What the grameen foundation says about the DR

[Adrian Bye]

Is this info correct? (the founder of this organization won the nobel prize in 2006):

- Roughly five percent of the 10 million people living in the Dominican Republic live on less than US$1.25 per day.
- Two million people (21 percent of the population) are undernourished.
- Infrastructure is insufficient, as there are only nine telephone lines per 100 people, and 10 percent of the rural population has no access to sterile drinking water.
- The Dominican Republic is 91st among nations in the social well-being of its people, as measured by the Human Development Index.

SOURCE:http://www.grameenfoundation.org/ame...nican-republic

[Chirimoya]

You can verify these figures with the latest UN Development Programme Human Development Report index.

http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countrie...ty_fs_DOM.html
http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countrie...ty_ds_DOM.html

They may have got the stats from a previous year but on the whole they seem to tally.
According to the 2009 figures DR is at 90, not 91.
The phone line statistic is irrelevant in the light of the growth in mobile phone usage that has superseded the need for landlines. The "sterile" drinking water stat is strange - tap water is undrinkable in the DR so shouldn't it be 100%?

[Conchman]

The numbers seem generally correct, except that there are something like 6-9 million cellular phones in the country. I saw a report on this a few months ago, but I don't remember the exact number, except that it was somewhere close to the whole population of the country. Keep in mind that many people have two or three cellular phones.

The undernourished and underpaid may include a lot of illegal Haitians living here, that are possible better off in the DR than in Haiti.

[ExtremeR]

Originally Posted by Adrian Bye

Is this info correct? (the founder of this organization won the nobel prize in 2006):

- Roughly five percent of the 10 million people living in the Dominican Republic live on less than US$1.25 per day.
- Two million people (21 percent of the population) are undernourished.
- Infrastructure is insufficient, as there are only nine telephone lines per 100 people, and 10 percent of the rural population has no access to sterile drinking water.
- The Dominican Republic is 91st among nations in the social well-being of its people, as measured by the Human Development Index.

SOURCE:Dominican Republic | Grameen

It can be, except for the insufficient infrastructure point, in the DR there are more land and cell lines than people and overall one of the most huge and complete telecommunications infrastructure in the area.

[Adrian Bye]

The DR is ranking very badly on the "social wellbeing" of its people? I'd say overall people are a lot happier here than in the USA.

[catcherintherye]

When expectations are low, 'happiness', in general, is easier to attain.

Of course, that depends on one's definition of "happiness", and more importantly, how the 'happiness' data is gathered, quantified, and correlated.

Be that as it may, and assuming a 100% "happiness" rating, with no education, no opportunities, NO public access to drinkable water, and no real democracy, or even a stable and viable 'constitution', perhaps I'd walk around with a vacant smile on my face as well.

However, all the abstractions of "happiness" aside, when the expectations of the people being to rise, expect to see much more social unrest.

That might be one reason the educational system is kept at such an abysmal level. If no one can read about how things are elsewhere there will be no rising expectations.

Happy, happy, joy, joy.

[Adrian Bye]

I think international suicide rates are a pretty interesting indicator:
List of countries by suicide rate - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

DR is one of the lowest on this list.

Anyways, looking at the stats quoted above, I just don't think they are right. I don't believe 21% of the DR is malnourished -- people around the country generally look pretty healthy. We have a great telecom infrastructure here and if people are living on 45 pesos a day they are probably campesinos who live off the land or haitians.

My $0.02.

[Facility]

Originally Posted by catcherintherye

When expectations are low, 'happiness', in general, is easier to attain.
...
If no one can read about how things are elsewhere there will be no rising expectations.

I wouldna say that - all the people can easily see how comparatively well expats and local businessmen are living. But somehow it does not produce poisonous envy and grudges.

[catcherintherye]

I am happy to hear that.

I'm not sure what you're basing that on, but I am never far from someone asking for something.

In any event, I truly hope everyone is as happy as it sounds they are. That makes me very happy.

[tflea]

Someone once said a good indicator of how a country ranks in live-ability is to look at their migration patterns; very attractive countries to migrants are most often better places than those countries people want to escape.
Interpret that as you like.