1981 Edition

Area

790 km2; 24% arable, 2% pasture, 67% forests, 7% other

Voting strength (1980 election): House of Assembly seats — DFP 17 seats, DLP 2 seats, independent 2 seats

48,692 km2; 14% cultivated, 4% fallow, 17% meadows and pastures, 45% forested, 20% built on or waste

Coastline

148 km

1,288 km

Communists

negligible

Land boundaries

361 km

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

3 nm (fishing 12 nm)

6 nm (fishing 200 nm; 200 nm exclusive economic zone)

Member of

CARICOM, FAO, GATT (de facto), IDA, IFAD, IFC, IMCO, IMF, OAS, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WMO

Ethnic divisions

mostly of African Negro descent

73% mulatto, 16% white, 11% Negro

Labor force

23,000; about 50% in agriculture; 24% unemployment

1.3 million; 73% agriculture, 8% industry, 19% services, and other

Language

English; French patois

Spanish

Literacy

about 80%

68%

Nationality

noun — Dominican(s); adjective — Dominican

noun — Dominican(s); adjective— Dominican

Organized labor

25% of the labor force

12% of labor force

Population

80,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 0.6%

6,013,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.7%

Religion

Roman Catholic, Church of England, Methodist

95% Roman Catholic

Branches

legislature, 11 -member popularly elected House of Assembly; executive, Cabinet headed by Premier

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

Capital

Roseau

Santo Domingo

Communists

an estimated 7,000 to 9,000 members in severallegal and illegal factions; effectiveness limited by ideological differences and organizational inadequacies

Elections

every five years; most recent 21 July 1980 Political parties and leaders: Dominica Labor Party (DLP), Michael Douglas; Dominica Freedom Party (DFP),

last national election May 1978; next election May 1982 Political parties and leaders: Dominican Revolutionary Party (PRD), Ivelisse Prats de Perez 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 Fernandez Gonzalez; Antireelection Movement of Democratic Integration (MIDA), Francisco Augusto Lora; National Civic Union (UCN), Guillermo Delmonte Urraca; National Salvation Movement (MSN), Luis Julian Perez; Popular Democratic Party (PDF), Homero Lajara Burgos; Fourteenth of June Revolutionary Movement (MR-1J4), Hector 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 Gonzalez, illegal; Popular Socialist Party (PSP), illegal; Anti-Imperialist Patriotic Union (UPA), Franklin Franco Pichardo; Democratic Union (UD), Ramon Antonio Flores; Revolutionary League of Workers (LRT), Claudio Tavarez; several additional small leftist parties Voting strength (1978 election): 51.7% PRD, 40.9% PR, 7.4% thirteen minor parties

Government leader

Prime Minister (Mary) Eugenia CHARLES

President Antonio (Silvestre) GUZMAN Fernandez DOMINICAN REPUBLIC (Continued)

Legal system

based on English common law; three local magistrate courts and the British Caribbean Court of Appeals

based on French civil codes; 1966 constitution

Member of

FAO, G-77, GATT, IADB, IAEA, IBA, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IDE, IFAD, IFC, IHO, ILO, IMCO, IMF, IOOC, ISO, ITU, OAS, SELA, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO, WTO

National holiday

Independence Day, 27 February

Official name

Commonwealth of Dominica

Dominican Republic

Political subdivisions

10 parishes

26 provinces and the National District

Suffrage

universal adult suffrage over age 18

universal and compulsory, over age 18 or married, except members of the armed forces and police, who cannot vote

Type

independent state within Commonwealth as of 3 November 1978, recognizes Elizabeth II as Chief of State

republic

Agricultural products

bananas, citrus, coconuts, cocoa, dasheen

Agriculture

main crops — sugarcane, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, rice, corn

Aid

economic— bilateral ODA and OOF (1970-79), from Western (non-US) countries, $22.6 million; no military aid

economic — bilateral commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-80), from US, $414 million; (1970-79) ODA and OOF from other Western countries, $103 million; militaryauthorized from US (1970-80), $18 million

Budget

revenues, $28 million (including grants); expenditures, $30 million (excluding grants) (1980/81)

revenues, $891 million; expenditures, $1,094.1 million (1980 est.)

Electric power

7,000 kW capacity (1981); 15 million kWh produced (1981), 189 kWh per capita

890,000 kW capacity (1981); 3.0 billion kWh produced (1981), 519 kWh per capita

Exports

$8.9 million (f.o.b., 1980 proj.); bananas, lime juice and oil, cocoa, reexports

$962 million (f.o.b., 1980); sugar, nickel, coffee, tobacco, cocoa, bauxite

Fiscal year

1 July-30 June

calendar year

GNP

$35 million (1980 est. in 1977 prices), $430 per capita; 1980 real growth rate, -1.4% (est.)

$6.8 billion (1980 prelim.), $1,256 per capita; real growth rate 1980, 5.4%

Imports

$49 million (c.i.f., 1980 proj.); machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, manufactured articles, cement

$1,515 million (f.o.b., 1980); foodstuffs, petroleum, industrial raw materials, capital equipment

Major industries

agricultural processing, tourism

tourism, sugar processing, nickel mining, bauxite mining, gold mining, textiles, cement

Major trade partners

exports— 56% UK, 14% East Common Market, 17% rest of CARICOM, 6% other Caribbean, 4% US (1979); imports— 25% UK, 12% ECC, 16% rest of Caribbean, 14% US

exports — 46% US including Puerto Rico (1980); imports— 45% US including Puerto Rico (1980)

Monetary conversion rate

2.70 East Caribbean dollars=US$l

1 peso=US$l

Airfields

1 with permanent-surface runways 1,220-2,439

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

no major transport aircraft

16 major transport aircraft, including 1 leased in

Highways

630 km total; 360 km paved, 270 km gravel and earth

11,400 km total; 5,800 km paved, 5,600 km gravel and improved earth

Military manpower

males 15-49, 1,423,000; 939,000 fit for military service; 75,000 reach military age (18) annually

Pipelines

refined products, 69 km

Ports

2 minor (Roseau, Portsmouth)

4 major (Santo Domingo, Barahona, Haina, San Pedro de Macoris), 17 minor

Railroads

none

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

4,000 telephones in fully automatic network (5.1 per 100 popl.); VHF and UHF link to St. Lucia; 2 AM stations and 1 TV station Atlantic Ocean CUB*; -^ & ;•;•;'.. i^.&> HAIT DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Saoto Domingo Cari6bean Sea KNEZUOA

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 DEFENSE FORCES