Haiti's Development Needs and a Statistical Overview of Conditions of Poverty

Haiti’s Development Needs and a Statistical
Overview of Conditions of Poverty
May 30, 2007
Maureen Taft-Morales
Specialist in Latin American Affairs
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
Demond Alexander Drummer
Research Associate
Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division

Haiti’s Development Needs and a Statistical Overview
of Conditions of Poverty
Summary
Haiti’s poverty is massive and deep. Over half the population (54%) of 8.2
million people live in extreme poverty, living on less than $1 a day; 76% live on less
than $2 a day. Poverty and hunger among the rural population is even more
widespread. In order to reach Haiti’s goal of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger
by 2015, its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would have to grow 3.5% per year, a
goal Haiti is not considered likely to achieve. In the past 40 years, Haiti’s per capita
real GDP has declined by 30%. Therefore economic growth, even if greater than
population growth, is not expected to be enough to reduce Haiti’s endemic poverty.
Since Haiti’s 2006 elections, the new government and international donors are
shifting from a short-term program to carry Haiti through a transition period to a
long-term program to help reduce poverty in Haiti. Haiti and its multilateral and
bilateral donors developed an international aid strategy to address Haiti’s short-term
needs in between the collapse of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide’s government and
the installation of a new, elected government. Through the Interim Cooperation
Framework (ICF) international donors pledged $1.2 billion from 2004 to 2006, and
$750 million more through September 2007. The ICF places priority needs and
projects into four broad “axes”: political governance and national dialogue; economic
governance and institutional development; economic recovery; and access to basic
services, with a strategy, priority objectives, and monitoring indicators for each.
Building on drafts created by the interim government (2004-2006), President
René Préval’s Administration produced an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS)
for the years 2007-2009. This plan calls for actions to be taken within a
macroeconomic framework focusing on three goals: maintain macroeconomic
stability; target actions to reduce poverty; and create conditions conducive to
continuous and sustainable growth driven by private initiative.
International donors are assisting Haiti in developing a long-term Poverty
Reduction Plan to build on and succeed the Interim Cooperation Framework (ICF).
An important part of this strategy is developing the final plan through a participatory
process, with the goals of ensuring that the interests of Haiti’s most disadvantaged
population are taken into account and that democratic and governance processes are
strengthened. The PRS is to be completed by July 2007, and implemented beginning
in October 2007. The U.S. Agency for International Development’s 2007-2009
programs are based on the objectives, strategy, and monitoring indicators established
under the ICF. Some critics say that the PRS process does not allow adequate
country input, uses limited development analysis, and should include discussion of
alternative policies and other aspects of development policy.
Enormous political, technical, and institutional challenges must be overcome
before Poverty Reduction objectives can be achieved. The figures in this report put
international efforts into the context of Haitian poverty, drawing a statistical portrait
to convey the extent of the poverty and obstacles that must be overcome in order for
sustainable development to occur in Haiti. This report will not be updated.

Contents
Current Situation..................................................1
Haiti’s Development Needs..........................................2
Short-Term Strategy for Addressing Haiti’s Needs....................3
Medium-Term Strategy for Addressing Haiti’s Needs.................4
Long-Term Strategy for Addressing Haiti’s Needs....................5
Critiques of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process...................5
The Bush Administration Strategy.....................................6
Moving Forward on Haitian Development..............................8
Statistical Overview of Conditions of Poverty..........................10
Political Governance Data: Police and Penitentiary Institutions.........10
Economic Data: Stability, Electricity, Private Sector
Development, Transportation, and Environmental Indicators.......11
Access to Basic Services Data: Water, Sanitation, Health, Nutrition,
and Education............................................17
List of Figures
Figure 1. PPP GNI Per Capita, 1980-2003.............................11
Figure 2. Annual Inflation, 1995-2004................................12
Figure 3. Access to Electricity, 2000..................................12
Figure 4. Transmission and Distribution Losses, 2001....................13
Figure 5. Procedural Time, 2004.....................................13
Figure 6. Business Start-up Costs, 2004...............................14
Figure 7. Cost of Registering a Property, 2004..........................14
Figure 8. Cost of Closing a Business, 2004.............................15
Figure 9. Investment Recovery Rate, 2004.............................15
Figure 10. Road Infrastructure, 2001..................................16
Figure 11. Forest Area, 2000.......................................16
Figure 12. Annual Deforestation, 1990-2000 ...........................17
Figure 13. Access to Improved Water Source, 2000......................17
Figure 14. Access to Sanitation, 2000.................................18
Figure 15. Life Expectancy, 2003....................................18
Figure 16. Adult Mortality Rate, 2003.................................19
Figure 17. Under-5 Mortality Rate, 2003...............................19
Figure 18. Maternal Mortality Rate, 2000.............................20
Figure 19. Skilled Health Attendant Present at Birth, 2005.................20
Figure 20. Health Professionals, 2004.................................21
Figure 21. HIV/AIDS Cases in the Caribbean, 2004......................21
Figure 22. HIV/AIDS Deaths in the Caribbean, 2004.....................22
Figure 23. HIV/AIDS Prevalence, 2004...............................22
Figure 24. Tuberculosis Profile, 2005.................................23
Figure 25. Food Security, 2002......................................23

Figure 27. Daily Nutrient Intake Per Capita, 2002.......................24
Figure 28. Adult Literacy Rate, 2005..................................25
Figure 29. Youth Literacy Rate, 2005.................................25
List of Tables
Table 1. Size of Police Force.......................................10
Table 2. Penitentiary Institutions.....................................11

Haiti’s Development Needs and a Statistical
Overview of Conditions of Poverty
This report provides a brief analysis of Haiti’s development needs.¹ It examines
the current situation in Haiti, Haiti’s development needs, and what is being done by
the Haitian government, the United States, and foreign donors to meet those needs.
It also addresses priority areas for Haitian development. Haiti and its multilateral and
bilateral donors developed an international assistance strategy, known as the Interim
Cooperation Framework (ICF), to address Haiti’s short-term needs following the
collapse of the government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in February 2004.
The Cooperation Framework has been extended through 2007, and is the basis from
which a long term Poverty Reduction Strategy is being developed. The second part
of the report uses the Interim Cooperation Framework’s outline to organize statistics
related to the priority needs that have been established. These statistics illustrate the
challenges posed by current conditions of poverty in Haiti for achieving Haiti’s
development goals.
Current Situation
Haiti’s poverty is massive and deep. Over half the population (54%) of 8.2
million people live in extreme poverty, living on less than $1 a day; 76% live on $2
or less a day. Poverty among the rural population is even more widespread: 69% of
rural dwellers live on less than $1 a day, and 86% live on less than $2 a day. Hunger
is also widespread: 81% of the national population and 87% of the rural population
do not get the minimum daily ration of food defined by the World Health
Organization. In order to reach its Millennium Development Goal of eradicating
extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, Haiti’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would
have to grow 3.5% per year, a goal the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Haiti
is not considered likely to achieve. Economic growth for FY2006 is estimated to
have been 2.5%. Over the past 40 years, Haiti’s per capita real GDP has declined by
30%. Therefore, economic growth, even if it is greater than population growth, is not
expected to be enough to reduce poverty.

¹ Sources include various reports from USAID [http://www.usaid.gov/locations/
latin_america_caribbean/country/haiti/], the State Department [http://www.state.gov/p/wha/
ci/ha/], the International Monetary Fund [http://www.imf.org/external/country/HTI/
index.htm], non-governmental organizations, and the Haitian government’s “Haiti: Interim
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper” [http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/
2006/cr06411.pdf], and news articles. The text of this CRS report was written by Maureen
Taft-Morales. For more information, see CRS Report RL32294, Haiti: Developments and
U.S. Policy Since 1991 and Current Congressional Concerns, also by Taft-Morales.

The likelihood that economic growth will contribute to reduction of poverty in
Haiti is further reduced by its enormous income distribution gap. Haiti has the
second largest income disparity in the world. Over 68% of the total national income
accrues to the wealthiest 20% of the population, while less than 1.5% of Haiti’s
national income is accumulated by the poorest 20% of the population.² When the
level of inequality is as high as Haiti’s, according to the World Bank, the capacity of
economic growth to reduce poverty “approaches zero.”³
President René Préval, who was inaugurated to a five-year term on May 14,
2006, recently completed his first year in office. He outlined his government’s two
main missions to be building institutions as provided for in the constitution —
including the new municipal posts filled by elections on December 3, 2006 — and
creating conditions for private investment in order to create jobs. Préval has
criticized the donor community for not dispersing funds quickly enough. Some
international donors have complained that Préval’s government keeps changing
priorities - first children’s needs, then road-building, then security issues. Crime and
kidnaping levels have been high, leading Préval’s government and the U.N. Mission
in Haiti (MINUSTAH) to focus on improving security.
Haiti’s Development Needs
Plagued by chronic political instability and frequent natural disasters, the
Republic of Haiti remains the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The
United Nations designates Haiti as one of the fifty “least developed countries” in the⁴
world.
“Least Developed Countries” (LDCs) [are] a category of States that are deemed
highly disadvantaged in their development process..., and facing more than other
countries the risk of failing to come out of poverty. As such, the LDCs are
considered to be in need of the highest degree of attention on the part of the
international community....the UN gives a strong signal to the development
partners of these countries, and points to the need for special international⁵
support measures and concessions in their favour.
Haiti has many priorities for development that are deeply interconnected. To
address the persistent poverty crisis in the country, the Haitian government and the
international donor community, including the United States, are implementing and
developing assistance strategies that address many development needs

² Evans Jadote, “Income Distribution and Poverty in the Republic of Haiti,” PMMA
Working Paper 2006-13, Poverty and Economic Policy.
³ World Bank, “Income Distribution, Inequality, and Those Left Behind,” in Global
Economic Prospects 2007: Managing the Next Wave of Globalization, p. 83. December 1,

2006.

⁴ The Least Developed Countries Report, 2006, U.N. Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD).
⁵ “UN Recognition of the Least Developed Countries, UNCTAD, at
[http://www.unctad.org/ T e mplates/Page .a sp?intIt emID=3618&lang=1&print=1].

simultaneously. In the short-term, they are trying to implement projects that will
boost public and investor confidence. At the same time, the government and donors
are pursuing medium-term development plans that will improve living conditions for
Haiti’s vast poor population and construct government institutions capable of
providing services and stability. The Haitian government is working with
international donors to develop a long-term poverty reduction plan. Since 2000, in
response to unresolved elections disputes and questions of transparency, U.S. and
other foreign donors have directed assistance through non-governmental
organizations.
The interim government (2004-2006) focused on macroeconomic performance.
The Préval Administration has continued efforts begun by that government,
maintaining fiscal discipline and implementing structural economic reforms. Now
that an elected government is in place, donors are looking at how to ensure
transparency as they provide funds directly to the government again. In addition,
since President Préval took office in May 2006, both the new government and
international donors are shifting from a short-term program to carry Haiti through a
transition period to a long-term program to help reduce poverty in Haiti.
Short-Term Strategy for Addressing Haiti’s Needs
Haiti and its multilateral and bilateral donors developed an international strategy
for assistance to address Haiti’s short-term needs in between the collapse of the
government of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and the time a new government
could be elected and installed. The World Bank, the Inter-American Development
Bank, the United Nations, and the European Commission convened the International
Donors Conference on Haiti in July 2004. Working in conjunction with Haiti’s
interim government, the conference adopted the Interim Cooperation Framework
(ICF), which focused on development goals in four general areas: political
governance, economic governance, economic recovery, and access to basic services.
At the conference, international donors, including the United States, pledged
$1.2 billion from 2004 to 2006 to help Haiti rebuild its infrastructure, strengthen
institutions, and improve basic services. According to the IMF, about $960 million
of these funds had been disbursed as of December 2006. In July 2006, international
donors pledged $750 million to bridge Haiti’s budget gap and fund economic, social,
and democratic reconstruction projects through September 2007.
The Interim Cooperation Framework establishes priority needs and projects that
fall under four broad categories. For each of these four strategic axes, the Framework
provides a strategy, priority objectives, and monitoring indicators.⁶
^!The “Strengthen Political Governance and National Dialogue” axis
addresses security, police, and disarmament; the judicial system and
human rights; and the electoral process.

⁶ Each axis of the Framework, its priorities, and the projects designed to address them are
discussed in CRS Report RL33156, Haiti: International Assistance Strategy for the Interim
Government and Congressional Concerns, by Maureen Taft-Morales.

^!The “Strengthen Economic Governance and Institutional
Development” category promotes improved and more transparent
management of public finances; strengthening the capacities of
public institutions; and decentralization in favor of regional, urban,
and local preparation of development strategies.
^!The “Promote Economic Recovery” objective aims to reverse Haiti’s
trend of economic regress by promoting macro-economic stability;
providing reliable electricity; reviving the private sector; and
providing jobs and access to micro-finance. Economic Recovery
programs also aim to help farmers meet their needs; improve roads
and transport; and rehabilitate and protect the environment.
^!“Improve Access to Basic Services” is the fourth axis. Because
basic services are so scarce in Haiti, the priorities in this category are
many. They range from immediate goals such as providing
emergency humanitarian aid to more long-term goals. Health-
related long-term goals include increasing the availability of potable
water and lavatories; extending minimal health services and
improving access to them, improving the ability to address food
security, and improving solid waste management. Programs also
include improving the quality of and access to education at all levels;
engaging disadvantaged youth; supporting Haitian artisans; and
reinforcing the media as a means of promoting pluralism and
democracy. Other priorities include improving slums and the
government’s ability to provide social safety nets and protection.
Progress has been made toward these objectives since 2004, such as the
organization of elections, jobs creation, and broader access to clean water and other
services. The economic policies of the strategy focused on restoring macroeconomic
stability and establishing good governance practices, and had success in areas such
as the preparation of budgets before the commencement of a fiscal year, and
improvements in fiscal transparency. But because the emphasis was not on economic
growth, results were negligible, according to the Haitian government, and Haitians
did not experience an improvement in living conditions.
Medium-Term Strategy for Addressing Haiti’s Needs
Building on drafts created by the interim government (2004-2006), the Préval
Administration produced an Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy for the years 2007-
2009. This plan calls for actions to be taken with a macroeconomic framework
focusing on three goals: maintain macroeconomic stability; target actions to reduce
poverty; and create conditions conducive to continuous and sustainable growth
driven by private initiative. The strategy notes that programs already outlined need
to continue, and that the absence of a sector in this strategy does not mean that sector
is not important. Partially in response to criticism that too many priorities were set
forth in earlier plans, the Haitian government says this plan focuses on those sectors
that can be effectively financed in the first year, considering limitations of time, and
human and financial resources.

The Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy defines major priorities for 2007-2009
to be infrastructure, energy, education, health and security. The government
established these priorities for intervention activities:
^!Growth favorable to the productive sectors, focusing on agriculture,
industry, trade, environment, craft industries, transportation,
electricity, communications, and tourism;
^!Governance and institutional reforms, addressing justice and rule of
law, fiscal transparency, modernization of the management of public
affairs, deconcentration, and decentralization; and
^!Development of social sectors, emphasizing health, HIV/AIDS,
education, water, sanitation, and housing.
With such low, or negative, economic growth over the last forty years, Haiti’s
per capita income has dropped by about 1% a year. The government does not
anticipate that real economic growth alone can alleviate poverty. As a result, the
government has called for growth policy that is “pro-poor,” and for first priority to
be given to investment projects that have social and human benefits.
Long-Term Strategy for Addressing Haiti’s Needs
International donors are assisting Haiti in developing a long-term Poverty
Reduction Plan to succeed the Interim Cooperation Framework. It will build on the
priorities, needs, and programs already laid out in the Interim Cooperation
Framework and the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy, as well as lessons learned
in implementing those strategies. An important part of this strategy, as it was with
the others, is developing the final plan through a participatory process, with the
overarching goal of ensuring that the interests of Haiti’s most disadvantaged
population are taken into account. A participatory process is also intended to
strengthen democratic and governance processes by building consensus among
various political and civic entities, and promoting Haitian “ownership” of the
development plan. According to the Haitian government’s strategy paper, the
participatory process was to begin in the first quarter of 2007. A final Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper is to be submitted to the Haitian Parliament in July 2007,
and implementation is to begin in October 2007.
Critiques of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process
Some analysts have questioned whether Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) in
general represent the best development strategy for a country. Poverty Reduction
Strategy Papers are required to qualify for debt relief through the World Bank’s
Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative and the IMF’s Poverty Reduction
and Growth Facilities. Therefore, some groups say, fulfilling requirements set by the
international financial institutions drives the Poverty Reduction Strategy process, and
becomes another type of conditionality, rather than the poverty reduction goals of a
country like Haiti driving the formulation of debt relief and loan packages, as the
PRS process was supposed to do. ActionAid, an international anti-poverty agency,

argues that the World Bank and IMF’s focus on poverty “is limited to lessening the
social damage done by the negative impacts of their structural adjustment policy
reforms...”, and that alternatives or reforms to structural adjustment are generally
precluded from discussion.⁷
In a review of earlier Poverty Reduction Strategies in seven countries, including
Haiti, ActionAid reported that although there was general support for locally
generated poverty reduction strategies, the evidence suggested there was little in-
country “ownership” of the plans except among some of the bureaucracies that
implement them. The study found that “important constituencies are being excluded
through the consultation design or their own lack of capacity.” The report also
concluded that the IMF and the World Bank continued to have significant influence
and control over the process and content of the Poverty Reduction Strategies
themselves and their subsequent debt relief and loan packages. This influence, the
report said, meant that “largely discredited adjustment instruments and targets have
reappeared...,” leaving the PRS susceptible to “the charge of new form, same
substance, and...same impact on the working poor and excluded.”⁸
Another group, the Bretton Woods Project, which monitors the World Bank and
the IMF in collaboration with non-governmental organizations and researchers, says
these international financial institutions should broaden their sources for
development analysis, and that “Ministers from indebted countries and prominent
academics have recently voiced concerns about the conflicts of interest underlying
the Bank’s role as analyst and lender.”⁹
Some of these groups caution civil society organizations about participating in
the public consultations for these Strategies. Poverty Reduction Strategies are not
necessarily development strategies, they say, because the public consultation process
excludes discussions of other important elements of development policy, such as
trade policies, domestic and foreign investment strategies, industrial policies, deficit
spending, and other issues. They suggest either broadening the scope of discussion
within Poverty Reduction public consultations or supplementing them with public
forums led by civil society organizations.
The Bush Administration Strategy
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s primary objective
in Haiti for 2007-2009 is, “Helping to meet the basic needs of Haitian citizens.”

⁷ “Rethinking Participation: Questions for Civil Society about the Limits of Participation in
PRSPs,” An ActionAid USA/ActionAid Uganda Discussion Paper, April 2004, Washington,
DC.
⁸ “Inclusive Circles Lost in Exclusive Cycles: An ActionAid contribution to the first Global
Poverty Reduction Strtegies Comprehensive Review,” ActionAid Policy Brief on PRSs,
January 2002.
⁹ Alex Wilks and Fabien Lefrancois, “Blinding with Science or Encouraging Debate? How
World Bank Analysis Determines PRSP Policies,” Bretton Woods Project, 2002.

According to USAID’s FY2007 Budget Justification, these basic needs include
“better education and healthcare; more jobs and economic opportunities; greater
access to equitably applied justice; humanitarian assistance; and institutions capable
of providing these basic needs.”¹⁰ USAID’s programs are based on the objectives,
strategy, and monitoring indicators established under the Interim Cooperation
Framework.
USAID began implementing new strategies in three areas in FY2007. Because
Haiti’s poor have become even more vulnerable by the complex disasters arising out
of instability and insecurity, one program is aimed at protecting vulnerable
populations. This program includes efforts to: 1) improve emergency preparedness
and disaster mitigation; 2) protect and increase the food security of groups such as
children under five years of age, and pregnant and lactating women; 3) work with
vulnerable populations to increase family income and decrease food insecurity; and

4) promote stability by providing short-term employment opportunities in violence-

prone areas, especially for out-of-school youth. The proposed budget for this
program for FY2007 was $10.6 million in Development Assistance (DA), and $19
million in Economic Support Funds (ESF). (Congress has passed Continuing
Resolutions for FY2007, and funding for FY2007 is still unclear.)
The second new strategy involves democracy and governance. This program
aims to strengthen civil society organizations so that they can reach out to groups
traditionally excluded from the political process, and apply pressure on the Haitian
government to create and implement good governance reforms. Judicial reform
programs focus on improving the Justice Ministry’s capacity to function; providing
protection and treatment for victims of organized violence; preventing human
trafficking; and providing specialized education and other opportunities for
marginalized youth in Haiti’s most violent areas. Other programs aim to strengthen
the parliament, and help local government institutions be able to incorporate citizen
input and deliver services. The proposed FY2007 budget for this program is $8
million in Development Assistance (DA), and $13 million in Economic Support
Funds (ESF).
The third new strategy involves education. The four elements of this program
include 1) investment in primary schools to achieve equitable access to quality basic
education; 2) supporting the social integration of adolescents through
vocational/technical education; 3) strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of
Education; and 4) increasing government oversight of education at the local level.
The proposed FY2007 funding for this program is $4.6 million in Development
Assistance (DA), and $6 million in Economic Support Funds (ESF).
Overall, the Bush Administration requested $198 million for Haiti for FY2007.
Levels for child survival and health, development assistance, and counternarcotics
assistance funds decreased. HIV/AIDS funding increased as part of the President’s
Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.

¹⁰ USAID Budget Justification to the Congress FY2007, Haiti.

The Administration’s FY2008 request of $223 million represents increases in
Economic Support Funds and HIV/AIDS funding, but decreases in all other
categories of aid to Haiti from FY2006 and proposed FY2007 levels. Comparing
FY2006 levels to FY2008 requested levels of aid to Haiti, ESF would increase from
$49.5 million to $63.5 million; Global HIV/AIDS Initiative funding would increase
from $47.3 million $83 million. Child Survival and Health would decrease from
$19.8 million to $18.0 million; Development Assistance would decrease from $29.7
million to $14.8 million; Foreign Military Financing from $98,000 to $0;
International Military Education and Training from $213,000 to $200,000;
International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement would decrease from $17.5
million to $9 million, and P.L. 480 food assistance would decrease from $39.5
million to $34.5 million.
Moving Forward on Haitian Development
According to the IMF Mission Chief for Haiti, the Préval Administration has
made concerted efforts to continue the strong macroeconomic performance initiated
by the interim government, maintaining fiscal discipline and continuing structural
economic reforms, such as passing a new organic budget law. Most analysts agree,
however, that even strong macroeconomic performance will not be enough to reduce
poverty in Haiti. The IMF points out that enormous political, technical, and
institutional challenges must also be overcome before Poverty Reduction objectives
can be achieved.
The World Bank and others say that it is highly unlikely that economic growth
will reduce poverty as long as Haiti’s income inequality remains as high as it is —
and by 2030 the income gap is expected to grow. Three factors contributing to
income inequality are: a large disparity in the capacity to generate income, with the
rural areas having the least capacity; access to education, which only half the
population has; and whether or not a household receives remittances from abroad.
Analysts say that policy aimed at reducing income inequality in Haiti should address
decentralization, to provide more and better infrastructure and services throughout¹¹
the country.
According to the World Bank, public spending on education that is targeted
toward the poor can reduce poverty in both the short- and long-term. Access to
education, it says, can reduce poverty relatively quickly by increasing individual
productivity and helping to shift poor people from low-paying agricultural
employment to better paying jobs in the industrial and service sectors. In the long-
term, the Bank says, education can increase poor children’s chances of breaking out
of the cycle of poverty by gaining access to formal employment. This means,
however, that investment and the economy must be strong enough to create job
opportunities for newly educated people.

¹¹ World Bank, “Income Distribution, Inequality, and Those Left Behind,” p. 92.; Evans
Jadote, “Income Distribution and Poverty in the Republic of Haiti,” op.cit.; and UN
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, “Poverty and Income
Distribution” in Social Panorama of Latin America 2002-2003, May 2004, p.72.

USAID defines three groups of challenges facing development efforts in Haiti:
public sector institutions with little capacity to govern; a weak private sector whose
growth is extremely limited by an atmosphere of insecurity; and the degradation of
Haiti’s natural resources, which are needed for productive economic activities.
Because Haiti’s current capacity is so limited, and its needs are so great, the IMF
maintains that technical assistance will be crucial in making progress. According to
the Haitian government, there has never been a systematic policy for poverty
reduction nor a coherent program with precisely defined objectives. Haiti’s limited
capacity to develop plans and absorb funds, and donors’ concerns over transparency
of government spending continue to pose obstacles to the execution of development
programs. Both donors and the Haitian government share responsibility for
addressing problems with the disbursement of funds and the coordination of foreign
assistance. The Préval Administration notes in its Interim Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper that the capacities of those who have a stake in the poverty reduction
process are also “generally inadequate for the implementation of such a process,” and
calls for assistance to strengthen those stakeholders’ capacities as well.
USAID’s Office of Transition Initiatives, which provides “fast flexible short-
term assistance targeted at key political transition and stabilization needs,” worked
in Haiti from 2004 to 2006. Its mission identified three ingredients necessary to
increase security in Haiti’s most violence-prone areas: community ownership,
development assistance, and rule of law, and said that all three elements must be
present. It also said that programs targeted at reducing violence must address
“spoilers,” whether political or criminal, who want to incite disorder to promote their
own interests.
The Millennium Development Goal that the Haitian government agreed to in
2000 for environmental sustainability was to reverse losses by 2015. According to
the IMF, this will be difficult to achieve, as losses have continued over the last
decade, and environmental policies are weak. Currently, only 3.8% of total land area
is forested.
A weak political structure combined with ongoing political tensions, violence,
massive poverty, and income inequality have made it difficult to pursue the goals of
interim development and poverty reduction plans, and will do so for the successor
Poverty Reduction Plan as well, if not adequately addressed.

Statistical Overview of Conditions of Poverty¹²
Several indices show Haiti lagging far behind countries in the region and the
world in terms of development. As mentioned earlier, the United Nations designates
Haiti as one of the fifty “least developed countries” in the world. The Economist
Intelligence Unit ranked Haiti second-to-last in its 111-country Quality-of-Life Index.
The Quality-of-Life Index uses the weighted measure of nine quality-of-life
indicators to determine a country’s quality-of-life score on a progressive scale from

1 to 10. With a score of 4.090, Haiti trailed behind the other 21 Latin American and¹³

Caribbean countries included in the study.
The United Nations Development Program’s Human Development Index (HDI)
measures a country’s indicators for life-span, education, and income against
established goalposts, yielding a score along a progressive scale from 0 to 1. Haiti’s
HDI score is 0.482, behind the Latin American and Caribbean regional score of^th
0.795. Haiti ranked 154 out of 177 countries (177 being the least developed), the
only country in the Americas or the Caribbean to fall in the category of countries of¹⁴
“low human development.”
This section uses the Interim Cooperation Framework’s outline to organize
statistics related to some of the priority needs that have been established. These
figures and tables put international efforts into the context of Haitian poverty,
drawing a statistical overview to convey the extent of the poverty in Haiti and the
obstacles that must be overcome in order for development to occur there.
Political Governance Data:
Police and Penitentiary Institutions
Table 1. Size of Police Force
PopulationNumber of Police Size of Territory
(millions)(square miles)
Haiti 8.1 8,070^a 10,641
New York8.137,038303
Domi nican 9.2 15,000 18,704
Republic
Sources: The Military Balance, 2007, International Institute for Strategic Studies,
Routledge, London; Ken Park, ed., “The World Almanac and Book of Facts,” World
Almanac, 2006, pp. 422, 785, and 783; “NYPD ‘New York’s Finest’” at
[http://www.nye.gov/ html/nypd/html/misc/pdfaq2.html ].

¹² Tables and figures in this section were researched and constructed by Demond Alexander
Drummer, Research Associate, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division.
¹³ The World in 2005. The Economist Intelligence Unit.
¹⁴ Human Development Report 2006, United Nations Development Program.

a. Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti,
December 19, 2006, S/2006/1003. The Préval government signed a Haitian National
Police reform plan in August 2006 that would increase the police force by about 1,500
officers per year, to 14,000 by 2011. The report also notes that the plan says a staffing
of up to 20,000 “would be required to undertake the full range of security tasks.”
Table 2. Penitentiary Institutions
YearPrisonImprisonment RateOccupancy Level^a
Population (per 100,000 pop.)(%)
19951,6172381
19983,76649188
20033,51942176
Source: International Centre for Prison Studies.
a. Based on official capacity reported at 2,000 inmates.
Economic Data: Stability, Electricity, Private Sector
Development, Transportation, and Environmental Indicators
Figure 1. PPP GNI Per Capita, 1980-2003

Figure 2. Annual Inflation, 1995-2004
Figure 3. Access to Electricity, 2000

Figure 4. Transmission and Distribution Losses,
2001
Figure 5. Procedural Time, 2004

Figure 6. Business Start-up Costs, 2004
Figure 7. Cost of Registering a Property, 2004

Figure 8. Cost of Closing a Business, 2004
Figure 9. Investment Recovery Rate, 2004

Figure 10. Road Infrastructure, 2001
Figure 11. Forest Area, 2000

Figure 12. Annual Deforestation, 1990-2000
Access to Basic Services Data: Water, Sanitation,
Health, Nutrition, and Education
Figure 13. Access to Improved Water Source,

2000

Figure 14. Access to Sanitation, 2000
Figure 15. Life Expectancy, 2003

Figure 16. Adult Mortality Rate, 2003
Figure 17. Under-5 Mortality Rate, 2003

Figure 18. Maternal Mortality Rate, 2000
Figure 19. Skilled Health Attendant Present at
Birth, 2005

Figure 20. Health Professionals, 2004
Figure 21. HIV/AIDS Cases in the Caribbean, 2004

Figure 22. HIV/AIDS Deaths in the Caribbean, 2004
Figure 23. HIV/AIDS Prevalence, 2004

Figure 24. Tuberculosis Profile, 2005
Figure 25. Food Security, 2002

Figure 26. Daily Calorie Intake Per Capita, 2002
Figure 27. Daily Nutrient Intake Per Capita, 2002

Figure 28. Adult Literacy Rate, 2005
Figure 29. Youth Literacy Rate, 2005