Is the DR a third world country?

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Chip00

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I was having a rather heated discussion with my brother about what would happen to my daughters here in the DR if I were to suddenly die. He was trying to convince me to come back to the States for the sake of my daughter's future and especially their "standard of living".

I was trying to explain to him that here in the DR if you have money that one can live reasonably well. After all, one of my daughters goes to a bilingual school close to the house and she is very happy, we have a nice home with screens, twice the size of the one back in Florida, we have a servant, we have a good inverter and public sewer and water. Furthermore, Santaigo has nice supermarkets, movie cinemas and many fine restaurants and a golf course to boot.

I may be loosing my perspective on the "third world thing" but my Spanish has gotten to the level that I can communicate effectively with people to the point that I can have a good time talking about a variety of topics.

Furthermore, I like the fact that Dominicans on the whole value "geneality" - it really is easy here to have many acquaintances if one wants to. In fact I find the people here more friendly than back home in the Southeast US. Yes I'm sure some people will dispute this but I base my opinion on my personal experience. Certainly, people in the SE US value "geneality" but I really never fit in because of my non-racial outlook. A couple of off comments about blacks or hispanics always turned me off and I would just adjust by being less "social".

Anyway, my the point of this thread really is to see if people think the DR is really a third world country as I have lost my objectiveness I don't really see it as such. In fact if my wife (a Dominican) ever left me I don't even know if I would move back to the US.
 
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Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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Sids .. Small Island Developing State.

Third World Country is not being used as frequently now. There was some discussion on the board about this and commonly used definitions given .. about a year ago?
 
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Don Juan

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In my opinion, politically and economically, the DR is a backwater-type country with seemingly never-ending procession of politicos interested in nothing else but their own well-being.
On the other hand, the social web and environmental delights, makes it a most attractive place to grow and live a happy and uncomplicated lifestyle.

I don't have a choice right now, but if I did, I'd gladly live out the rest of my life there and not regret it. Volver, pero cuando?
 
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Mujermaravilla

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third world is such an ignorant statement.

it says nothing about the nation or where it is in it's development.

Developing is so much better it actually means something where as Third World sounds like something out of a Science Fiction movie.
 
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jrf

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Whatever it may sound like it is a third world country by many standards.
Developing? Sure in some ways.

Of course for someone with money, an invertor, and the rest it would seem more like paradise.
 
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qgrande

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Whether one can live in luxury isn't really a criterion, is it? There are people that live in luxury with big screen TVs, maids, cinema's, and golf courses in the poorest countries in Africa, or in Haiti for that matter. It matters more how many people don't have access to those things. And in the DR there are still many many people that can only dream to have such a lifestyle.

Like Chris said, First and Third World isn't in fashion anymore, it's 'developing' (regardless of actual development) or 'developed'. And unlike some 'developing' countries, the DR does actually seem to be developing, in a way, more and more people with SUVs and big screens...
 
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Chirimoya

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Dec 9, 2002
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'Third world' is outdated but it gets the meaning across. How PC of people to want to airbrush it out of the lexicon! :D

Having said that I too prefer 'developing'. What could be more euphemistic! Bluntly it means that some aspects are still 'underdeveloped', and we all know what they are - unreliable emergency services, useless police and justice system - meaning that should the worst happen, we have to depend on our own resources and initiatives to get our loved one to hospital, ensure that they get the best care (in some cases meaning we have to fly them to another country), and not have much hope that the police or the legal system will solve anything if there was a crime involved in the incident.
 
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Andy B

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"Developing" is just the politically correct way of saying third world. Yes it IS a third world country. And no matter how rosy we paint the picture, until basic services are reliablly provided by an reasonably competent government (which we still don't have despite this being the 21st century), we will continue to be third world, no matter HOW you describe it.
 
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El_Uruguayo

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Dec 7, 2006
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First World = Developed capitalist states
Second World = Soviet States
Third World = Developping or underdeveloped states still up for grab for influence.

It's a Cold War term, it being over for almost 2 decades is what makes the term dated. But anyhow as mentioned before it is a developping country. The question is how far away is it from being developed? You can't really look at the services one would receive if they have money - because money can influence anything, anywhere. If you look at your average Dominican's access to services, education etc, and the infrastructure of the country, you can see that it does have a long way to go to be considered developed. It's a beautiful country, but there are plenty of issues that need to be resolved or worked on before it could ever be considered "developed".
 
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Alyonka

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It is a country where women are perceived as second class citizens. Your daughters will have much less opportunities for development there than in the US. I am from third world country myself and that is why I live in the US;)
 
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AZB

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Jan 2, 2002
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Who cares if DR is a 3rd would country or 4th world, all it matters is how you live here.
I live in an area where everyone is as good or better than I am. they all have cars in the garage, visas to USA, we all shop at American standard grocery stores, american standard restaurants, bars (actually better than american standards because we actually get entertainment for free). I have a huge screen TV, cable, DVD movie rental stores with all kinds of titles, I sleep in a/c , lights 24 hours (thanks to my inverter), 2 mango trees in the back yard, BBq all year round, friendly people all around me. My neighbor came back from USA and gave me expensive men's cologne , food (tuna fish, garbage bags, speghetti sauce, speghetti, bbq sauce, hot spices peanuts even towel paper rol)l. Hahahaha. then to top it all off, she gives me fresh food to eat for dinner. Now please tell me, what kind of a neighbor in USA would gift you all that without even asking? Whenever they come back from USA, they bring me all kinds of gifts.
All of my friends live in fancy decent houses and drive their own cars (all dominicans). I spend my sundays in resort style swimming pool (hotel gran almirante) with a million dollar view or I simply go to sosua beach.
The life here is absolutely 1st class if you have money to spend. So why would I call DR a 3rd world country? I am not the one who lives in montellano and shop at colmados. You want to live 3rd world, we have that here too.
AZB
 
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Criss Colon

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You Need To Ask Yourself What "OPPORTUNITIES" Your Will Have Here??? Daughters

(Make that, "What opportunities your daughtes will have here?)
All countries have ther own positives and negatives. I can't say that any country is "Better" than any other in all areas. In the DR economic/educational/and healthcare opportunities are lacking. The DR has a great climate,and if you are rich,you can live a good life. The poor here live a subsistance life!
Will your daughters marry into a wealthy Dominican family??? That is their key to a brighter future. Their husband will "cheat",(That happens everywhere), but her life will be,the children,and her female friends.
I struggle with the same questions in reguards to my own children. I think I will try to raise them with one "foot" in the USA,and the other "foot" in the DR. If they are totally bilingual,educated both "Here, and There",when the time comes they can live where ever they choose. Most children of the dominicans I know,whose children have "grown up" in the USA,visiting/living in the DR "summers",and holidays, choose to live in the USA when they are "adults"! They don't see the DR as "quaint",they see it as "Backwater"! They like electricity/water/healthcare,and a "Less" corrupt political/police/business way of life!
So I guess I am saying that you have to treat living in the DR like exposing your children to "Religion". Teach them well,and when the time comes,they will be prepared to decide for themselves what to do!
Cris Colon
 
NALs

NALs

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Jan 20, 2003
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The DR is everything from 1st world to fourth.

It depends on the lifestyle you are able to afford and live.

Of course, at times the different "worlds" overlap and affect each other (for example, when the lights are out -- they are out in wealthy areas as well as poor areas).

But overall, personal experiences clouds a person's perception of a place beyond reality and what exactly is "real" is highly subjective.

I know the DR is technically a "3rd world country" and I often use the term with non-Dominicans to get my point across about any topic concerning the DR and its deficiencies.

However, I don't really think of the DR as a "third world" country in the fullest sense of the word.

I would say that most people in the DR have access to luxuries that are still a rarity in many parts of the world, eventhough there are segments of the Dominican population that also lack those luxuries.

For example, television sets are found in over 90% of households in the DR.

Can anyone guess how many households in Haiti, India, China, etc have television sets in their homes?

We can do this product by product and what you will find is that the DR has a higher percentage of its people owning several goods that most of the poor of the world still lack. This is not to say that most Dominicans have high consumption rates, because many don't.

So, is the DR a third world country?

Well, that depends on what DR we are talking about.

Living in a penthouse on Anacaona Avenue is a totally different ordeal from living in a shack in La Cienaga, never mind that the two places are less than 10 miles apart.

-NALs
 
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Alyonka

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Exactly - marry a Dominican man, being lied to and cheated on- potential for getting and STD and be sick for the rest of your life or die from AIDS - good luck!
 
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AZB

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Alyonka said:
Exactly - marry a Dominican man, being lied to and cheated on- potential for getting and STD and be sick for the rest of your life or die from AIDS - good luck!
Click to expand...

Are you sure you are not confusing DR with the republic of congo?
AZB
 
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Alyonka

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AZB said:
Are you sure you are not confusing DR with the republic of congo?
AZB
Click to expand...

that is what they all say - it can never happen to me, it is not Africa until they actually get it. I have worked with AIDS patients in the US. US is not Congo. They got it there. They said the same thing - they thought it was different....
 
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Duece

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Mar 11, 2004
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Trying to take any emotion or bias out of the equation may be hard but here are a couple of facts and unfortunately they mainly impact the poorest people. You can't drink the water, running water and sewer are not provided in many rural areas. There are more dirt roads than paved roads but probably more airports per square mile than many other countries in the world. Third World is probably a stretch but the poor are just basically kept in their place while the rich and political get richer and more powerful at the expense of those less fortunate. Without mandatory, free public education, generations of Dominicans are left without much future. The DR is truly like two worlds in one country. The people are determined and resourceful but the political corruption undermines any hope of things dramatically changing.
 
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