After at least four international reports stating that the Dominican Republic would have the “strongest” or highest growth of its gross domestic product (GDP) during 2023, a recurring question would be: “where is that economic development?” The answer could lie in the richest 1% of the country. This is stated by the World Inequality Database (WID), which every year publishes a report on how wealth is distributed in the world. According to recent data, the Dominican Republic has the highest rate of economic inequality in Latin America. Only 1% of the population earns about 30% of the national income. This is the highest rate in the region, although it is a common factor throughout Latin America. Together with Peru and Mexico, they concentrate between 25% and 30% of the profits.
In general, the poorest 50% of the Latin American population receives 10% of the income, while the richest 10% receives 55% in the region. In fact, the richest 1% capture 25% of the national income of their countries, compared to 18% in the United States. This is a reality that everyone seems to be aware of. “The Dominican Republic is the country of comparisons where the 1% of people with the highest incomes receive the highest proportion of gross national income, 30.5%, with a participation that exceeds between 2 and 5 percentage points to that of Mexico, Chile and Brazil”, pointed out at the time the Minister of Economy, Planning and Development, Pavel Isa Contreras.
A report prepared between the Government, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (Cepal), and the World Inequality Lab, details that the 10% of the Dominican population with the lowest income receive less than 1% of the national income, while the 10 % of higher-income receives more than half, with 55%. In fact, the study classifies as “high” the levels of participation of the top 1% and 10% in the distribution of national income. More specifically, it indicates that the top 1% receives 30% of income. When that range is widened, the top 10% earn around 40%.
In the rest of the distribution, that is, in the 90% with the lowest income, the opposite effect is observed to that established for the 10% with the highest income. Indeed, according to the report, the participation of the bottom 50% of income is approximately 17% of the total.