For a large number of Dominicans, the future is far from the island where they were born.
According to the criteria of
Dominican Republic, home of 11.3 million inhabitantshas been a country of emigrants for decades.
And this does not seem to change despite the progress that sets it apart from many of its neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean immersed in economic crises, political turbulence or both.
The Dominican Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reached US$11,200 in 2023, a strong advance of 4.35% year-on-year and more than 30% compared to 2019, the year before the pandemic.
“We are already a middle-income economy,” recently proclaimed President Luis Abinader, renewed in office on May 19 after an electoral process whose integrity has been widely recognized.
In fact, the democracy of the Dominican Republic is one of the most durable in Latin America, with more than six decades of peaceful succession of power through popular vote.
Despite all of the above, its inhabitants continue to emigrate: the Dominican diaspora grew from 2.53 million to 2.83 million between 2021 and 2022, according to the latest data from the Institute of Dominicans Abroad (Index).
And the country’s migration balance is negative: last year 29,000 more people left than enteredaccording to figures from the World Bank.
The data confirm a marked trend toward emigration that began in the 1990s and was only partially interrupted in the two years of the pandemic.
What pushes so many Dominicans to leave their country? There are several reasons.
inequality
“Here there is no economic crisis since 2003-2004. There is a small problem with inflation but it is moderate, it is not out of control and the peso has remained very stable,” Dominican political scientist Rosario Espinal, emeritus professor of sociology at Temple University, Philadelphia, tells BBC Mundo.
In addition, the tourism industry has recovered strongly since the pandemic and remittances contribute more than US$10 billion to the State’s coffers each year, almost a tenth of the GDP.
However, this prosperity is not necessarily reflected in the daily lives of a large part of the population.
Although monetary poverty decreased significantly from 27.7% in 2022 to 23.0% in 2023, according to the government, the World Bank estimates that more than 40% of Dominicans live in vulnerable conditions.
Many Dominicans survive with informal jobs.
Photo:
“The apparent stability at both the economic and political levels hides a story, a Dominican Republic ‘back’as we call the neighborhood with the alleys where the most vulnerable, the most dispossessed are found,” says Dominican sociologist Juan Miguel Pérez.
Pérez believes that the root of the migratory trend of Dominicans lies in the inequality that prevails in the country.
A World Bank study in 2014 showed shocking data: less than 2% of the population of the Dominican Republic had risen economically compared to the previous generation (the Latin American average was 41%) and, even worse, 19% had regressed.
Although the figures have not been updated, Pérez assures that the situation has barely changed and economic and social mobility remains scarce in the Caribbean country.
“Here there is an elite, a kind of social monarchy that has been established in the country and that is inherited by last nameby primary links”, sentence.
And this, he alleges, translates into discrimination: “my university students who live in poor neighborhoods tell me that, when they apply for a job, they have to hide their place of residence.”
Despite the country’s economic development, many neighborhoods remain mired in poverty.
Photo:
He assures that “the problem of migration is not only an economic problem, which it is, but it is also a problem of see that someone else has opportunities and I don’t have them”.
“People keep leaving because they have no hope that that growth will be shared with them. It is understood then that it is not only an economic issue, but an issue of hope. That hope is surrounded by those groups,” she concludes.
Salaries and cost of living
“There is macroeconomic stability, but it is a low-wage economy,” says Rosario Espinal.
The average monthly salary in the Dominican Republic is RD$33,600 (US$574)according to a recent report from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPyD).
Employees in the mining industry and the financial sector are the best paid, with more than US$1,000 per month; Those in public administration, communications, commerce and health make up the middle level with income between US$500 and 700; and the most disadvantaged are agricultural workers with less than US$450.
It is very difficult for unskilled Dominican workers to achieve a moderately acceptable standard of living.
“Jobs in the agricultural and construction sectors in the Dominican Republic They are almost always made by Haitians. That means landowners, business owners and builders can pay lower wages; so, For Dominicans it is not competitive to work”, the renowned demographer José Miguel Guzmán explains to BBC Mundo.
Haitians take over manual agricultural jobs, which are the lowest paid.
Photo:
But even skilled workers are not guaranteed comfort.
“For the middle class, having a salary and a job does not mean having the problems solved; On the contrary, it means live with constant worry”says Guzmán, citing the high cost of private health and education.
The private education of a child in the Dominican Republic costs between US$2,500 and 6,800 a year in Spanish and between US$8,500 and 17,000 in the case of bilingual high schools without counting other expenses such as school supplies, uniforms or transportation, according to a recent survey by the local newspaper The new daily.
“Public schools are bad, so everyone who aspires to be middle class does not send their children to public school and you have to pay for a private one,” explains political scientist Rosario Espinal.
This pressure pushes many to leave the country in search of a better life.
“The cost for a person or a family who aspires to live as a middle class is high, so many people who do not achieve it say, I’m leaving, because in the United States I can earn more than double of what he earned here,” says Espinal.
Families abroad
More of 2.84 million people of Dominican origin live abroad, according to the 2023 Sociodemographic Registry of the Institute of Dominicans Abroad (INDEX).
The figure, which includes children of emigrants who were born in their host countries, is considerable considering that the population of the Dominican Republic is around 11.3 million.
The vast majority, almost 2.4 million live in the United Stateswhile Spain is the second largest host country with 193,653 Dominicans.
Demographer José Miguel Guzmán indicates that “an important part of the migration of Dominicans at this time is family reunification.”
“Many fathers and mothers went abroad without their children, women without their husbands or husbands without their wives. And then, in many cases, They claim them to reunite the family once they are legalized and have their residence permit in the United States, for example,” he explains.
For his part, sociologist Juan Miguel Pérez highlights that “Dominicans have a high legalization rate” in the North American country.
“The United States changed the immigration law in 1965 and established family reunification, which many Dominicans could ask for from their families. That’s why here entire families leaveand especially with limited resources,” he adds.
Most Dominicans enter the US through legal channels, but some do so by trying to cross the border from Mexico.
Photo:
Thus, every year the remittances sent by Dominican emigrants from the US, Spain and other countries increase.
These reached US$10,157 million last year3.1% more than the previous one, according to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic.
The figure is similar to what the country earned from tourism last year and represents almost 10% of its total GDP.
The large remittances sent by the emigrant community are today a crucial asset for both maintain unstoppable economic growth to guarantee the subsistence of Dominican families and compensate to a certain extent for income inequalities.
And, in any case, the negative migration balance is not reducing the population of the Dominican Republic.
On the contrary, it increases at a rate of approximately 1% annuallysince births – the fertility rate was 2.2 children per woman in 2023 – each year exceed the total number of Dominicans who die or leave the country.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
#Dominicans #continue #emigrate #country #political #stability #economic #growth