The estimate is based in part on data from the Family Income Survey conducted for the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the Department of Labor and Human Resources, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The survey was conducted in July 2000 and was designed to mimic the March Income Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted in the Mainland United States.

Data are available for 1,199 of the 1,298 valid households in the sample. The initial sample size was 1,392; 94 households were determined "not valid" because of housing condition (condemned), they were unoccupied, or other reasons. The questionnaire was administered in face-to-face personal interviews. Income questions refer to money income received during 1999 and resemble the questions used in the CPS in the breadth of income sources for which data are collected.

The estimate is also based on our estimate of the number of related children in poverty in 1995. (See Estimates for 1995 for Puerto Rico).

In light of the manipulations required to derive the estimate for the desired age group and year, we were unable to estimate confidence intervals for the estimate or the difference between the estimate and estimates for previous years.

For further information about the Puerto Rico Family Income Surveys, please contact the Small Area Estimates Branch.

Because direct survey estimates of poverty are not available for the target year, 1997, we use estimates from the 1996 and 1999 Puerto Rico Family Income Surveys. In doing this, we assume a uniform change in poverty for each calendar year between 1996 and 1999.

We use the following steps to compute the number of related children ages 5 to 17 in poverty for 1997.

1. Start with the estimated number of poor related children ages 5 to 17 in poverty from 1996 (531,269).
2. Subtract the estimated number of poor related children ages 5 to 17 from 1999 (434,273).
3. This signifies the estimated decrease in the number of poor related children ages 5 to 17 from 1996 to 1999 (96,996).
4. Dividing this number by 3 creates a linear interpolation of the decrease in poverty of poor related children ages 5 to 17 per year from 1996 to 1999 (32,332).
5. Subtract this change from the 1996 estimate. This provides the estimated number of poor related children ages 5 to 17 in 1997 (498,937).

Population estimates are available for the Commonwealth as a product of the Federal-State Cooperative Population Estimates Program. The population estimates were produced by the U.S. Census Bureau's Population Division, see the below non-technical summary for details.