Puerto Rico ponders race amid surprising census results

By DÁNICA COTO
Associated Press

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The number of people in Puerto Rico who identified as “white” in the most recent census plummeted almost 80%, sparking a conversation of identity on an island breaking away from a past where race was not tracked and seldom debated in public. The drastic drop surprised many, and theories abound as the island of 3.3 million people reckons with its racial identity. Nearly 50% of those who filled out the 2020 census identified with “two races,” a jump from 3% who chose that option in the 2000 census. Meanwhile, there was a 190% jump in those who chose “some other race alone.”