According to a study by the United Nations Development Program Sustainable Human Development Unit, there is a low level of human development in the provinces on the border with Haiti: Elias Pina, Independencia, Pedernales and Bahoruco.
Spokesperson for the researchers, Melisa Breton said that the indicators in these four provinces show higher than average maternal and infant deaths, and below average medical resources, education, literacy, length of time at school and income per person.
The data is from the provincial Human Development Index that uses values between zero and one to measure the levels of development, with the closest to zero being the worst. Pedernales had a score of 0.285, Elias Pina 0.291, Independencia 0.376 and Bahoruco 0.356
The data also looked into the evolution of human development over the last four years from 2010 to 2014. It reveals that 19.4% of border region residents are illiterate, compared to the national average of 7.6%. In addition, Pedernales has the highest maternal mortality rate in the border provinces and the fourth highest in the country.
Breton said that despite the figures, there has been some improvement in access to services such as health and education but not necessarily an improvement in the quality of such services.
The picture overall shows that the human development score has risen from 0.421 in 2010 to 0.490 in 2014 which is a 16.4% improvement.
Of the 32 provinces in the country, the four border provinces are classified as low human development, 17 as medium to low: Maria Trinidad Sanchez (Nagua), Espaillat (Moca), La Romana, Samana, Hato Mayor, Santo Domingo, Montecristi, Valverde (Mao), Dajabon, San Cristobal, Monte Plata, La Altagracia (Higuey), San Juan, Barahona, Peravia, Azua and El Seibo, 10 as medium: Hermanas Mirabal (Salcedo), Monsenor Nouel (Bonao), Santiago, San Pedro de Macoris, La Vega, Puerto Plata, Duarte (San Francisco de Macoris), San Jose de Ocoa, Sanchez Ramirez (Cotui) and Santiago Rodriguez, and only one with a high level of human development, the National District.
The full data and an interactive map are available on the web page at http://www.do.undp.org/content/dominican_republic/es/home/ourwork/humandevelopment/successstories/mapa-interactivo-de-desarrollo-humano-de-rd/
http://www.listindiario.com/la-republica/2015/11/24/397536/solo-dn-tiene-desarrollo-humano-alto-en-rd-27-provincias-en-bajo-y-medio-bajo