Puerto Rico’s income inequality is sky high now.

After Hurricane Maria, there was a significant outmigration to the United States (Hinojosa and Melendez 2018b). Many of the migrants can be considered refugees, as many of them returned months later to Puerto Rico. According to the population estimates prepared by the Census Bureau, the net outmigration from July 2017 to June 2018 amounted to 123,399 individuals, 80 percent more than the net outmigration recorded in the previous period. However, the return of refugees continued throughout the 2018-2019 period, to the point that, from July 2018 to June 2019, there was a net immigration to Puerto Rico from the United States of 7,733 individuals, the first net immigration to Puerto Rico observed in decades (US Census Bureau 2019). With regard to damages to vulnerable houses, the administrative data gathered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) indicate the extent of the hurricane's wrath on vulnerable households. As of January 3, 2017, 1.09 million claims for assistance in reconstructing houses were filed by FEMA, representing 88 percent of Puerto Rican households. Figure 10 shows the most affected counties. Most of these applications were denied, and only 0.1 percent received the maximum grant ($33,000). Culebra (the small island to the east) had zero maximum grants for 543 claims; Hormigueros had zero for 5,098; Quebradillas had zero for 7,832; and Sabana Grande had zero for 7,658 households affected. Lajas had one maximum grant for 7,484 claims and San German had one maximum grant for 10,207 claims. In terms of income inequality, Puerto Rico had one of the worst Gini coefficients in the world before Maria (Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics 2018). According to the first human development report of Puerto Rico, in 2012, it ranked as the country with the fifth highest income inequality in the world, with a Gini coefficient of 0.55, which was an increase from 0.535 in 2006. Similar to the United States, where the inequality indicators are based on the American Community Survey, in the case of Puerto Rico these inequality indicators were based on the Puerto Rico Community Survey. There are no data on consumption inequality on the island.