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This macroeconomic growth has improved the purchasing power of the working population, and absolute poverty seems to have diminished. However, reduced public spending for education and health has affected family budgets, unemployment rates, and the percentage of population linked to the informal economy and non-wage earning activities. This has led to a considerable increase in relative poverty and the number of people who are in need. Social and health issues remain present in the Dominican Republic, some of which are increasing. One of the spreading social issues is domestic violence against women. Police authorities report a growing number of charges being filed, particularly cases of sexual violence, including rape, with most victims being children and adolescents. Teenage pregnancy is also a serious issue. In 1999 about 33% of the women between 15 and 19 years of age had had at least one pregnancy, proportion that has been increasing around 10% during the last 4 years. Adolescent pregnancies are more common in rural areas, in lower-income districts where sanitation is poor, and among women who have had little schooling.
The infant mortality
rate for children under 5 was 49 per 1,000 in the year 2000. Nutritional deficiencies are the number-one concern among non-communicable diseases and illnesses. In 1994, nutritional deficiencies were responsible for about 10% of the deaths in infants under 1 year of age and 15% in children aged 1 to 4. In 1996 the rate of overall malnutrition in children under 5 years of age was estimated at 6% and the rate of chronic malnutrition at 11%. In the country's poorest regions the rate of chronic malnutrition in children under 5 years old ranges from 17% to 20%, and in the capital region it is 6%. The low-income Dominicans, especially the children, suffer needlessly
from preventable illnesses in all aspects of their health such as the
common cold, influenza and diarrhoea. There is also a great need for informal
education. The lack of unaffordable and inaccessible health facilities
forces people to avoid treatment and attention, and the lack of health
awareness exacerbates the suffering. The Dominican Republic provides free, compulsory education to children between the ages of 7 and 14. About three-fourths of the population aged 15 or older is literate. In the late 1980s approximately 1.3 million pupils attended primary schools each year. Students in secondary schools numbered about 451,700, including those attending vocational schools and institutions for teacher training. The Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, founded in 1538, is the oldest in the western hemisphere. Other universities include Pedro Henríquez Ureña National University (1966) in Santo Domingo, and institutions in Santiago, San Pedro de Macorís, and San Francisco de Macorís. The yearly enrollment in schools of higher education exceeded 80,000 in the late 1980s. |
In
the year 2002, the 29% of the population in the Dominican lived
in extreme poverty conditions and the fact of having limited access
to basic health services was the cause of high rates of morbid-mortality
on infants under five years of age who were specifically affected
by respiratory infections, diarrhoeal disease, dengue and nutritional
deficiencies. In the year 2000, around 23.925 people died in the
country and 10.5% of those, were children.