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 * MY COUNTRY FACTS **

// “DOMINICAN REPUBLIC” //
 * Official country name: ** Dominican Republic.
 * The Dominican Republic is a country in the West Indies that occupies the eastern five-eighths of Hispaniola. It has an area of 48,670 km. The land border shared with Haiti, which occupies the western three-eighths of the island, is 376 km long. The capital, Santo Domingo, is located on the south coast. The coordinates are: 19°00' N 70°40' W.
 * The Dominican Republic joined the UN in 1945.



** PEOPLE **
 * The people of the Dominican Republic are called Dominicans. (Multi-ethnic people)
 * Most of the Dominican Republic population speaks in Spanish; its local dialect is called Dominican Spanish, and in schools children are taught Spanish as the first language and English and French as the second languages.


 * ** Percentages of languages talked in the Dominican Republic: **


 * Spanish || 98.00 %  ||
 * French || 1.19 %  ||
 * English || 0.57 %  ||
 * Arabic || 0.09 %  ||
 * Italian || 0.03 %  ||
 * Other language || 0.12 %  ||


 * The most practiced religion in The Dominican Republic is the Roman Catholic with a 68.9%, Protestants a 18.2% and with no religion a 2.3%

** FLAG **



Blue and red at the top and red and blue at the bottom. The blue on the flag means liberty, the white means salvation and the red means the blood of heroes.


 * NATIONAL SYMBOL **



Christopher Columbus arrived on Hispaniola on December 5, 1492, during the first of his four voyages to America. He claimed the land for Spain and named it // La Española //, because the diverse climate and terrain reminded him of the country. In 1496 Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher's brother, built the city of Santo Domingo, Western Europe's first permanent settlement in the "New World".
 * HISTORY **
 * European colonization **

After its conquest of the Aztecs and Incas, Spain neglected its Caribbean holdings. English and French buccaneer settled in northwestern Hispaniola coast, and after years of struggles with the French, Spain ceded the western coast of the island to France with the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick, whilst the Central Plateau remained under Spanish domain. France created a wealthy colony Saint-Domingue there, while the Spanish colony suffered an economic decline. The colony of Santo Domingo saw a spectacular population increase during the 17th century, as it rose from some 6,000 in 1637 to about 91,272 in 1750. Of this number approximately 38,272 were white landowners, 38,000 were free mixed people of color, and some 15,000 were slaves.This contrasted sharply with the population of the French colony of Saint-Domingue (present day Haiti) – which had a population that was 90% enslaved and overall four times as numerous as the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo.


 * Independence from Spain (1821) **

After a dozen years of discontent and failed independence plots by various opposing groups, Santo Domingo's former Lieutenant-Governor, José Núñez de Cáceres, declared the colony's independence from the Spanish crown as Spanish Haiti, on November 30, 1821.

The independence of the Dominican Republic ended two months later with the Unification of Hispaniola under the Haitian government led by Jean-Pierre Boyer. Haiti's constitution forbade white elites from owning land, and the major landowning families were forcibly deprived of their properties. Many emigrated to Cuba, Puerto Rico or Gran Colombia, usually with the encouragement of Haitian officials who acquired their lands.
 * Haitian Rule (1822-1844) **

On February 27, 1844, the //Trinitarios// (the members of La Trinitaria), declared the independence from Haiti after the Haitian rule.
 * Independence **** from Haiti **** (1844) **

In 1861, after imprisoning, silencing, exiling, and executing many of his opponents and due to political and economic reasons, Santana signed a pact with the Spanish Crown and reverted the Dominican nation to colonial status, the only Latin American country to do so. His ostensible aim was to protect the nation from another Haitian annexation.
 * Restoration **** Republic **

** 20th century (1900–30) **

From 1902 on, short-lived governments were again the norm, with their power usurped by caudillos in parts of the country. Furthermore, the national government was bankrupt and, unable to pay Heureaux's debts, faced the threat of military intervention by France and other European creditor powers.

There was considerable economic growth during Rafael Trujillo's long and iron-fisted regime, although a great deal of the wealth was taken by the dictator and other regime elements. There was progress in healthcare, education, and transportation, with the building of hospitals and clinics, schools, and roads and harbors. Trujillo also carried out an important housing construction program and instituted a pension plan. He finally negotiated an undisputed border with Haiti in 1935, and achieved the end of the 50-year customs agreement in 1941, instead of 1956. He made the country debt-free in 1947.
 * Trujillo Era (1930-1961) **

Trujillo was assassinated on May 30, 1961. In February 1963, a democratically elected government under leftist Juan Bosch took office but it was overthrown in September. In April 1965, after 19 months of military rule, a pro-Bosch revolt broke out.
 * Post- Trujillo (1961-2000) **

In 2000 the PRD's Hipólito Mejía won the election. This was a time of economic troubles. Mejía was defeated in his re-election effort in 2004. Leonel Fernandez of the PLD was elected president. He was re-elected in 2008. Danilo Medina of the PLD was elected president in 2012.
 * 21st Century **

** GOVERNMENT **
 * The Dominican Republic is a democratic state.


 * The actual president of the Dominican Republic is Danilo Medina Sanchez since the 21 of May of 2012 when he won with the 51.24% of the votes. He heads the executive power and executes laws passed by the Congress. The president and vice-president run for office on the same ticket and are elected by direct vote for 4-year terms.


 * The Dominican Republic is a representative democracy or democratic republic, with three branches of power: executive, legislative, and judicial.




 * 1. There is a separation of powers: **
 * In 1966 the constitution of The Dominican Republic gave all the legislative power to the bicameral National Congress which consists of The Senate and The Chamber of Deputies.


 * The execute power is in the hands of the president and the vice-president which are directly elected every four years. The president appoints a cabinet of 20 department heads and has authority over all public officials.


 * The judicial power is in the hands of the Supreme Court which consist of 16 members. It tries any case involving the president, vice-president, designated cabinet members and members of the congress. The Supreme Court also administers the entire judicial system.


 * 2. In The Dominican Republic there are a lot of political parties but the most important ones are: **


 * Dominican Liberation Party (Centre to centre-left) : The party has been elected four times, with Danilo Medina as current President of the Dominican Republic, in the 1996, 2004, 2008 and 2012 elections, though losing in 2000.


 * Dominican Revolutionary Party (Centre-Left to Centre Right): is one of the main political parties of the Dominican Republic.


 * Social Christian Reformist Party (Centre-Right to Right-wing): formed by the union of the Partido Reformista and the Partido Revolucionario Social Cristiano.

**4.** The Dominican Republic was a colony before 1821 but in that year colonists in Santo Domingo declared their independence from Spain. Haiti, that wanted to unify the island, rapidly invaded its neighbor and occupied it for more than two decades.But Dominicans never accepted Haitian rule and on February 27, 1844, Juan Pablo Duarte led a coup d’état and reclaimed Dominican autonomy. But finally on March 3, 1865 the Queen of Spain signed a decree annulling the annexation and retired his soldiers of the island. Also, On February 27, 1844, the //Trinitarios// (the members of La Trinitaria), declared the independence from Haiti after the Haitian rule.

media type="custom" key="28129467" ** POPULATION **
 * The Dominican Republic has an estimated 2015 population of 10.65 million of people.



**2.** The country has an overall population density of 197 people per square kilometer (502/square mile), which ranks 65th in the world.

=The most important cities in The Dominican Republic are:=

=== ===

The birth rate of the Dominican Republic is estimated to be 18.97 births per 1,000 of the total population. The reasons that explain that the Dominican Republic has a low birth rate are that the parents have access to contraceptives and are be careful when to having a baby. Also, because there is access to health services to men and women.
 * 3. Birth Rate. **

The death rate of the Dominican Republic is estimated to be 4.5 per 1,000 of the total population. The reasons that explain that the Dominican Republic has a low mortality rate is that there is a health sanitation and health services and also because in this country there are no wars.
 * 4. Death Rate. **

There is a natural positive growth in the Dominican Republic because there is a higher birth rate than mortality rate due to the health services, because of the productivity of the land and that the Dominican Republic is integrated in the worlds markets.
 * 5. Natural Growth. **

**Migrations:** Many Haitians travel usually travel to The Dominican Republic to try to find seasonal or long-term work in order to help their families. We think migration from Haiti to the Dominican Republic is economically beneficial to both countries, it is one of the leading contributors to tension between the two countries as well; another problem with Haitian migration into Dominican Republic is that it blurs the line of citizenship. This factor of migration affects not only Dominican Republic but also their economy and culture

** MIGRATIONS **

**Inmigrants:**

 * More than 200,000 Haitian immigrants had came to the Dominican Republic
 * Many Haitians migrate to the Dominican Republic to escape the poverty in Haiti. Haiti is much poorer than the Dominican Republic. In 2003, 80% of all Haitians were poor and 54% in extreme poverty.

**Emigrants:**
In 2012 there were approximately 1.7 million people of Dominican Republic that immigrated to the US There is also a growing Dominican immigration to Puerto Rico, with nearly 70,000 Dominicans living there as of 2010. Historically, immigration from the Dominican Republic to the United States has been dominated by women. In the early 1980s, underemployment, inflation, and the rise in value of the dollar all contributed to a wave of emigration from the Dominican Republic.

In the process, the Dominican government has converted Dominican citizens into migrants who now need to be “regularized.” The Institution in charge of immigrants in the Dominican Republic is the General Directorate of Immigration. Their missions are to ensure compliance with the laws and regulations of migration, determine the stay of foreigners in the Dominican Republic and prevent trafficking The problems of migrations are:
 * 3. Legislation connected to migrations: ** The Naturalization Law regulated the condition of undocumented migrants in an attempt to provide them a way to citizenship and participation in formal sectors of society.


 * Depression of salaries may occur.
 * Having workers willing to work for low pay may allow employers to ignore productivity, training and innovation.
 * Migrants may be exploited.
 * Increases in population can put pressure on public services.
 * Unemployment may rise if there are a free number of restrictions of incomers.

** GEOGRAPHY **


 * The Dominican Republic is located on Central America on the Island of Hispaniola, which it shares with it's much smaller neighbor to the east - Haiti.


 * The Dominican Republic borders both the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Seaand its also border by Haiti 275 km.


 * The landscape of the Dominican Republic is forested and mountainous, with valleys, plains and plateaus. The principal mountain system is the Cordillera Central and the largest peak of the country is Pico Duarte. Also, there are sandy beaches and rocky escarpments mark the northern coast. There are no desert regions in the Dominican Republic. And the rivers of the Dominican Republic are mostly shallow.


 * The Dominican Republic has a semitropical climate Temperatures in the winter are from 18ºC TO 29ºC and from 23° to 35°C in the summer. It has higher temperatures in the coast and much cooler in the mountains. The wet season is from June to November, with the dry season from December to May.Annual precipitation averages about 152.5 centimeters and the mountainous areas in the north have an average rainfall of about 208 centimetres.

** ECONOMY **


 * Agriculture still remains the most important employment sector in terms of domestic consumption and is the second behind mining in terms of exports.


 * The Dominican Republic is the economy of Latin America and the  Caribbean that has the highest unemployment rate that has remained constant in recent years, al though , it has been the highest growth registered in its Gross Domestic Product. And now it has a percentage of 5.97% of unemployment.

The Dominican industrial sector is considered one of the most dynamic and diverse sectors of the Caribbean. The industrial sector in the Dominican Republic contributes 2 with a percentage of 27.6%
 * The economy of the Dominican Republic is divided into three major sectors:
 * Services, Industries and Agriculture.

The agricultural sector accounts for 7% of Dominican GDP and the remaining percentage is the percentage of contribution of Services.

The Dominican Republic is the 3rd biggest consumer of energy of the Caribbean coast. Until 1997 every generation, distribution of the Dominican Republic was state-owned.
 * Energy: **

It is estimated that the total installed capacity was 5,518 MW,, equivalent to 63% of the 3,394 MW total installed capacity of public services and 38% of total installed capacity and about 60% of its electricity consumption is self-generated.The energy that is used in each sector is the following:

-Residential: 44%

-Business sector: 10%

-Industrial: 30%-Public sector: 16%

The Dominican Republic obtains from importing countries the 80% of their needs

** DOMESTIC POLICY **
 * One of the most important uses that affect the domestic policy of The Dominican Republic is poverty

Unfortunately, the half of the population of the Dominican Republic lives in poverty and a little less than a third of these live in extreme poverty, but unfortunately for Latin American countries is not new because thousands of its inhabitants, if not millions, live in the same condition.

For this bad administration of the goverment and poor economic income have led young people to take jobs and forget the study. Therefore, one in three young people between 18 and 25 do not complete primary school. Since 2007, the United Nations System and the Dominican Government developed strategy for solving this problem. Nowadays it hasn’t been major improvements.


 * ** POLICIES ABOUT HEALTHCARE: **

The basic benefits under our health care system are composed of calls basic health benefits, which are: primary care, specialty care, the Pharmaceutical Service, fringe benefits and Information Services and Health Documentation.The health sector in the Dominican Republic is characterized by a high complexity of institutions, organizations, actors and not always convergent interests.In the health sector, changes have occurred with the enactments of Law 42-01 (General Health Law) and 87-01 establishing the Dominican Social Security System.


 * ===POLICES ABOUT EDUCATION:===


 * Literacy **

- Literacy Program for Youth and Adults It aims to promote the construction and strengthening of a broad and plural space for coordination and cooperation between different sectors of Dominican society, they assume as a citizen to reduce the actual task of illiteracy.


 * Quality of teaching **

- Recognition Program and the Student Merit Magisterial Its main purpose is to promote the quality of education through an incentive program for children and young Dominican students to encourage them to develop their school life. - PAE-REAL School Feeding Program The School Feeding Program, with Local Food Rations School (PAE-REAL), its an strategy of government services to provide daily food rations and school of elementary and basic levels.


 * Attention to the first infancy **

- Dominican Educational Radio

The main purpose of the Dominican Educational Radio is to transmit knowledge, culture and folklore and also to contribute to the development of the Dominicans, without racial, ideological, political, social, religious and / or economic.

**Education and new technologies**

- National Training Program for the Integration of ICT

The purpose of this program is to strengthen curricular competencies expected of students in Beginner, Basic and Middle East, through the use of technological resources.

- Dominican Educational Radio

The main purpose of the Dominican Educational Radio is to transmit knowledge, culture and folklore and also to contribute to the development of the Dominicans, without racial, ideological, political, social, religious and / or economic.

**Promoting Reading**

- National Program Promoting Reading The National Program for Promoting Reading is a program of the Directorate General of Curriculum of the Ministry of Education and Culture that tries to wake up the students' interest in reading and their development through language, aesthetic enjoyment, creativity and knowledge production.

= =
 * TAXES **
 * ** ITBIS ** It is a general tax on consumption value added type that applies to the transfer and import of industrialized goods as well as service delivery. In other countries this tax is called Value Added Tax (VAT).The national or foreign individuals and legal persons that perform transfers, imports or provision of taxable services are responsible for this tax.This tax is applied on taxable transfers and / or services with a rate of 18%


 * ** Income tax ** It is the tax on all income, earned by individuals, societies and undivided, in a given fiscal period.Any natural or legal person residing in the Dominican Republic will pay the tax on their income from Dominican sources, and sources outside the Dominican Republic from investments and financial gains.1 legal entity domiciled in the country will pay twenty percent (28%) of net taxable income for the period 2014 and from 2015 onwards the rate will be 27%.


 * ** Selective Consumption Tax ** It’s the tax on transfers of some domestically produced goods at the manufacturing level, and their importation; telecommunication and payments by check.• Alcohol Products• snuff products• Telecommunication Services• Payments made by checks by the financial intermediaries as well as payments made through electronic transfers• General Insurance• Other goods established by law


 * ** Inheritance tax ** It is the tax on any transfer of real or personal property by inheritance or donation.In the case of inheritance the tax will be pay by the heirs and successors.In relation with grants, tax is charged towards the beneficiaries and will fall on the value of the donated property.In the case of inheritances, the pay rate is 3%


 * ** Heritage **** Property **** Tax **** (IPI ** **)** It is an annual tax at a rate of 1% applied on the total amount of real estate assets that have registered individuals. It is composed of:• All buildings for homes belonging to individuals whose value is higher than the 6.752 million two hundred pesos.• The Urban Lots and those buildings not intended for housing whose value exceeds 6.752 million two hundred pesos.


 * ** Motor Vehicles **

The main steps of motor vehicles are done through the Directorate General are: -Transfer of vehicles.-Circulation Tax -Payment Vehicle -Interposition Opposition.-Rise of opposition.-Discharge.-Duplicates.-Assigning Enrollment.

** DEBTS **

** External Debt **

The total public and private debt owed to non-residents repayable in foreign currency, goods, or services.

- $18.01 billion (31 December 2013 est.)

** Public Debt **

The total cumulates of all government borrowings less repayments. Public debt should not be confused with external debt, which reflects the foreign currency liabilities of both the private and public sector

** - ** 47% of GDP (2013 est.)

** Government Debt **

Dominican Republic recorded a Government Debt to GDP of 45.79 in 2014



= =

** FOREIGN POLICY **
 * One of the main current issues is the immigration of Haitians to the Dominican Republic

After the earthquake of January 12, 2010, many Haitians fled across the border to escape the effects of the earthquake. The Dominican government was one of the first to send equipment to help distribute food and medicine to the victims and provided Haitians to acquire visas for treatment in Dominican hospitals. This allowed many injured Haitians were treated in Dominican hospitals.

> Dominicans tended to see Haiti as black, African, and uncivilized, in contrast to their own country, which they considered Hispanic and European. > Over the years, higher salaries and better living conditions had induced many Haitians to settle in the Dominican Republic. Dominicans would express resentment of this Haitianization, but at the same time they depended on Haitian labour.
 * Although the Dominican Republic shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti, traditionally relations between the two countries have seldom been good. In the nineteenth century, Haiti repeatedly invaded, plundered, and occupied the Dominican Republic.

> > The Dominican Republic has very limited relations with most of the countries of Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. It had little commerce, tourist trade, or diplomatic contact with most of these nations.
 * The Dominican Republic has got conflicts with Haiti in the recent years that started a lot of years ago becausethe Independence of the Dominican Republic in 1844 to 1939 Slaughter of parsley.

MILITARY EXPENDITURES
The military expending is $722,790,000

The **Armed Forces of the Dominican Republic** consists of approximately 44,000 active duty personnel, approximately 60 percent of which are utilized mainly for non-military operations. The president is the commander in chief for the military. The primary missions are to defend the nation and protect the territorial integrity of the country. The Dominican Republic's military is second in size to Cuba's in the Caribbean. The Air Force operates two main bases, one in southern region near Santo Domingo and one in the northern region of the country, the air force operates approximately 40 aircraft including helicopters.


 * Its foreign suppliers are: **

United States Spain France Brazil Germany Belgium

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