The average social spending in the region is 13% and in terms of dollars per capita, spending in the Dominican Republic reached an amount equivalent to US$762, a low figure.
The public social expenditure of the Government Central America in the Dominican Republic reached 8.9% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2021. It is the second country in the region with the lowest level of spending, since the Latin American average was 13%.
The countries with the lowest levels are Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic.
This spending rate, in turn, means a decrease of 3.5 percentage points of GDP compared to 2020, associated with the conclusion of monetary transfer programs implemented in response to the impacts of the pandemic, according to the latest report from the ECLAC
In the amount of resources, the Dominican Republic showed a decrease of -19.2%, after a year 2020 that had an increase of 50%. In contrast, the average between Central America, Mexico and the Dominican Republic showed growth of 1.3% in that year, and reached 1.4% in South America.
And in terms of dollars per capita, spending in the Dominican Republic reached an amount equivalent to US$762. Slightly more than the average of the countries of the subregion also made up of Central America and Mexico (US$745).
Average social spending per capita reached: in South America US$1,529, a figure 2.1 times the per capita expenditure of Central America. In the Caribbean countries it was US$2,140, which remains the highest average social expenditure per person.
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In the DR, social spending in 2021 is distributed as follows: 25.2% for social protection; 40.4% education; 27.1% health; 4.4% housing and community services; 1.4% Recreation, culture and religion and 1.5% Environmental protection.
These statistics are found in the report “Social Panorama of Latin America and the Caribbean 2022” presented by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). At the launch, the newspaper HOY asked its executive secretary, José Manuel Salazar-Xirinachs, what are your suggestions to improve the quality of life of Dominicans?
Salazar-Xirinachs highlighted that ECLAC advocates consolidating universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems within the framework of a welfare state. This is a challenge for all the countries in the region and where there is space to continue expanding the coverage, sufficiency and sustainability of the current policies that are part of these systems.
“In particular, it is important to advance in the non-contributory system of the pension system in the country as part of the challenges that could have an impact on increasing the total coverage of the pension system and that could improve the quality of life of the elderly in the region,” he said.
He added that it is important to expand investment in education, where the country had significant challenges in learning outcomes, which will probably be exacerbated by the pandemic, and to invest in guaranteeing the effective connectivity of the educational community.
