Dominican facts, from those who know...

The people of Dominica is the forth happiest in the world. At least that’s what the latest results from the Happy Planet Index lets us know. How to measure happiness is of course widely debated, and who can actually tell what happiness really is? But, living in Dominica, you don’t really have to worry about wars, violence (the crime level being one of the lowest in the entire Caribbean), drought, famine or bloody coup d'état, not really either how to be able to afford health care or education for your child. Despite the yearly hurricane season, and a tiny risk for volcanic activity, Dominica is a safer place than many others, and that helps to make you fell happy.

To get some true, real and completely objective information and statistics on Dominica, is probably just as impossible as everywhere else. It all depends on who you are asking and what the purpose is or have been. But still, some institutions seem to never get enough of collecting statistics and writing reports on those objective facts.

The UNDP Human Development Index sometimes serves as quite a good guide. It is based on adult literacy, school enrolment, life expectancy at birth and per capita GDP. According to the 2006 Report 2006, Dominica is ranked 68 among 177 countries, placing it just above countries like Brazil, Colombia and St Lucia, and among the top five of countries considered “medium developed”. Dominica have, in fact, met almost all of the UN Millennium Development Goals.

But, even though Dominica was ranked 95th in the 2004 report, and the jump to no 68 may seem like a really good shape-up, everything is not perfect, not even in Dominica.

The recent and quite severe economic crisis has led to a rise in poverty and unemployment. The poverty and unemployment levels are quite high, with an estimated 39% of the population being poor and 15% indigent; and an unemployment rate of around 25% nationwide and 40% among the poor. As so often, poverty is concentrated mainly in the rural areas and is particularly severe in the Carib Territory, where the majority of the indigenous Kalinago people live. The high level of rural poverty has its roots mainly in the ongoing decline in agriculture which has long been the mainstay of Dominica’s economy. Today, the Government does what is standard in the Caribbean: doing its best to increase tourism as a main source of income for the country.

Unemployment is one of several reasons why the emigration from Dominica continues to increase. From 1990 it has almost doubled. 1990 about 1% of the population emigrated, while as in 2003 about 2% decided to leave the country. The main destinations for migrants are Antigua and British Virgin Islands, as well at UK, USA and Canada. Today Dominica has a population of about 70.000. I have been told that there are about the same number of Dominicans living abroad. The loss of skilled labour force is a great challenge to the island and its future economic development.

Then what about those who come, at least to visit? (although some of us can’t help but to stay…) In 1994 Dominica counted a total of 56,600 stay-over guests, increased by almost 50% ten years later: In 2004 80,000 stay-over tourists visited the island. Today that number has risen slightly more, to about 83,000. However, more than half of them, about 50,000, originate from other Caribbean countries, only about 20,000 travel from US and Canada, about 10,000 from Europe, and only about 40% use paid accommodations. A great part of the people visiting Dominica seem to belong to the fastest growing segment of today’s traveller; those who travel to visit friends and family. Of course, they are also tourists, but doesn’t contribute economically in the same way as those who actually use the hotels and restaurants.

While the cruise shippers outnumber the stay-over visitors by five – almost 400,000 cruise shippers visit every year, with high season days with four or five ships docking in Roseau and Portsmouth (don’t forget to avoid places like Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald Pool these days, at least until you hear the sound of the ships horn in the afternoon), they only account for about 20% of all spending. It is not hard to see why the Governments newly approved Tourism Policy clearly focuses on stay-over guests.

GDP per person averages around USD 5.500 per person and... that’s enough... enough from all these experts who adore hard facts, statistics and everything that is “objectively” measurable. Let’s go back to where we started and concentrate on what really matters:

Dominica is the fourth happiest country in the entire world.

I really think that’s enough to know. And, although I haven’t counted, I am sure a Dominican smiles about a hundred times more a day than the average Swede, German or Canadian.

More hard facts and stats on Dominica: Can be found in the UNDP Human Development Report and Index, in country reports etc. on Dominica, i.e. at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission, the Caribbean Development Bank, and, last but not least, in the Happy Planet Index.
According to them, if you are curious, the only countries considered happier than Dominica are, in order of major happiness, Vanuatu, Colombia and Costa Rica.