Essay on The Basics of the Country of Haiti

If you were born in Haiti, you are two and a half times more likely to die as a baby and ten times more likely to be poorer and people there can expect to live a shorter life. It’s interesting to see how a politically fragile and impoverished Haiti on the left while Dominican Republic is relatively wealthy and has a stable economy on the other.

Haiti is a prime example of how human needs in one area of the world are interdependent with social conditions elsewhere in the world. Haiti, for most of its history has been overwhelmed with economic

Haiti is located in the Caribbean between the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. It is located west of the Dominican Republic on the western third of Hispaniola.This means that Haiti is bordered by water on three out of its four sides. The terrain of Haiti is mostly mountainous. Elevation ranges from 0 meters at the Caribbean Sea to 2,680 meters at Chaine de la Selle. The land area is 27,560 square kilometers which makes Haiti slightly smaller in size than Maryland. With a population of 10,485,800 people the distribution is relatively even. However, there are higher concentrations of people located along the coastlines. (CIA, 2017)

The national population is continuing to increase at a 1.17% growth rate, which appears small, but consider that most developed countries have negative population growth rates. This is caused by two main factors; continuous births in a state that cannot support them, and the deportation of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, who’s population is decreasing. More than that, Haiti still lies in ruins following the 2010 earthquake, which, as previously mentioned, leaves a large percentage of the population without shelter, food, or work. Even worse is that Haiti’s economic status is continually deteriorating, caused by the previous two factors; population growth and geographic destruction. For that matter it is not helping the global economy at all, as a developed country would. Data shows that Haiti is truly the most under-developed country in the Western Hemisphere. This is due to the fact that it “is the most densely populated country in the Western Hemisphere” (Aronson 1), the fact that it is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and has the least income per person, the fact that it does not have nearly enough food, shelter, clothing, water, or work for all of its people. With that, Haiti shows no signs of improvement in the near future, as it has nothing to build up

Haiti is one of the more indigent countries in the world; the country also holds a low economic status. Over time Haiti’s economy grew gradually at around 2.3

Haiti is west of the Dominican Republic and is located in the caribbean in the western one-third of the island of Hispaniola. It is between the Caribbean sea and the North Atlantic ocean. The population of Haiti as of 2016 is currently 10.85 million people. The population distribution is fairly even all around ; However, the largest concentrations are located near coastal areas of the country. The national poverty rate of Haiti is about 58.6%.

Illness and disease along with poverty still plague Haiti today. The effort to try and recover from the most recent earthquake tragedy has Haitians concerned. The conditions that they have endured in the past just to survive are worse than the conditions brought on by the earthquake. Some Haitian natives feel the Government is moving a bit slow in cleaning up and getting

As the most basic indicator of health, the life expectancy from birth in Haiti based on estimates by the World Health Organization is reported to be approximately fifty-five (55) years (although there are a variety of competing numbers provided by other sources). The infant mortality rate is approximately eight percent (8%) and the less than 5 years old mortality rate is over eleven percent (11.7%)

However, before diving deeper into Haiti’s current economic plight, it is necessary to first comprehend how economic well-being is derived. Economic well-being is certainly not easily reflected by one measurement, say GDP per

Haiti is the second largest Caribbean Island. It occupies a third of the western part of the island it shares with the Dominican Republic. Haiti is also made up of several islands that surround the main territory. The capital is Port-au-Prince. It rains between November and March in the North of the island and between May and October in the South. “Once covered by forest, the country has been heavily logged for wood and fuel and to clear land for farming, and is now largely deforested.” Haiti is divided into “nine administrative departments.” Besides the capital, other important cities are Cap-Haitien and Gonaives.  “Haiti is the most densely populated country in Latin America and has the lowest per

Haiti was struck with “a magnitude size 7.0 earthquake…outside of the Haitian capital of Port au Prince” (COHA 2) in January 2010. This disaster killed several hundred thousand people and caused many others to no longer have their homes. Billions of dollars in aid have assisted Haiti in their efforts to rebuild the country. But, “three years later, 80 percent of the population still subsists below the poverty line with an unemployment rate of 40 percent” (COHA 3). What is wrong with this picture?

70 percent of their income is spent on food for their family, which leaves around 60 US cents for other needs, including education. However over 40 percent of the total population are unemployed and struggle to provide for themselves (although after the 2010 hurricane, more jobs became available for reconstruction). A day’s income can barely feed more than two individuals. Malnutrition is very common with around 44 percent of Haiti’s population undernourished, 18 percent being children. Malnutrition is also the main cause for deaths of children. Many children are left stunted as their body struggles to develop from the lack of food and energy. One out of five children will die before the age of five in

More than seventy percent of the Haitian population lives in poverty every day, and sixty percent of the population lives on less than one dollar every day.1 Along with an inability to provide basic living conditions, poverty also causes health complications. Approximately three million Haitians obtain their water from unprotected rivers and springs, and more than fifty percent of the Haitian population is undernourished.2 Because many Haitian citizens have scarce access to clean water, anemia and diarrhea are widespread throughout the country. Many Haitians also suffer from malnutrition because of poverty and unclean water. Because of the prevalent indigence, or extreme poverty, across the country, Haitians are plagued by numerous educational dilemmas as well. Only fifty percent of adolescents living in Haiti are able to go to school, while 30 percent of children only make it to the fifth grade.

With high birth rates in Haiti, 80% of the population lives in poverty. In 2010, Haiti experienced a terrible earthquake; which resulted in a lot of orphaned children. Some of the other children poor parents wanted to escape the financial burden of raising them, so they sent them to work for wealthy families. Those children had to work in harsh conditions regardless of the weather condition.

Haiti is a country in is a country in the western hemisphere, located on the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean. There are 10,123,787 people in this country and Haiti has the largest poverty rate of 77% in the world. More than half of Haiti’s population lives on less than $1 a day, and 80% of the country lives on less than $2 a day. Their estimated unemployment rate as of 2010 was 40.6%. (Hess and Weigley 2012)