Federal Data Inequities in U.S. Territories Hinder Inclusive and Precise Policymaking

The five U.S. Territories — Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands — are excluded from most federal statistical products, a recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) shows. That means that far less is known about the people, communities, agriculture, environment, and businesses in the territories compared to what is known about them in states, which in turn makes it harder to formulate policy and provide adequate resources for the roughly 4 million U.S. residents living in the territories. A subsequent House Natural Resources Committee panel emphasized that these data gaps make it more challenging for people in the territories to access critical federal programs, even as they have among the highest poverty levels in the U.S.

While it’s important that these barriers are being highlighted, their existence is not new and is part of a larger pattern of neglect. The territories have long faced restricted access to federal benefits and other opportunities due to different rules and funding structures that apply to U.S. citizens and nationals who live in territories compared to the rules and funding available to people who live in states. Policymakers should take steps to address not only the data gaps but the full range of these inequities.

At its core, the territories’ lack of representation in federal datasets is a racial justice and equity issue. The territories have a combined population of roughly 3.6 million people, the majority of whom are people of color. Territorial data gaps are one more way in which the federal government systemically ostracizes these populations. People who reside in the territories cannot vote in general elections or elect voting representatives to Congress — and they have far less access to the nation’s major health and economic security programs such as Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Supplemental Security Income. On top of their high poverty rates, the territories are highly prone to natural disasters that require population statistics to support recovery efforts.

GAO found that Puerto Rico, the most populous territory, is included in only 81 of 449 statistical products released by the 13 principal statistical agencies, which include the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another such agency, the National Agricultural Statistics Service, includes the territories in only one of its 52 statistical products. The Census Bureau’s Current Population Survey (CPS) is among the major statistical products that exclude the territories altogether.

Federal agencies also fail to report consistently on territories even when they’re included in certain products. For instance, all five territories are included in the decennial census, but U.S. population counts often exclude the 3.6 million people living in them. Take another example: the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports gross domestic product data quarterly for states but only annually for the territories.

Exclusion from data collection only worsens discrimination against these communities and hinders critical support from reaching those who need it most. For instance, all five territories are excluded from the Household Pulse Survey, a data system developed by the Census Bureau and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was designed to gauge the impact of COVID-19 on a range of social and economic issues, such as employment status, consumer spending, food security, housing, physical and mental health, and education, and to help inform the policy response.

Today, the survey serves as a key tool to provide relevant information about how emergent issues are impacting U.S. households. Because the territories do not participate in this survey, it is much more difficult to assess, for example, the impact of natural disasters and the effectiveness of local and federal resilience and recovery efforts.

In the same vein, a lack of reportable data for smaller territorial communities within the Census Bureau’s Island Areas Census prevents those communities from being represented in other composite statistics such as the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index, which spans a range of variables that can help agencies determine funding allocations for emergency preparedness.

Population size is one of the main barriers to collecting data in the territories, according to GAO. Smaller populations need relatively larger samples for the same margin of error, and estimation costs increase as sample size increases. This is particularly challenging for Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Guam is the most populous of the four, with approximately 154,000 inhabitants. (In contrast, the least populous state, Wyoming, is home to roughly 584,00 people.) At the opposite end, Puerto Rico is home to 3.2 million U.S. citizens — more than 19 states and the District of Columbia. Geographic distance from the mainland, language barriers, and agencies’ lack of staff permanently assigned to the territories further complicate data collection.

GAO recommends that the Chief Statistician of the United States work with the territories and other stakeholders to develop an approach for examining the costs, benefits, and feasibility of including the territories in more statistical products. This approach would be used across the federal government to identify and address data gaps. The House subcommittee hearing also made clear that agencies will need additional funding to support this work.

Data inequities have long plagued the territories. A 2016 report by the bipartisan Congressional Task Force on Economic Growth in Puerto Rico came to the same conclusion as the GAO report: “that Puerto Rico and, to an even greater extent, the four smaller U.S. territories ... are currently excluded from a considerable number of the statistical programs conducted by the principal federal statistical agencies, including some of the most important programs.”

The task force similarly called on the Chief Statistician to prioritize Puerto Rico’s inclusion in federal statistical programs. It also recommended that the Census Bureau take all reasonable steps to include Puerto Rico in its products; these include the quinquennial Census of Governments and various reports on public employment, public pensions, and state and local government finances. The same recommendations are fully applicable to the other four territories.

Bipartisan bills like the Territories Statistics Collection Equity Act, which has been endorsed by all five territorial delegates, can provide a good starting point to mend some of these inequities. The legislation would direct the Interagency Council on Statistical Policy to develop a plan to collect and publish statistics about the territories the same way it does for states. Policymakers should also seek to strengthen existing data collection protocols and ensure sufficient funding and staffing for agencies to properly develop statistical products in all five territories.

With more inclusive data, the federal government will be better equipped to provide comprehensive, long-overdue rights and benefits it has largely withheld from the territories. Data equity is not an end goal, but rather a critical step to illuminate and inform the very discussions and policymaking processes that can resolve these larger systemic faults.