From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

About half of Dominicans live in rural areas; many are small landholders. Spanish is the dominant language among the majority population. Haitians form the largest minority group, some 500 000 (or 6% of the population) according to Human Rights Watch.^[1] Many Haitians in the Dominican Republic are illegal immigrants; others are Dominican-born citizens. All religions are tolerated; the state religion is Roman Catholicism, with a 95% majority. Minority religions include Baptist, Evangelist, Seventh-day Adventist, Judaism and Baha'i.

Population: 9,049,595 (July 2005 est.)

Life expectancy
Female: 69.35 years
Male: 65.98 years
Average: 67.63 years

Age structure:
0-14 years: 34% (male 1,505,964; female 1,438,809)
15-64 years: 61% (male 2,815,544; female 2,703,012)
65 years and over: 5% (male 226,372; female 260,333) (2005 est.)

Population growth rate: 1.29% (2005 est.)

Birth rate: 23.28 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Death rate: 7.35 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Net migration rate: 3.02 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.05 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.87 male(s)/female
total population: 1.03 male(s)/female (2005 est.)

Infant mortality rate: total: 32.38 deaths/1,000 live births male: 34.81 deaths/1,000 live births female: 29.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 71.44 years
male: 69.94 years
female: 73.03 years (2005 est.)

Total fertility rate: 2.86 children born/woman (2005 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Dominican(s)
adjective: Dominican

Ethnic groups: Mixed 73%, White 16%, Black 11%,

Religions: Roman Catholic 95%, other 5%

Languages: Spanish (official); Haitian Creole spoken by Haitians

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 84.7%
male: 84.6%
female: 84.8% (2003 est.)

See also : Dominican Republic