Dominican Republic

Dominican Republic: Country Intelligence Briefing

The Dominican Republic combines a mid-sized Caribbean economy with a governance profile that V-Dem v15 rates relatively favorably among the figures on file, though several energy indicators are too dated to describe current conditions.

Economy and Fiscal Position

GDP reached $124.3 billion in 2024, with GDP per capita of $10,875.66 the same year, both per World Bank WDI. Population stood at 11,427,557 in 2024, per World Bank WDI. Government debt was 58.3 percent of GDP in 2026, per IMF WEO, and reserves stood at $14.6 billion in 2025, per IMF IFS.

Defense Posture

Military expenditure was $1.04 billion in 2025, per SIPRI Milex, equivalent to 0.802 percent of GDP under SIPRI's own GDP series for 2025 — a figure that should not be read against the World Bank's separately sourced GDP number above. Active personnel stood at 56,000 in 2022, per COW NMC, with a Composite Index of National Capability (CINC) score of 0.0011394406 the same year, also per COW NMC.

Governance

V-Dem v15 scores the Dominican Republic's electoral democracy at 0.735 and liberal democracy at 0.505 for 2025, with a state capacity score of 0.564 the same year.

Energy

Primary energy consumption was 0.4702 exajoules in 2023, and electricity generation was 22.68 terawatt-hours in 2025, both per Our World in Data (Energy). Oil and gas production are each recorded at zero terawatt-hours, but both figures are dated 2016 per Our World in Data (Energy) — a decade old and should be treated as stale rather than a current statement of production, though the Dominican Republic has no substantial record of domestic hydrocarbon output.

Data Gaps

The oil and gas production figures are nine years out of date and should not be cited as describing current energy conditions. The active-personnel and CINC figures predate the current year by three years. The milex-to-GDP ratio is drawn from SIPRI's own GDP denominator, not the World Bank figure cited above, and the two should not be combined.

Sources: World Bank WDI; IMF WEO; IMF IFS; SIPRI Milex; COW NMC; V-Dem v15; Our World in Data (Energy).