Censuses

Dominican Republic Census 1981

Dominican Republic Census 1993

Dominican Republic Census 2002 (English Translation)

Only the 1981 census asks any information about race.  Based on the appearance and accent of the respondent, the questioner was asked to decide if the individual was Dominican, Haitian, or Other. (See Question 40).

Although more research is neccessary in this area, it would be interesting to see if the lack of “race” question in the recent censuses are intended to downplay social-economic issues regarding the “pigmentocracy” (Sidanius et. al 2001) and anti-Haitian racism (Sagas 1995) that plagues the Dominican Republic.

Anti-haitian Legislation

Paragraph 1, Article 11 of the Dominican Constitution “excludes from acquiring Dominican nationality the legitimate children of foreigners residing in the country on diplomatic missions or those who are in transit.”, The definition of the term “in transit” was redefined in 2004 to mean not just those who had spent no more than ten days in the Dominican Republic, but also  everyone who was not a legal resident. By 2007, anyone who was “in trasit” or born to those newly classified as “in transit” lost their citizenship.   (De Castro 2011). Up to 200,000 people may now find themselves stateless. (The Economist).