Country Facts of Dominican Republic:
Locating on island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean region, Dominican Republican is a
nation with two countries shared island. Dominican Republican is the second largest
Caribbean nation after Cuba both by population and area. Its island is occupied by
Haiti nation. Its motto is “Dios, Patria, Libertad”. In English, “God, Fatherland,
Liberty” is the motto of the country.
History of Dominican Republic:
The Tainos moved towards Hispaniola and they displaced the earlier inhabitants.
Their professions were hunting, gathering, farming and fishing. In the meanwhile,
during 15th century, the Caribs drove the Tainos towards the northeastern
Caribbean. In 1492, the island had been divided into 5 Taino chiefdoms. In 1492,
Christopher Columbus, a Spanish ruler, came in the island, in one of his four
voyages, and claimed the island for Spain and he named it La Espanola. Later on,
Bartholomew Columbus, brother of Christopher Columbus, built up city of Santo
Domingo. The Tainos disappeared from the area. Santo Domingo got its population
increased from 6000 in 1737 to 125000 in 1790. At the end of the 18th century, with
effect of French Revolution, Spain neglected its holdings and ceded area to France.
The slaves, led by Toussaint Louverture, of Santo Domingo took revolt against
France. In 1801, they took the control of the entire island. Later on, Toussaint was
sent to jail and the revolt continued. In 1808, with the aid of Great Britain, Santo
Domingo was given in Spanish control again.
After some failure and discontent, Santo Domingo’s Lieutenant-Governor, Jose
Nunez de Caceres, declared the independence of the colony as Spanish Haiti in
November 30, 1821. The Haitians, like Toussaint, abolished the chains of slavery
and all the private property, in the result of invasion, was nationalized. On February
27, 1844, Dominican Republican got independence by wake of Duarte, Sanchez and
Mella; the founding fathers of the country.
At present, following the democratic system, as a result of election, Fernandez is
leading Dominican Republican since 2004 because he has been re-elected in 2008.
Demographics of Dominican Republic:
The population of Dominican Republican in 2007, estimated by the United Nations,
was 9,760,000. It is the 82nd biggest nation in the world by wake of its population in
193 nations of the whole world. The growth annual rate of population in 2007 was
1.5% and it can increase the population in 2015 to 10,121,000. Moreover, the urban
areas are holding 63% population and Cibao Valley and the southern coastal plainsare the densely populated areas of this nation. In the capital city, Santo Domingo, the population resides above 3,014,000.
Economy of Dominican Republic:
In Central America and Caribbean, according to the U.S State Department, the
economy of Dominican Republican is the second largest economy. It can be called
as middle-income developing country having GDP per cappta of $9,208 in PPP terms
which seems relatively very high in Latin America. It had got exceptional growth in
its GDP of 9.1%. Most of the time, the growth was led by imports, exports, finance
and foreign investment in the country. The inhabitants of the country depend
primarily on natural resources and government services. Agriculture stands at the
second place, after mining, in terms of earning for the Dominicans.
The government service sector has got growth in the recent years and Free Trade
Zones are the fastest export sectors for earnings. In 2007, real estate tourism
accounted $1.5 billion earnings. The economy is getting its rise despite of the fact
of chronic energy shortage. The remittances and tourism earnings have assisted to
build up foreign exchange reserves.
By following different kinds of the turmoil seething in the late 1980s, the Dominican
Republic entered in the period of declining inflation and the upraising of the growth
until 2002 and in this way, the domestic product fell by up to 5% and the economy
of the country entered in the recession. In the same years, the fraud of the
Dominican Republic’s president, Hipolito Mejia, led the country to the loss of $3.5
billion which made the country towards the devastating effect. The inflation
ballooned over 27% by wake of it and all the defendants were convicted.
According to the report of the United Nations in 2005, the country is ranked in the
whole world at 71 for the resource availability. It is No.79 for human development
and No.14 in the world for resource mismanagement. In this way, these statistics
stress the nation government economic interference, corruption and the rift the
between the poor and the rich.
Ethnicity of Dominican Republic:
In the CIA fact book, it is stated that the Dominican Republic consists of 73%
multiracial, 11% black and 16% white population. In the multiracial population, the
people of European and African countries are in higher number and the Taino
element can be seen evidently in the population. In 2010, it is been published that
15% Dominicans have Taino ancestry and more than 70% have African genes.
According to the U.N envoy, in 2007, the racism in Dominicans against black in
general and against Haitians in particular is rampant in the every segment of the
country.
Religion of Dominican Republic:In Dominican Republic, more than 68.9% people are Roman Catholic and 10.6% infidels are there and other 2.3% people have some other religion to follow. In other sources, it has been noted that the ratio of the irreligious people is at 7% and nearly to 10%. The Dominican Republic is the completely independent for following the religion as it provides no restrictions on the population and everyone can follow the religion of its own will in the country.
Languages of Dominican Republic:
In Dominican Republic, Spanish is imposed as the country language and all the
schools are based on the Spanish education model. So, Spanish speaking is the
normal trend of the country, save for some new immigrants. Moreover, schools are
also based on the same language, where English is being taught as secondary
language in all the private schools. Furthermore, the people from the Haitian
ancestors speak Haitian Creole in the country. Dominican Republic is supporting the
inhabitants to learn English to stand at a high position in the modern world.
Crime Ratio in Dominican Republic:
The Dominican Republic has got its popularity by wake of the money laundering
cases and other robbery cases in the country. It has become popular for a
trans-shipment point for the Colombians drugs which are sent to Europe, Canada
and the United States. Moreover, the Colombian drug cartels consider Dominican
Republic as favorite for money laundering for the ease of illicit financial
transactions. In the recent year 2004, it has been noted that 8% cocaine has been
smuggled to the United States through Dominican Republic. In this way, the country
tried to response at the increasing ratio of the crime and money laundering for the
sake of seizing its drug shipments by arresting and extraditing the involved.
The light treatment of the law of Dominican Republic has been a continuous source
for the local controversy as five teenagers, including 2 females, drunken, shot local
area and killed two taxi drivers and they were, later on, sentenced only for 3-5
years prison terms. So, the crime rate is reasonable for the country and the
protective measures are being taken to reduce it.
Electricity of Dominican Republic:
Electricity has been the permanent cause of headache for the country and it is
unreliable since the Trujillo era and 75% equipment used for the production of
electricity is old. The privatization of the electric power company has led the
country grid causes transmission losses. In this way, the country is taking electricity
only from generators now. In the recent years, 95% users have not bill at all to pay
and 2.1 million houses do not have meters for calculation. Therefore, the fixed
amount or price is being taken from the users for electric service. Most of the country parts have better access to the electricity and the tourist areas
are tend to provide better access to it for reliable power services. The electricity
sector is under the influence of politics and it is highly politicized by the politicians.
Moreover, the generating companies always go under-capitalized, most of the time,
to purchase fuel supplies for adequate power supply.
Transportation of Dominican Republic:
The Dominican Republic includes three national trunk highways in it including DR-1,
DR-2 and DR-3. These highways depart from the capital city towards the northern,
southwestern and eastern parts of the Dominican Republic respectively. In the same
manner, these highways have been improved consistently for better roads with the
expansion of many sections with reconstruction. Two other highways including DR-4
and DR-5 work as spur and routes for the country and work as a alternative source
for transportation when the roads are treated in reconstruction process. So, in the
recent years, 106 kilometer toll road has been constructed which connects Santo
Domingo with the Peninsula in the northeastern part of the country.