The Dominican Republic is the Caribbean country that hosts the largest number of foreign-born people. according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Although the IOM does not provide exact data on the quantity and nationalities, recent estimates indicate that the main countries of origin of immigration to the country are Haiti (86.50%), the United States (2.55%), and Spain with (1.27%).

It is therefore normal that Haitians are more present in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs). According to a report by the Dominican National Office of Statistics, the percentage is 6.1%. This taking into account that, according to the second national survey of immigrants to the Dominican Republic prepared in 2017 (ENI-2017), there were 497,825 Haitian migrants representing more than 70% of all migrant workers living in the Dominican territory.

Other more recent estimates put the number of Haitians between 650,000 and 1 million. These Haitian migrants are mainly concentrated in the sectors of agriculture (33.8%), construction (26.3%), trade (16.3%) and hotels, bars and restaurants, which includes accommodation and catering (5.5%).

Regarding the level of education, the report specifies that 35.6% of Haitian owners have attended or are attending secondary school, 34.3% at the initial or primary level and 27.2% have a university education. The postgraduate level has a lower participation, around 1.9%.

The Dominican National Office of Statistics also produces data on family socioeconomic groups. Establishes based on general characteristics of the home, such as quality of physical infrastructure, access to public housing services, as well as ownership of assets, such as vehicles, appliances, telephones, air conditioners, etc...

31.8% of these Haitian businesses belong to the middle and upper-middle group, followed by the lower-middle group (26.6%). A significant proportion of business owners are found in the lowest socio-economic groups (15.1%), Only 9.9% of MSMEs belong to a high family socio-economic group.

Download the full report (PDF 49 pages in Spanish) : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/anelisis-de-la-mipyme-en-rd-un-enfoque-de-grnero-del-modulo-enhogar-2022.pdf

S/ HaitiLibre