Remittances prevent 176,964 people from falling into poverty in the DR

The remittances impact directly in the economic dynamics of the families that receive it and have even been decisive in preventing a vulnerable socioeconomic condition; Without these resources, 176,964 Dominicans would be at levels of poverty relative or extreme.

A recent report from Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) points out that 163,105 people would be at levels of poverty relative without this income sent by their relatives abroad, while 13,859 people would fall into poverty. extreme poverty.

The analysis – which is based on 2024 data– shows that 12.3% of the Dominican population is in poverty relative, but these levels would be 1.3 percentage points higher if they did not receive this income. Likewise, 1.0% of the population had a socioeconomic condition that was in the extreme povertyHowever, this would be 1.5% without the impact of the remittances.

The remittances continue to grow significantly in the country: until October 2025, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) reported the income of 9,878.4 million dollars of these currencies.

He IDB estimates that the remittances They will reach 11,973 million dollars at the end of 2025 – around 9.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP), 273 million dollars more than the 11,700 million that the BCRD expects the country to exceed “easily” at the end of the year.

Homes without poverty

According to the report “The remittances in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025”, 94.5% of remittances that entered the country were destined for households that are not poor, which shows “a bias” in their distribution, which also occurs in countries such as Colombia and El Salvador.

Even so, the entity indicates that many of these homes could fall in the poverty if they lacked precisely this additional incomeand analyzes why remittances They almost do not touch the homes of households with a more critical socioeconomic condition in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“We must consider that there are many homes that do not receive remittances for the simple reason that none of its members have gone abroad; Since migrating requires an investment, it will often be the poorest households those who find themselves in this situation,” he noted.

Within the seven countries analyzed by the IDBthe Dominican Republic was the nation with the lowest rates of poverty relative for 2024, of 12.3% and 1.0%, respectively.