The National Statistics Office (ONE) presented findings of the 2019 National Household Survey (Enhogar) that show major challenges to improving Dominican children’s future. Unicef contributed to the survey. The results were presented on 1 September 2021 in the presence of First Lady Raquel Arbaje.
The study revealed that only 47% of Dominican children live in two-parent households. This is a decline of four points compared to findings in the previous poll in 2014. 36% of children live their mother, 5% live with their father and 12% live with others not their parents.
The poll revealed that 97% of children are enrolled in elementary schools, but only 80% will continue on for secondary studies and only 61% will graduate from high school.
The poll confirmed the low levels of breastfeeding at birth, only 42%. This despite Dominican labor law allows women to take three months off work to care for a newly born.
The poll also revealed that 64% of children will suffer violent forms of punishment.
The good news is that there has been an increase in the number of timely births registrations. This went up from 82% in 2014 to 93% in 2019. Interestingly, the timely registry of births is higher in rural areas than in urban areas.
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Diario Libre
El Caribe
1 September 2021