The Minister of Economy, Planning, and Development, Pável Isa Contreras, considered as truly remarkable that the country had shown an advance of up to 10 positions in the Human Development Index (HDI) in such an adverse context where almost all countries had a recoil.

According to the Human Development Report 2021-22: “Uncertain times, unstable lives: Shaping our future in a changing world,” the Dominican Republic is one of the few exceptions to the global trend: the country’s HDI increased slightly ( +0.39%), going from 0.764 in 2020 to 0.767 in 2021.

Isa Contreras affirmed that the improvement in the HDI demonstrates the great resilience of the Dominican Republic, to which a set of public policies has contributed.

The economist and researcher detailed among these policies the successful vaccination program of the Dominican Government and the actions that promoted the development of tourism.

“These elements made it possible for the economy to reactivate quickly and with great force and we achieved progress in the economic sub-index of the Human Development Index,” he emphasized.

He argued that it was also quite remarkable that the Dominican Republic, compared to the rest of the world, made significant progress in educational matters. He stated that in the country, the Government achieved a much more normal school year in 2021 than that of most countries, despite the context, which allowed all education indicators to quickly return to pre-pandemic levels.

Isa Contreras maintained that the country after the pandemic showed an increase in years of schooling from 8.1 to 9.3 while verifying an increase in average national income per capita of more than 2%.