The First Financial Health Study in the Dominican Republic 2021 showed that 8.9 million Dominicans have a financial situation of survival or vulnerability.
In addition, within that percentage, there is 30%, equivalent to 3.1 million Dominican households, whose situation is financially vulnerable. This means that this segment does not achieve a minimally acceptable level of financial health in some or all of the eight variables considered in the study.
The document released by Caudall, a platform made up of a team of market leaders that seeks to radically transform the way people relate to money, explains that the results of the study show that the Financial Health Index it is 54 points on a 100 point basis. According to the methodology, this indicates that, in general terms, Dominicans have survival finances.
The financial health of people promotes economic growth, facilitates the channeling of resources from savings to investment, protects households from the materialization of crises, contributes to the reduction of poverty and inequality, key elements when generating a path of sustained prosperity.
It is detailed that only 15% of Dominicans manage to achieve finances that are considered healthy, with a score of 80 points or more. This means that, of the total population of the country, three million live in a situation of financial vulnerability and 5.8 million are surviving from day to day and only 1.7 million have a healthy financial situation.
By sex and age
The document highlights that, by sex, women are in a more vulnerable situation in financial terms than men. 33.53% of women are in a vulnerable situation, 55.26% are receiving income just to survive and only 11.21% are in a healthy financial situation.
In the case of men, 25.60% are in a financially vulnerable situation, 55.42% are surviving and only 18.97% have a healthy financial situation.
The study presented by Caudall also looks at financial health by age. The report states that the older the individual is, the better financial situation they have. For example: 36% of people over 60 have a healthy financial condition. In contrast, 20% of citizens between the ages of 18 and 49 have a healthy financial situation. Those of 18 years are below 14%.
The financial health of the study participants is analyzed on four pillars: spending, saving, debt and planning. Regarding expenses, 36.73% of those consulted indicate that the expenses they make are greater than the income, 36.03% that the expenses were less than the income and the 27.24% the expenses are more or less equal to the income obtained. In addition, 50.86% pay all their commitments on time and 49.14% do not meet their commitments on time.
Are the savings enough?
For 38.51% of Dominicans, the savings they have only last less than three weeks, covering their ordinary expenses in case their income is affected.
Likewise, 22.47% can last six months or more with the savings they have, 20.63% would last from one to two months and 18.39% have enough savings to cover their ordinary expenses for three to five months.
But, in addition, 51.03% of those surveyed are not sure of having enough long-term savings. The opposite shows 48.97%, which indicates that they feel confident.
The authors of the study are Juan Carlos Saladín, José Medina, Raúl Ovalle, Jonathan Valle, Mónica Báez, Evelín Cáceres, Carlos Santana, Grace D’Oleo, Xavier Bergés and Santiago Sicard, who recommended promoting that in the public and private educational system include financial education from an early age, understanding that good levels of general education are not enough if the basic concepts of personal finance are not adequately trained and explained.
In addition, promoting more direct and far-reaching actions by companies in the financial sector, in terms of financial education for their clients.
