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 Aid: Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $109 million

Currency: East Caribbean dollar (plural—dollars); 1 EC dollar (EC$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: East Caribbean dollars (ECS) per US$1—2.70 (fixed rate since 1976)

Fiscal year: 1 July-30 June

Communications

Highways: 750 km total; 370 km paved, 380 km gravel and earth

Ports: Roseau, Portsmouth

Civil air: NA

Airports: 2 total, 2 usable; 2 with permanent-surface runways; none with runways over 2,439 m; 1 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Telecommunications: 4,600 telephones in fully automatic network; VHP and UHF link to St. Lucia; new SHF links to Martinique and Guadeloupe; stations—3 AM, 2 FM, 1 cable TV

Defense Forces

Branches: Commonwealth of Dominica Police Force

Military manpower: NA

Defense expenditures: NA  Dominican Republic



Geography

Total area: 48,730 km²; land area: 48,380 km²

Comparative area: slightly more than twice the size of New Hampshire

Land boundary 275 km with Haiti

Coastline: 1,288 km

Maritime claims:
 * Contiguous zone: 24 nm
 * Continental shelf: outer edge of continental margin or 200 nm
 * Extended economic zone: 200 nm
 * Territorial sea: 6 nm

Climate: tropical maritime; little seasonal temperature variation

Terrain: rugged highlands and mountains with fertile valleys interspersed

Natural resources: nickel, bauxite, gold, silver

Land use: 23% arable land; 7% permanent crops; 43% meadows and pastures; 13% forest and woodland; 14% other; includes 4% irrigated

Environment: subject to occasional hurricanes (July to October); deforestation

Note: shares island of Hispaniola with Haiti (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)

People

Population: 7,240,793 (July 1990), growth rate 2.0% (1990)

Birth rate: 28 births/1,000 population (1990)

Death rate: 7 deaths/1,000 population (1990)

Net migration rate: -1 migrant/1,000 population (1990)

Infant mortality rate: 62 deaths/1,000 live births (1990)

Life expectancy at birth: 65 years male, 69 years female (1990)

Total fertility rate: 3.2 children born/woman (1990)

Nationality: noun—Dominican(s); adjective—Dominican

Ethnic divisions: 73% mixed, 16% white, 11% black

Religion: 95% Roman Catholic

Language: Spanish

Literacy: 74%

Labor force: 2,300,000-2,600,000; 49% agriculture, 33% services, 18% industry (1986)

Organized labor: 12% of labor force (1989 est.)

Government

Long-form name: Dominican Republic (no short-form name)

Type: republic

Capital: Santo Domingo

Administrative divisions: 29 provinces (provincias, singular—provincia) and 1 district* (distrito); Azua, Baoruco, Barahona, Dajabón, Distrito Nacional*, Duarte, Elías Piña, El Seibo, Espaillat, Hato Mayor, Independencia, La Altagracia, La Romana, La Vega, María Trinidad Sánchez, Monseñor Nouel, Monte Cristi, Monte Plata, Pedernales, Peravia, Puerto Plata, Salcedo, Samaná, Sánchez Ramirez, San Cristóbal, San Juan, San Pedro De Macorís, Santiago, Santiago Rodríguez, Valverde

Independence: 27 February 1844 (from Haiti)

Constitution: 28 November 1966

Legal system: based on French civil codes

National holiday: Independence Day, 27 February (1844)

Executive branch: president, vice president, Cabinet

Legislative branch: bicameral National Congress (Congreso Nacional) consists of an upper chamber or Senate (Senado) and lower chamber or Chamber of Deputies (Cámara de Diputados)

Judicial branch: Supreme Court (Corte Suprema)

Leaders: Chief of State and Head of Government—President Joaquín BALAGUER Ricardo (since 16 August 1986); Vice President Carlos A. MORALES Troncoso (since 16 August 1986)

Political parties and leaders: Major parties—Social Christian Reformist Party (PRSC), Joaquín Balaguer Ricardo; Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), which fractured in May 1989 with the understanding that leading rivals Jacobo Majluta and José Francisco Peña Gómez would run separately for president at the head of the Independent Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Social Democratic Institutional Bloc (BIS), respectively, and try to reconstitute the PRD after the election; Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Juan Bosch Gaviño;  85