Country Comments

The Dominican Republic has almost three times as many citizens than can be sustained under the current consumption and economic activity. The country with above replacement fertility that has averaged 2.5 children per mother the past decade is trending downward but it needs to reduce its population faster to achieve long term sustainability. The country is adding over 100,000 new citizens a year even with the emigration of over 30,000 citizens a year.

Agriculture and mining are important industries as well as tourism which generates over $1 billion in revenue annually and is being prioritized over the preservation of ecosystems crucial to the survival of endangered species and water availability to the region. Environmental protection rules are often relaxed in the interest of profit.

In the Dominican Republic, it is common to use rivers and beaches as places to dump trash. When trash is dumped in these areas the majority of the garbage makes it to the high seas, while a small percentage washes up onto shore.(1)

The Dominican Republic continues to be one of the few countries in the world that criminalizes abortion under all circumstances and maintains a high rate of maternal mortality. The Dominican Republic has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Latin American and the Caribbean. Dominican Women are now significantly the breadwinners for their households, and the unemployment rate of the female labor force dropped from 33.6 percent in 1991 to 22.2 percent in 2016. It is much easier for women to find a job in rural areas in spite of lower income. In recent years, there has been considerable traction in anti-violence campaigns pursuing women’s empowerment in the Dominican Republic. (2)

(1) Karasz.

(2) Borgen project