ | title=Empresarios de Puerto Rico buscan oportunidades de negocios en República Dominicana | date=December 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.diariolibre.com/usa/actualidad/empresarios-de-puerto-rico-llegan-a-rd-en-busca-de-oportunidades-de-negocios-NC30238674 | title=Empresarios de Puerto Rico llegan a RD en busca de oportunidades de negocios | date=November 30, 2021 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/notas/boricuas-viven-su-retiro-en-republica-dominicana/ | title=Boricuas viven su retiro en República Dominicana | date=August 31, 2018 }}</ref> Statistical counts of Puerto Rican populations in other countries usually only center on ethnic Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico. Other ethnic groups born in Puerto Rico who move away usually wouldn't be included in a Puerto Rican population count, especially if they have ancestry of at least one parent born in target country – for example people of Dominican, Cuban, or Mexican etc ancestry born in Puerto Rico and later returning to their ancestral country – wouldn't be counted in a Puerto Rican population count, but likely rather counted as a "returning emigrant". Similarly, Puerto Ricans born in the mainland United States would be counted under an [[Emigration from the United States|"American"]] statistic, so the Puerto Rican populations abroad may be slightly larger as some may be stateside-born and counted as "American" rather than "Puerto Rican" on local government statistics on immigrants.<ref>[https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.one.gob.do%2Fmedia%2Fhrsnqml3%2Fcuadro-composici%25C3%25B3n-porcentual-poblaci%25C3%25B3n-inmigrante-por-pa%25C3%25ADs-nacimiento-seg%25C3%25BAn-algunas-caracter%25C3%25ADsticas-enhogar-2015.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK]</ref><ref name="oecd-ilibrary.org">[https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/el-panorama-de-la-migracion-en-republica-dominicana_5jft8jpm6wvj.pdf?itemId=%2Fcontent%2Fcomponent%2F9789264276918-6-es&mimeType=pdf ''El panorama de la migración en República Dominicana: Cuadro 2.4. Los Haitianos son el principal grupo de inmigrantes'']</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Ethnic%20origin&TABID=1 |title=2016 Census of Canada: Topic-based tabulations |publisher=2.statcan.ca |date=2011-04-02 |access-date=2016-05-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422053324/http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo1=PR&Code1=01&Geo2=PR&Code2=01&Data=Count&SearchText=Canada&SearchType=Begins&SearchPR=01&B1=Ethnic%20origin&TABID=1 |archive-date=April 22, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/estudios/sociodemografico/ext_en_mex/extraen_mex.pdf#22 ''Los extranjeros en México''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070214112327/http://www.inegi.gob.mx/prod_serv/contenidos/espanol/bvinegi/productos/estudios/sociodemografico/ext_en_mex/extraen_mex.pdf|date=February 14, 2007}}</ref>

==Language==
Spanish and English are the official languages of the entire Commonwealth. A 1902 English-only language law was abolished on April 5, 1991. Then on January 28, 1993, the Legislative Assembly of Puerto Rico approved Law Number 1 again making Spanish and English the official languages of Puerto Rico.<ref name="Rivera 2015">{{cite journal | last=Rivera | first=Melvin Gonzalez | title=Spanish and English in Puerto Rico | website=Academia.edu | date=3 August 2015 | url=https://www.academia.edu/12318666 | access-date=18 November 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191118001859/https://www.academia.edu/12318666/Spanish_and_English_in_Puerto_Rico | archive-date=November 18, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://muniz-arguelles.com/resources/The+status+of+languages+in+Puerto+Rico.pdf ''The Status of Languages in Puerto Rico.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010203050/http://muniz-arguelles.com/resources/The+status+of+languages+in+Puerto+Rico.pdf |date=October 10, 2017 }} Muniz-Arguelles, Luis. University of Puerto Rico. 1986. Page 466. Retrieved December 4, 2012.</ref> All official business of the [[U.S. District Court]] for the District of Puerto Rico is conducted in English. The [[official language]]s<ref>"Official Language," ''Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language'', Ed. Tom McArthur, Oxford University Press, 1998.</ref> of the executive branch of government of Puerto Rico<ref>Pueblo v. Tribunal Superior, 92 D.P.R. 596 (1965). Translation taken from the English text, 92 P.R.R. 580 (1965), p. 588-589. See also LOPEZ-BARALT NEGRON, "Pueblo v. Tribunal Superior: Espanol: Idioma del proceso judicial," 36 Revista Juridica de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. 396 (1967), and VIENTOS-GASTON, "Informe del Procurador General sobre el idioma," 36 Rev. Col. Ab. (P.R.) 843 (1975).</ref> are Spanish and English, with Spanish being the primary language. English is the primary language of less than 10% of the population.

Puerto Rican Spanish is the dominant language of business, education and daily life on the island.<ref name="factfinder.census.gov">{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= |title=U.S. Census Annual Population Estimates 2007 |publisher=Factfinder.census.gov |access-date=April 18, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516023605/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=04000US72&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-tree_id=307&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format= |archive-date=May 16, 2013 }}</ref> The US Census Bureau's 2015 update provides the following:<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |title=Puerto Rico 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2016 |website=US Census |publisher=Department of Commerce |access-date=February 19, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19961227012639/http://www.census.gov/ |archive-date=December 27, 1996 |url-status=live }}</ref> 94.1% of adults speak Spanish, 5.8% speak only English and little to no Spanish, 78.3% do not speak English "very well", 15.8% are fully bilingual in both English and Spanish, 0.1% speak other languages.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=puerto%20rico&tid=ACSST1Y2019.S1601&hidePreview=false|title = Explore Census Data}}</ref>

Public school instruction in Puerto Rico 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.<ref>[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/puerto-rico-governor-fortuno-bilingual_n_1501225.html ''Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño Proposes Plan For Island's Public Schools To Teach In English Instead Of Spanish.''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831055841/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/08/puerto-rico-governor-fortuno-bilingual_n_1501225.html |date=August 31, 2012 }} Danica Coto. Huffington Latino Voices. 05/08/12 (May 8, 2012). Retrieved December 4, 2012.</ref> English is taught as a second language and is a compulsory subject from elementary levels to high school.

Puerto Rico is home to a sizeable [[deaf community]]; the actual numbers are unknown due to unavailable source data.<ref name="PRSL"/> A 1986 estimate places the Puerto Rican deaf population between 8,000 and 40,000.<ref>{{e18|psl|Puerto Rican Sign Language}}</ref> Due to ongoing colonization from the US mainland, the larger [[American Sign Language]] (ASL) is supplanting the local [[Puerto Rican Sign Language]] (PRSL, also known as LSPR: ''Lenguaje de Señas Puertorriqueño'').<ref name="PRSL">{{cite thesis |last=Quiñones |first=Frances Michelle |date=May 2021 |title=Puerto Rican Sign Language: A Creole Language or an Endangered Dialect? |type=Master of Arts |publisher=Northeastern Illinois University |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2529375168 |access-date=24 January 2022|id={{ProQuest|2529375168}} }}</ref> Although assumed to be a dialect or variant of ASL, the degree of [[mutual intelligibility]] between Puerto Rican Sign Language is currently unknown, as is whether it is even a [[Francosign languages|Francosign language]] like ASL. Indeed, there is a hesitancy amongst Puerto Rican Deaf to even mention LSPR after heavy-handed [[oralism|oralist education]] of English, Spanish, and [[Signed English]].<ref name="PRSL"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Torres |first1=Andrés |title=Puerto Rican and Deaf: A View from the Borderland |journal=Centro Journal |date=2009 |volume=XXI |issue=2 |pages=85–107 |url=https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=37720842005 |access-date=25 January 2022 |issn=1538-6279}}</ref> Today, there is much [[language contact|contact]] between ASL, PRSL, and [[Signed Spanish]].<ref name="PRSL"/>

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. While the Spanish spoken in all Iberian, Mediterranean and Atlantic Spanish Maritime Provinces was brought to the island over the centuries, the most profound regional influence on the Spanish spoken in Puerto Rico has been from that spoken in the present-day Canary Islands. The Spanish of Puerto Rico also includes occasional [[Taíno]] words, typically in the context of vegetation, natural phenomena or primitive musical instruments. Similarly, words attributed to primarily West [[African languages]] were adopted in the contexts of foods, music or dances.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/lepbyworldregion/caribbeanpuertorico.html |title=Language Education Policy in Puerto Rico |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2013 |website=Language Education Policy Studies |publisher=International Association for Language Education Policy Studies |access-date=February 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222112048/http://www.languageeducationpolicy.org/lepbyworldregion/caribbeanpuertorico.html |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Religion==
There are many religious beliefs represented in the island. Religious breakdown in Puerto Rico (as of 2006) is given in the table on the right.<ref>[http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/country/?CountryID=29 Religions] Retrieved June 9, 2009. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102083050/http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/country/?CountryID=29 |date=November 2, 2014 }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; margin:1ex 5 1ex 1ex;"
|-colspan="3" align="center"| '''Religions in Puerto Rico (2006)'''
|-
! Religion !! Adherents !! % of Population
|-
|[[Christians|Christian]]||align="right"|3,752,544||align="right"|97.00%
|-
|Non-religious/other||align="right"| 76,598 ||align="right"|1.98%
|-
|[[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritist]]||align="right"| 27,080 ||align="right"|0.70%
|-
|[[Muslim]]||align="right"| 5,029 ||align="right"|0.13%
|-
|[[Hindu]]||align="right"| 3,482 ||align="right"|0.09%
|-
|[[Jewish]]||align="right"| 2,708 ||align="right"|0.07%
|-
|[[Buddhist]]||align="right"| 1,161 ||align="right"|0.03%
|}
The majority of Puerto Ricans in the island are [[Christians]]. [[Kardecist spiritism|Spiritist]]s have a large secondary following. [[Muslim]]s, [[Hindu]]s, [[Jew]]s, and [[Buddhist]]s all have a small presence as well. [[Roman Catholicism]] has been the main Christian denomination among Puerto Ricans since the arrival of the Spanish in the 15th century, but the presence of [[Protestantism|Protestant]], [[Latter-day Saint|Mormon]], [[Pentecostal]], and [[Jehovah's Witnesses]] denominations has increased under U.S. sovereignty, making modern Puerto Rico an inter-denominational, multi-religious community. The Afro-Caribbean religion [[Santería]] is also practiced.

In 1998, a news report stated that "Puerto Rico [was] no longer predominantly Catholic". Pollster Pablo Ramos wrote that the population was 38% Roman Catholic, 28% Pentecostal, and 18% were members of independent churches.<ref>The San Juan Star, Sunday, April 12, 1998: "Study reflects growing numbers of churchgoers".</ref> However, an [[Associated Press]] article in March 2014 stated that "more than 70 percent of [Puerto Ricans] identify themselves as Catholic".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/catholic-church-and-puerto-rico-officials-at-odds-in-widening-sex-abuse-investigation |title=Catholic Church and Puerto Rico officials at odds in widening sex abuse investigation |author=Associated Press<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=March 12, 2014 |website=FOX News |access-date=February 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218145958/http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/03/12/catholic-church-and-puerto-rico-officials-at-odds-in-widening-sex-abuse.html |archive-date=February 18, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> The CIA World Factbook reports that 85% of the population of Puerto Rico identifies as Roman Catholic, while 15% identify as Protestant and Other.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/puerto-rico/ |title=Puerto Rico - People and Society |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=2015 |website=CIA Library |publisher=CIA |access-date=February 17, 2017 |quote=Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant and other 15% }}</ref>

==Political and international status==
{{Puerto Ricans}}
Puerto Ricans became citizens of the United States as a result of the passage of the [[Jones–Shafroth Act]] of 1917. Since this law was the result of Congressional legislation, and not the result of an amendment to the [[United States Constitution]], the current U.S. citizenship of Puerto Ricans can be revoked by Congress,<ref>[http://charma.uprm.edu/~angel/Puerto_Rico/reporte_status.pdf ''Report By the President's Task Force On Puerto Rico's Status.''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070925184244/http://charma.uprm.edu/~angel/Puerto_Rico/reporte_status.pdf |date=2007-09-25 }} The White House. Washington, D.C. Appendix E. December 2005. Retrieved May 17, 2012.</ref> as they are ''statutory citizens'', not ''[[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|14th Amendment]] citizens''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=w5mB2mY-ac4C&pg=PT372 ''Latino/a Thought: Culture, Politics, and Society.''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160102154030/https://books.google.com/books?id=w5mB2mY-ac4C&pg=PT372 |date=January 2, 2016 }} Francisco H. Vazquez. Page 372. Lanham, Md: Rowman Littlefield Publishers. 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2012.</ref> The Jones Act established that Puerto Ricans born prior to 1899 were considered naturalized citizens of Puerto Rico, and anyone born after 1898 were U.S. citizens, unless the Puerto Rican expressed his/her intentions to remain a Spanish subject. Since 1948, it was decided by Congress that all Puerto Ricans, whether born within the United States or in Puerto Rico, were naturally born [[United States nationality law|United States citizens]].

Puerto Ricans and other U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico cannot vote in [[United States presidential election|presidential elections]] as that is a right reserved by the U.S. Constitution to admitted states and the District of Columbia through the [[Electoral College (United States)|Electoral College]] system. Nevertheless, both the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]], while not fielding candidates for public office in Puerto Rico, provide the islands with state-sized voting delegations at their presidential nominating conventions. Delegate selection processes frequently have resulted in [[presidential primaries]] being held in Puerto Rico. U.S. citizens residing in Puerto Rico do not elect [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. representatives]] or [[United States Senate|senators]]. However, Puerto Rico is represented in the House of Representatives by an elected representative commonly known as the [[Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico|Resident Commissioner]], who has the same duties and obligations as a representative, with the exception of being able to cast votes on the final disposition of legislation on the House floor. The Resident Commissioner is elected by Puerto Ricans to a four-year term and does serve on [[United States congressional committee|congressional committee]]. Puerto Ricans residing in the U.S. states have all rights and privileges of other U.S. citizens living in the states.

As statutory U.S. citizens, Puerto Ricans born in Puerto Rico may enlist in the [[U.S. military]] and have been included in the compulsory draft when it has been in effect. Puerto Ricans have fully participated in all [[Timeline of United States military operations|U.S. wars and military conflicts]] since 1898, including [[Puerto Ricans in World War I|World War I]], [[Puerto Ricans in World War II|World War II]], the [[65th Infantry Regiment (United States)|Korean War]], the [[Puerto Ricans in the Vietnam War|Vietnam War]], the [[Gulf War]], the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|War in Afghanistan]], and the [[Iraq War]].

Since 2007, the Puerto Rico State Department has developed a protocol to issue certificates of Puerto Rican citizenship to Puerto Ricans. In order to be eligible, applicants must have been born in Puerto Rico; born outside of Puerto Rico to a Puerto Rican-born parent; or be an American citizen with at least one year residence in Puerto Rico. The citizenship is internationally recognized by Spain, which considers Puerto Rico to be an Ibero-American nation. Therefore, Puerto Rican citizens have the ability to apply for Spanish citizenship after only two years residency in Spain (instead of the standard 10 years).

Puerto Rican voters, despite not voting in the 2024 election for the President on the island, nevertheless were a surprisingly important political "hot potato" for both parties, due to the large number of Puerto Rican voters on the mainland.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-election/puerto-rico-voters-biden-harris-trip-rcna144383 NBC News - Puerto Rico isn’t on the 2024 map, but Biden is betting big on voters from the island By Gabe Gutierrez  March 22, 2024]</ref>

===[[Decolonization of the Americas|Decolonization]] and status referendums===
Since 1953, the [[UN]] has been considering the [[political status of Puerto Rico]] and how to assist it in achieving "independence" or "decolonization." In 1978, the Special Committee determined that a "colonial relationship" existed between the US and Puerto Rico.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nacla.org/article/puerto-rico-united-nations |title=Puerto Rico at the United Nations |last=López |first=Ana M. |date=2014 |website=The North American Congress on Latin America |access-date=February 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222110623/https://nacla.org/article/puerto-rico-united-nations |archive-date=February 22, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The UN's Special Committee has referred often to Puerto Rico as a nation in its reports, because, internationally, the people of Puerto Rico are often considered to be a Caribbean nation with their own national identity.<ref name="Implementation 1971">{{Cite book|title=Report of the Special Committee on the Situation with Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples|volume=23|author=United Nations. General Assembly. Special Committee on the Situation With Regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples|publisher=United Nations Publications|year=1971|isbn=978-92-1-810211-9|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4nEyLDpKZjMC&pg=PA10 10–11]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4nEyLDpKZjMC}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>[http://www.nam.gov.za/media/040820.pdf XIV Ministerial Conference of the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations. Durban, South Africa, 2004. See pages 14–15.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090731065406/http://www.nam.gov.za/media/040820.pdf |date=2009-07-31}}</ref> Most recently, in a June 2016 report, the Special Committee called for the United States to expedite the process to allow self-determination in Puerto Rico. More specifically, the group called on the United States to expedite a process that would allow the people of Puerto Rico to exercise fully their right to self-determination and independence. ... allow the Puerto Rican people to take decisions in a sovereign manner, and to address their urgent economic and social needs, including unemployment, marginalization, insolvency and poverty".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/gacol3296.doc.htm |title=Special Committee on Decolonization Approves Text Calling upon United States Government to Expedite Self-Determination Process for Puerto Rico |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=June 20, 2016 |publisher=United Nations |access-date=February 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170211181523/https://www.un.org/press/en/2016/gacol3296.doc.htm |archive-date=February 11, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Puerto Rico has held four referendums to determine whether to retain its status as a territory or to switch to some other status such as statehood. The fourth, the [[Puerto Rican status referendum, 2012]] occurred on November 6, 2012. The result a 54% majority of the ballots cast against the continuation of the island's territorial political status, and in favor of a new status. Of votes for new status, a 61.1% majority chose statehood.<ref name="cbsnews1">{{cite web|date=November 7, 2012|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/puerto-rico-votes-for-us-statehood-in-non-binding-referendum/|title=Puerto Rico votes for U.S. statehood in non-binding referendum|publisher=CBS News|access-date=2012-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131104054852/http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57546260/puerto-rico-votes-for-u.s-statehood-in-non-binding-referendum/|archive-date=November 4, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ceepur.org/REYDI_NocheDelEvento/index.html#en/default/OPCIONES_NO_TERRITORIALES_ISLA.xml |access-date=November 8, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107090851/http://www.ceepur.org/REYDI_NocheDelEvento/index.html |archive-date=November 7, 2012|title=CEE Event }}</ref><!-- The archived link leads to a blank page. --><ref>{{cite web|agency=Associated Press|url=http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Puerto-Rico-vote-could-change-ties-to-U-S-4014733.php|title=Puerto Rico vote could change ties to U.S.|work=San Francisco Chronicle|date=2012-11-04|access-date=2012-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525133500/http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Puerto-Rico-vote-could-change-ties-to-U-S-4014733.php|archive-date=May 25, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> This was by far the most successful referendum for statehood advocates. In all earlier referenda, votes for statehood were matched almost equally by votes for remaining an American territory, with the remainder for independence. Support for U.S. statehood has risen in each successive popular referendum.<ref name="letpuertoricodecide1">{{cite web|url = http://www.letpuertoricodecide.com/details.php?cid=4|title = An Introduction to Puerto Rico's Status Debate|publisher = Let Puerto Rico Decide|access-date = 2012-03-29|url-status = usurped|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120216191957/http://www.letpuertoricodecide.com/details.php?cid=4|archive-date = 2012-02-16}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">[https://edition.cnn.com/2012/11/07/politics/election-puerto-rico/index.html?iref=allsearch Puerto Ricans favor statehood for first time], CNN, November 7, 2012</ref>

The fifth [[Puerto Rican status referendum, 2017|Puerto Rican status referendum of 2017]], was held on June 11, 2017, and offered three options: "Statehood", "Independence/Free Association", and "Current Territorial Status." With 23% of registered voters casting ballots, 97% voted for statehood.<ref>{{cite news |last=Robles |first=Frances |date=June 11, 2017 |title=23% of Puerto Ricans Vote in Referendum, 97% of Them for Statehood |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/11/us/puerto-ricans-vote-on-the-question-of-statehood.html |newspaper=[[New York Times]] |location=New York |access-date=August 12, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813060456/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/11/us/puerto-ricans-vote-on-the-question-of-statehood.html |archive-date=August 13, 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> Benefits of statehood would include an additional $10 billion per year in federal funds, the right to vote in presidential elections, higher Social Security and Medicare benefits, and a right for its government agencies and municipalities to file for bankruptcy. The latter is currently prohibited.<ref name="wapo-2017-coto-danica">{{cite news|last=Coto|first=Danica|date=February 3, 2017|title=Puerto Rico gov approves referendum in quest for statehood|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/puerto-rico-gov-approves-referendum-in-quest-for-statehood/2017/02/03/ddea7392-ea54-11e6-903d-9b11ed7d8d2a_story.html|newspaper=[[Washington Post]]|location=DC|access-date=February 17, 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204020835/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/puerto-rico-gov-approves-referendum-in-quest-for-statehood/2017/02/03/ddea7392-ea54-11e6-903d-9b11ed7d8d2a_story.html|archive-date=February 4, 2017}}</ref>

Even with the Puerto Ricans' vote for statehood, action by the [[United States Congress]] would be necessary to implement changes to the status of Puerto Rico under the [[Article Four of the United States Constitution#Federal property and the Territorial Clause|Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution]].<ref name="wapo-2017-coto-danica" />

==See also==
{{Portal|United States}}
* [[Criollo people]]
* [[Demographics of Puerto Rico]]
* [[Hispanics]]
* [[History of Puerto Ricans]]
* [[History of Puerto Rico]]
* [[History of women in Puerto Rico]]
* [[List of Puerto Rican Presidential Citizens Medal recipients]]
* [[List of Puerto Rican Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
* [[List of Puerto Ricans]]
* [[List of Stateside Puerto Ricans]]
* [[Military history of Puerto Rico]]
* [[Nuyoricans]]
* [[Puerto Rican citizenship]]
* [[Puerto Rican migration to New York]]
* [[Puerto Rican status referendum, 2017]]
* [[Puerto Ricans in the United States]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|refs=
# {{efn|name=note1|The term ''Boricua'' is gender-neutral, whereas the terms ''Puertorriqueño'', ''Borinqueño'', ''Borincano'', and ''Puertorro'' are male-specific when ending in «o» and female-specific when ending in «a».}}
# {{efn|name=note|The term ''Puertorro -a'' is used [[Popular culture|popularly]], [[Colloquialism|spontaneously]], and [[High culture|politely]] to refer to Puerto Ricans or Puerto Rico. It is occasionally mistaken for a [[pejorative]], but the term is not considered offensive by Puerto Ricans. It has been most famously used by Puerto Rican musicians, including [[Bobby Valentín]] in his song ''Soy Boricua'' (1972), [[Andy Montañez]] in ''En Mi Puertorro'' (2006), and [[Bad Bunny]] in ''ACHO PR'' (2023).}}
}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''"Adiós, Borinquen querida": The Puerto Rican Diaspora, Its History, and Contributions'', by Edna Acosta-Belen, et al. (Albany, New York: Center for Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean Studies, SUNY-Albany, 2000)
* ''Boricua Hawaiiana: Puerto Ricans of Hawaii—Reflections of the Past and Mirrors of the Future'', by Blase Camacho Souza (Honolulu: Puerto Rican Heritage Society of Hawaii, 1982)
* ''Boricua Literature: A Literary History of the Puerto Rican Diaspora'', by Lisa Sénchez González (New York: New York University Press, 2001)
* ''Boricua Pop: Puerto Ricans and the Latinization of American Culture'', by Frances Negrón-Muntaner (New York: New York University Press, 2004)
* ''Yo soy Boricua in "[[United States of Banana]]"'', by [[Giannina Braschi]] (AmazonCrossing, 2011)
* ''Boricuas: Influential Puerto Rican Writings'', by Roberto Santiago (New York: One World, 1995)
* ''Boricuas in Gotham: Puerto Ricans in the Making of Modern New York City'', edited by Gabriel Haslip-Viera, [[Angelo Falcón]] and Félix Matos Rodríguez (Princeton: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2004)
* [http://www.taino-tribe.org/pr-taino-dna.htm Taino-tribe.org], PR Taíno DNA study

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline|People of Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican people}}

{{Puerto Rican migrations}}
{{Hispanics/Latinos}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Puerto Rican People}}
[[Category:Puerto Rican people| ]]
[[Category:Cultural history of Puerto Rico]]
[[Category:Culture of Puerto Rico]]
[[Category:Society of Puerto Rico]]
[[Category:Social history of Puerto Rico]]
[[Category:Multiracial ethnic groups in insular areas of the United States]]