Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas
Title 13 of the U.S. Code states that each of the censuses it authorizes “shall include each State, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands [of the United States], Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and as may be determined by the Secretary [of Commerce], such other possessions and areas over which the United States exercises jurisdiction, control, or sovereignty. Inclusion of other areas … shall be subject to the concurrence of the Secretary of State.” Accordingly, for the 1990 census, the Bureau of the Census enumerated and tabulated data for the following entities, and treated each as the statistical equivalent of a State for consistency in its data presentations and tabulations:
- American Samoa
- Guam
- The Northern Mariana Islands (legally referred to since 1986 as the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands)
- Palau (referred to since 1979 as the Republic of Palau, and also known locally as Belau)
- Puerto Rico (legally referred to since 1952 as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico)
- The Virgin Islands of the United States (informally referred to as the Virgin Islands)
The Census Bureau refers to these entities collectively as Puerto Rico and the Outlying Areas. All these entities except Palau also are included in the Census of Agriculture, and all except American Samoa and Palau are included in the economic censuses. Table 7-1 shows the first year each entity participated in the decennial, agriculture, and economic censuses. In the Virgin Islands and the Pacific Outlying Areas, the Census Bureau takes the various censuses as joint projects with the local governments, which actually conduct the censuses. In Puerto Rico, the Census Bureau conducts the census.
