Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic: strong, sustained growth, 1980–2025

Tourism, free-trade-zone manufacturing, and remittances have driven one of the fastest and steadiest growth records in Latin America and the Caribbean since the 1990s. Between 1980 and 2025, Dominican Republic's GDP per capita grew from $1,180 to $11,059 (current US$), a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% — strong, sustained growth. Annual GDP growth averaged 4.5% with a year-to-year standard deviation of 4.0 points, reflecting relatively stable macroeconomic conditions. Structurally, agriculture's share of the economy moved from 19.8% to 4.6% of GDP (a classic decline as the economy industrialized/modernized), while services rose from 43.1% to 60.1% of GDP, underscoring a shift toward a services-driven economy. On human development, life expectancy rose from 63.4 to 73.9 years, while tertiary school enrollment moved from 17.9% to 57.7%, while the urban population share grew from 51.5% to 72.5%.

What this growth cost: Growth was not without cost: per-capita CO2 emissions rose from 1.20 to 2.99 tonnes CO2e per person; income inequality (Gini index) narrowed from 47.8 to 39.0; the poverty headcount ratio fell from 8.7% to 0.8%.