Discussion about this post

User's avatar
Guy's avatar

"As recently as 1960, the two countries had similar standards of living. "

Why did DR have 10 years longer life expectancy then? Similar GDP per capita doesn't necessarily mean similar standards of living.

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.LE00.IN?locations=DO-HT

Expand full comment
Rory Hester's avatar

Several differences I haven't seen people talk about.

1. coastal plains. The mountains take up more of Haiti, whereas DR has more coastal plains to allow agriculture.

2. different colonial history. The entire island started out as a Spanish colony then what is now Haiti was handed over to France around 1700. A Spanish speaking country is going to able to have easier economic ties with the primarily Latin American countries that surround it.

3. Tourism could be affected by racism. Are Americans and other countries more comfortable visiting a country that is less black. (Haiti 90%, DR 50%)

"At the end of the colonial era, black slaves made up 90% of Haiti's population, while less than half of Dominicans were Africans in bondage. Both societies were deeply stratified by race, but most of the whites and many of the mixed race people fled Haiti during the Revolutionary era beginning about 220 years ago."

https://www.pri.org/stories/2013-11-14/theres-long-story-behind-anti-haitianismo-dominican-republic

5. For whatever reason, Haiti has been less stable than Puerto Rico through history.

"The problem was compounded by Haiti's ethnically diverse population. "The slaves came from over a hundred different ethnic groups and originally had nothing to do with each other," Oliver Gliech, an expert on Haiti at the Latin America Institute at the Free University in Berlin, says.

"For centuries, they've experienced how power was brutally practiced and legitimized," he says. It's little wonder that the bloody wars in the 19th century were followed by rebellions, political upheaval and coups as well as frequently changing self-proclaimed monarchs and dictators, he adds. That pattern has continued in the country till today."

https://www.dw.com/en/haiti-and-the-dominican-republic-one-island-two-worlds/a-16593022

Note. both articles above are great reading.

Expand full comment
177 more comments...

No posts