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This study compares the socioeconomic conditions of households across the districts of the Republic of Panama based on the 2000 and 2023 censuses. Variables related to basic services and the conditions of occupied private dwellings were analyzed at the district level, primarily applying Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify factors of housing deprivation and construct the Housing Quality Index (HQI). This index is represented through heat maps that visualize well-being and classify conditions in rural and urban contexts. The results show that, after more than two decades, territorial inequalities persist despite progress in infrastructure and basic services, especially in rural and Indigenous areas, where districts with precarious housing exhibit higher poverty levels. The HQI derived from PCA aligns consistently with the Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN) and Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), although it uses different indicators.
