DR1 Daily News - Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic is on track to record its lowest birth rate in two decades this year, a sharp decline that appears to be directly linked to new government restrictions on healthcare services for Haitian mothers, Diario Libre reports.

Official statistics from the Central Electoral Board (JCE) show that as of 2 November 2025, total registered births stood at 148,722, nearly 10,000 fewer than the same period in 2024.

The decline is acutely pronounced among foreign nationals. Registrations of foreign-born children plummeted by 8,176 this year, falling from 20,502 to just 12,326 in the same period.

This drop coincides with the government’s implementation of a new hospital protocol in April 2025, which restricts maternity care for Haitian women—a move aimed at curbing what authorities refer to as “birth tourism” from the neighboring country. The new protocols allow...