The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reports that 20% to 24% of the Dominican population lives in extreme poverty, earning US$1 per day, as stated in El Caribe. The data is contained in the recently released study on the region: The Millennium Development Goals – a Latin American and Caribbean Perspective. The region presents the highest degree of inequality in the world in terms of income. In the DR, the per capita income of the wealthiest 20% of the population is 24.6 times the per capita income of the poorest 20%. This degree of inequality has been in evidence since 2002.
See http://www.eclac.org/default.asp?idioma=IN