English language in Puerto Rico

While Spanish is the first official language of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, English is the second official language. English is taught in all Puerto Rican schools and is the primary language for all of the U.S. federal agencies in Puerto Rico as one of the two official languages of the Commonwealth, the other one being Spanish, which has been the predominant and primary language for the majority of Puerto Ricans as 94.3% of the entire population speak Spanish as their native language, along with 5.5% speaking English as their first language, and the remaining 0.2% speaking other languages as their primary. English was not declared as an official language alongside Spanish until 1902. Its status as an official language however was briefly removed in 1991 after a law was made recognizing Spanish as the sole official language, and after the U.S. Congress had attempted to make English the primary language in order for Puerto Rico to join the union as the 51st state, but was brought back as the second official language in 1993 and has remained the co-official language of the commonwealth since then.

Spanish is the most spoken and written language, and the vast majority of Puerto Ricans do not use English regularly other than some borrowed English words in their ordinary Spanish speech. Various surveys have found that the majority of Puerto Ricans are not fluent in English. Out of those age five and older, 76.6% of Puerto Ricans did not speak English "very well," and 94.5% spoke a language other than English at home.