INTERESTING NOTES / STORIES ABOUT THE DR

The economy of love. August 2001

El Caribe newspaper reports that the DR is the third country in levels of remittances (behind Mexico

and Brazil) and the second in remittances per inhabitant in the Americas with US$230 per person

per year, only surpassed by El Salvador. In 2000, the DR received US$1,877.4 million in money sent

home from relatives abroad, or 10% of the Gross Domestic Product. The money is more than double

the National Budget for education and health.

One in every five Dominicans (1.6 million people) receives money from abroad. Remittances make

up 47% of the income of the poor people who receive it.

The World Bank study shows that despite the slowdown of the world economy, remittances keep

growing. In the past five years, they have increased 16.3%.

An estimated two million Dominicans have migrated to the US, where 80% of the money shipments

come from. Of these, one million live in the metropolitan area of New York City. An estimated

50,000 Dominicans live in Spain.