The population of the Dominican Republic is, demographically speaking, getting old fast. While still within the moderate phase of what is known as “demographic transition,” the falling birth rate along with improved health care are seen as responsible for the changes.
A recent study “Misión República Dominicana Envejece” (Mission the Dominican Republic is Aging) is part of the work done by the NTD Foundation and the Saldarriaga Concha Foundation, with support from the International Aging Institute of the United Nations. The report reveals that the Dominican Republic has already passed the initial phase of the demographic transition marked by a high birth rate. Now there are fewer births and people living longer, thus bringing about an increase in the adult population.
This represents several new challenges. In 1960, the average number of children born to Dominican women was 7.6. The statistics for the 2015-2020 period show that the national fertility rate is now at 2.29, and will decline to 2.1 for the 2025-2030 period and 1.8 for 2050-2055, below the so-called “replacement level fertility” (whereby population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next, without migration).
This represents a shrinking population, much like Spain and most West European countries today. This projects to a much older population by mid-century. This reality poses many challenges for the Dominican Republic since it affects the socioeconomic wellbeing of the population. This includes everything from empty schoolrooms, to overcrowded health facilities to serve the aging population.
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Diario Libre
Population Education
13 May 2019