Puerto Rico’s population began its dynamic expansion in the second half of the eighteenth century, according to colonial data. A detailed census conducted in 1765 enumerated 44,883 inhabitants; the population grew to 155,426 by 1800 and then increased to 583,308 in 1860. By 1899, when an extensive census was conducted by the occupying US military, the population was 953,243 and had increased at 1.3 percent yearly from 1860. After 1899, demographic growth accelerated and grew at a 1.7 percent yearly rate between 1899 and 1940, when the population stood at more than 1.8 million people. (See Figure 5.1.)