Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Country Studies
the earlier case, in one Cibao village 85 percent of the households
had at least one member living in New York in the mid-
1970s. In the later case, a village in the southern province of
Peravia, more than 65 percent of the 445 households had relatives
in the Boston metropolitan area in the mid-1990s. Where
emigration is common, it alters a community's age pyramid:
eighteen to forty-five-year-olds (especially males) are essentially
missing. Emigration also eliminates many of the natural
choices for leadership roles in the home community. Additionally,
anthropologist Pessar noted in a recent study the negative
impact of departures upon rural society. Emigration, for example,
has led to a shift from share-cropping to cattle grazing,
resulting in the fragmentation of the rural economy. Although
those left behind often feel isolated from their neighbors and
are adrift, especially those who have left farming for cattle grazing,
there is a constant exchange of news and information, and
the maintenance of social contact between the remaining villagers
and their emigrant relatives. The latter's remittances
economically sustain or improve the welfare of the former.
Urbanization
For most of its history, the Dominican Republic was overwhelmingly
rural; in 1920 more than 80 percent of its populace
lived in the countryside, and by 1950 more than 75 percent still
did. Substantial urban expansion began in the 1950s and
gained tremendous momentum in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Urban growth rates far outdistanced those of the country as a
whole. The urban population expanded at 6.1 percent annually
during the 1950s, 5.7 percent during the 1960s to 1970s,
4.7 percent through the 1980s, and 3.3 percent from 1990 to
1995 (rural population has decreased 0.3 percent since 1990).
In the early decades of the twentieth century, the country
was not only largely rural, but the urban scene itself was dominated
by smaller cities and provincial capitals. In 1920 nearly
80 percent of all city dwellers lived in cities with fewer than
20,000 inhabitants. Santo Domingo, with barely more than
30,000 residents, accounted for only 20 percent of those in cities.
By contrast, in 1981 Santo Domingo alone accounted for
nearly half of all city dwellers; it had more than double the
total population of all cities of more than 20,000 inhabitants.
Cities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants—nearly 80 percent of
the urban population in 1920—constituted less than 20 percent
by 1981. According to the 1993 census, the Dominican
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