PRpod: Puerto Rico picture of the day

Discover Puerto Rico! Each day a different picture pertaining to the youth's tour of Puerto Rico is featured, along with a brief explanation and a few links for further investigation.

July 8, 2025
Taino village
What is the recent history of Puerto Rico?

In recent years, Puerto Rico has faced a number of significant challenges, including a sustained economic recession, a major debt crisis, and a series of devastating natural disasters. Puerto Rico experienced a major recession from 2006 to 2017, leading to a contraction in the economy of 10%, a decline in population of 10%, and high unemployment (up to 15%).
In September of 2017, Hurricane Maria struck the island causing catastrophic damage to the territory with rain totals as high as 37.9inches. The entire power grid on the island was destroyed by the storm, and 95% of cell networks on the island were down. Three months after the hurricane, 45% of power customers had yet to get power back, and 14% still had no tap water, though 90% of the island did have cell service. Some other notable disasters include the earthquakes of 2020, COVID, and Hurricane Fiona in 2022.
In the past year, the economy has improved and the US Government recently announced $365 million to significantly increase Puerto Rico's grid resiliency.

Tomorrow's picture: Do I need to change money?