1982 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1982 (Wikisource)
Geography
Area
48,692 km2; 14% cultivated, 4% fallow, 17% meadows and pastures, 45% forested, 20% built on or waste
Coastline
1,288 km
Land boundaries
361 km WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed)
6 nm (fishing 200 nm; 200 nm exclusive economic zone)
People and Society
Ethnic divisions
73% mulatto, 16% white, 11% Negro
Labor force
1.3 million; 73% agriculture, 8% industry, 19% services, and other
Language
Spanish
Literacy
68%
Nationality
noun—Dominican(s); adjective—Dominican
Organized labor
12% of labor force
Population
6,013,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.7%
Religion
95% Roman Catholic
Government
Capital
Santo Domingo
Communists
an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 members in several legal and illegal factions; effectiveness limited by ideological differences and organizational inadequacies
Elections
last national election May 1978; next election May 1982 Political parties and leaders: Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Ivelisse Prats de Pérez Reformist Party (PR), Joaquin Balaguer; Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Juan Bosch; Democratic Quisqueyan Party (PQD), Elias Wessin y Wessin; Social Christian Revolutionary Party (PRSC), Rogelio Delgado Bogaert; Movement for National Conciliation (MNC), Jaime Manuel Fernández Gonzalez; Antireelection Movement of Democratic Integration (MIDA), Francisco Augusto Lora; National Civic Union (UCN), Guillermo Delmonte Urraca; National Salvation Movement (MSN), Luis Julián Pérez; Popular Democratic Party (PDP), Homero Lajara Burgos; Fourteenth of June Revolutionary Movement (MR-1J4), Héctor Aristy Pereyra; Dominican Communist Party (PCD), Narciso Isa Conde, central committee, legalized in 1978; Dominican Popular Movement (MPD), illegal; 12th of January National Liberation Movement (ML-12E), Plinio Matos Moquete, illegal; Communist Party of the Dominican Republic (PACOREDO), Luis Montas González, illegal; Popular Socialist Party (PSP), illegal; Anti-Imperialist Patriotic Union (UPA), Franklin Franco Pichardo; Democratic Union (UD), Ramón Antonio Flores; Revolutionary League of Workers (LRT), Claudio Tavárez; several additional small leftist parties Voting strength (1978 election): 51.7% PRD, 40.9% PR, 7.4% thirteen minor parties
Legal system
based on French civil codes; 1966 constitution
Member of
FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMCO, IMF, IOOC, ISO, ITU, OAS, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WTO
National holiday
Independence Day, 27 February Branches: President popularly elected for a four-year term; bicameral legislature consisting of Senate (27 seats) and Chamber of Deputies (91 seats) elected for four-year terms; Supreme Court Government leader: President Antonio (Silvestre) GUZMAN Fernández Suffrage: universal and compulsory, over age 18 or married, except members of the armed forces and police, who cannot vote
Official name
Dominican Republic
Political subdivisions
26 provinces and the National District
Type
republic
Economy
Agriculture
main crops—sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, rice, corn
Aid
economic—bilateral commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-80), from US, $414 million; (1970-79) ODA and OOF from other Western countries, $103 million; military-authorized from US (1970-80), $18 million
Budget
revenues, $891 million; expenditures, $1,094.1 million (1980 est.)
Electric power
890,000 kW capacity (1981); 3.0 billion kWh produced (1981), 519 kWh per capita
Exports
$962 million (f.o.b., 1980); sugar, nickel, coffee, tobacco, cocoa, bauxite
Fiscal year
calendar year
GNP
$6.8 billion (1980 prelim.), $1,256 per capita; real growth rate 1980, 5.4%
Imports
$1,515 million (f.o.b., 1980); foodstuffs, petroleum, industrial raw materials, capital equipment
Major industries
tourism, sugar processing, nickel mining, bauxite mining, gold mining, textiles, cement
Major trade partners
exports—46% US including Puerto Rico (1980); imports—45% US including Puerto Rico (1980)
Monetary conversion rate
1 peso=US$1
Communications
Airfields
47 total, 37 usable; 13 with permanent-surface runways; 2 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 9 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Civil air
16 major transport aircraft, including 1 leased in
Highways
11,400 km total; 5,800 km paved, 5,600 km gravel and improved earth
Pipelines
refined products, 69 km
Ports
4 major (Santo Domingo, Barahona, Haina, San Pedro de Macon's), 17 minor
Railroads
1,600 km total; 104 km government owned common-carrier 1.065-meter gauge; 1,496 km privately owned plantation lines of four different gauges ranging from 0.60 m to 1.43 m, 0.760-meter gauge predominating
Telecommunications
relatively efficient domestic system based on islandwide radio-relay network; 139,000 telephones (2.5 per 100 popl.); 135 AM, 31 FM, and 22 TV stations; 1 coaxial submarine cable; 1 Atlantic Ocean satellite station
Military and Security
Military manpower
males 15-49, 1,423,000; 939,000 fit for military service; 75,000 reach military age (18) annually