U.S. Puerto Rican population at 4.1M

WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Some 4.1 million Puerto Ricans lived in the United States in 2007, more than the population of Puerto Rico itself, U.S. Census figures indicate.

The authors of a report released Monday by the Pew Research Center of Washington say their analysis of data contained in the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey also indicated most Puerto Ricans in the United States -- 2.7 million in all -- were born in the country, while 1.4 million were born in Puerto Rico, but are also considered native born because they are U.S. citizens by birth.

The numbers showed Puerto Ricans are the second-largest population of Hispanic origin residing in the United States, accounting for 9.1 percent of the U.S. Hispanic population in 2007, while Mexicans constituted 29.2 million, or 64.3 percent, of the Hispanic population.

The analysis also found as a group, Puerto Ricans are older than Hispanics on average but are younger than the U.S. population. They were found to be less likely to be married than either Hispanics overall or the U.S. population overall.

The Pew Center said 56 percent of Puerto Rican women who had given birth in the prior 12 months were unmarried.