Dominican Republic Population, Main Cities and Geography

By | January 27, 2023

Dominican Republic: population, cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, the Dominican Republic has 10.8 million residents.

Ethnic composition

About 60% mulattos, 28% white and 12% black live in the Dominican Republic.

Religious affiliation

Approx. 90% Catholics and minorities of Protestants, Baha’i and Jews live in the Dominican Republic.

National languages

Spanish is spoken in the Dominican Republic.

Capital, other cities

The capital of the Dominican Republic is Santo Domingo with a population of 3 million. According to Abbreviation Finder, DOM stands for Dominican Republic in English. Click to see other meanings of this 3-letter acronym.

Other cities are:

  • Santiago with around 908,000 residents
  • San Cristóbal with around 533,000 residents
  • La Vega with around 385,000 residents
  • Puerto Plata with around 313,000 residents
  • San Pedro de Macorís with around 302,000 residents

Dominican Republic: geography, map

The Dominican Republic – also often referred to as Dom Rep for short – is located on the island of Hispaniola, the other part is the extremely poor Haiti. Check topmbadirectory for politics, flags, famous people, animals and plants of Dominican Republic.

The island of Hispaniola, has a total area of 74,480 km² and is the second largest island in the West Indies after Cuba. The Dominican Republic is located almost due east of Haiti and borders the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the Caribbean in the south and east. With Haiti the Dom Rep has a national border with a length of around 360 km.

The state covers a total area of 48,700 km². Thereof:

  • ForestAround 13% of the country is forested.
  • Fields and fieldsAround 23% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing sugar, coffee, cocoa and tobacco.
  • MountainsFour mountain ranges run through the country, the Central, North Side and East Cordillera as well as the Sierra de Baoruco and Sierra de Neiba.

Coastline

The Dominican Republic has a coast to the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean with a length of around 1,600 km.

Tidal range

On the coast of the Dominican Republic, the mean tidal range is around 1.50 m.

For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Compare

The world’s highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 m, and at spring tide even over 20 m. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between 1 m and 3 m. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 m, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

The Dominican Republic extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

Δφ = from around 18 ° to 20 ° north latitude Δλ = from around 068 ° to 072 ° west longitude

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Time

For the Dominican Republic, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without summer time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Δt (CET) = – 6 h

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

The highest point of the sun in Santo Domingo

Santo Domingo is located at a north latitude of around φ = 18.5 ° and thus in the tropics.

If the declination δ of the sun has the value of 18 ° 30 ‘N, and so the image point of the sun is exactly above the city or island, the sun is perpendicular there. This happens exactly twice a year, roughly 19 days before June 21st and 19 days after June 21st (for details see under Sun position).

Attention

If the image point of the sun and thus the declination is north of the latitude of Santo Domingo, the sun is not in the south at noon, as in our latitudes, but in the north. In this case, the sun moves from east to north to west, where, like us, it sets.

mountains

Pico Duarte

The highest mountain in the country is the Pico Duarte with a height of 3,175 m.

Other high mountains are:

  • Monte Tina with a height of 3,140 m
  • Pico del Yaque with a height of 2,995 m
  • Alto Bandera with a height of 2,630 m

Rivers

The longest rivers in the country are:

  • Yaque del Norte
  • Yaque del Sur
  • Ozama
  • Yuna
  • Artibonito

Lakes

Lago Enriquillo

The largest inland lake in the Dominican Republic and at the same time in the Antilles is Lago Enriquillo on the border with Haiti with a size of around 300 km².

In the lake is the 12 km long and 2 km wide Isla Cabritos. On or in the lake, which is 40 m below sea level, you can find crocodiles, iguanas and around 150 different species of birds. With temperatures over 40 °C, the region is one of the hottest in the Dominican Republic.

Islands

The island state has 25 smaller islands in front of it or belongs to the state elsewhere. The largest islands are:

  • Isla Saona with an area of 117 km²
  • Isla Beata with an area of 27 km²
  • Isla Catalina with an area of 7 km²

Caribbean and Atlantic

The Dominican Republic borders the Atlantic Ocean in the north and the Atlantic Ocean in the east and south.

The Caribbean

The Caribbean is a marginal sea of the Atlantic and lies between the islands of the Caribbean and the American continent. In the west, Mexico and other Central American states border the Caribbean. In the south of Colombia and Venezuela. The border in the east and north form the following islands or archipelagos starting from Venezuela in a semi-circle to the “actual” Atlantic: Trinidad and Tabago, Grenada, St. Lucia, Dominica, British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Cuba.

The deepest point in the Caribbean is the Cayman Rift between Jamaica and the Cayman Islands with a depth of 7,680 m. Together with the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean forms the “American Mediterranean”. A detailed presentation of the Caribbean here >>>

The Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean (Atlantic) is the second largest ocean in the world after the Pacific with an area of around 106 million km². It separates America from Europe and Africa. At 9,220 m, it has its deepest point in the Milwaukee Deep – part of the Puerto Rico Trench. Its salt content is on average 3.54% (g/ l). Its water volume is approximately 355 million km³.

Coming from the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf Stream crosses the Atlantic to the coast of Norway and is largely responsible for the climate in Western and Northern Europe.

Dominican Republic Population