(COMMONWEALTH OF PUERTO RICO)

(WIPO code: PR) (last revised January 2024)

by REICHARD & CALAF, P.S.C., San Juan

General Information

Area

9,104 sq. km., in total.

Population

3,057,311 (estimated December 2023).

Capital

San Juan.

Official languages

Spanish and English.

Currency

U.S. dollar (USD).

Administration

A commonwealth associated with the U.S., self-governing and autonomous. Its bicameral legislature, Executive Government, and Supreme Court are in the capital city of San Juan.

General Remarks

Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean Sea. It is the smallest of the four of the Greater Antilles. The other three islands are Cuba, Hispaniola (shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Jamaica. Puerto Rico is to the east of Hispaniola. It was a Spanish colony until the end of the nineteenth century and following the Spanish American War, became a possession of the United States. In 1952 it became a Commonwealth of the United States.