Seniors

The Dominican population has started to fall deeper into the third stage of the demographic transition: this is evidenced in the great proportion of seniors within the total population (9.5% of the population in 2015 and 21.4% projected in 2050) and within the dependent population.

According to the 2010 National Population and Housing Census 855,663 Dominican are senior citizens, of which 51.4% are women and 48.6% are men. This segment of the population is concentrated mostly in urban areas, although the most elderly provinces are Santiago Rodríguez (14%), Hermanas Mirabal (13%), and San Juan, El Seibo, Dajabón and San José de Ocoa (12%).

These figures established that more than 50 percent of elderly people live in expanded type homes. Within the category of marital relations, the majority of men are married or in a civil union while the majority of women tend to be widowed. Likewise, it indicates that 46.7% have some type of disability.

Source: National Office of Statistics (ONE, for its acronym in Spanish)

Links:

Pensions Commission of the Dominican Republic
http://www.sipen.gov.do

Ministry of Labor
www.ministeriodetrabajo.gob.do

National Social Security Council
http://www.cnss.gob.do/

Dominican Institute of Welfare
http://www.idss.gob.do/

Social Security

Legal Framework:

The Pensions System is established with the law 87-01 which creates the Dominican Social Security System.

Law No. 87-01 – Creates the Dominican Social Security System and its modifications with the objective of regulating and ensuring the rights and reciprocal duties of the State and Dominican citizens in regard to the protection of risks of: old-age, unemployment due to advanced age, disability and survival.

Law No. 188-07- Introduces modification to the Law No. 87-01, which creates the Dominican Social Security System.

Pensions Regulation approved by the Executive Power December 19, 2002 through the Decree 969-02.

Currently, two systems of pensions coexist in the country. The first refers to the old Sistema de Reparto (System of Distribution), in which only those that possess the acquired rights can remain. Whereas the second refers to the new Sistema de Capitalización Individual (Individual Capitalization System) established through the Law 87-01 that came into effect beginning 2003.

The Elderly and Social Security

What is Social Security and what are its benefits?

Social Security is the right of every person, independent of his social, economic or any other condition, to protection against the risks of disease, old age, incapacitation, unemployment due to older age, maternity and labor risks.

It is universal, which signifies that it cannot exclude anyone from anything.  Social Security is consecrated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which served as a foundation for the creation of the United Nations in 1948, of which the Dominican Republic is a member.

The essential difference between social insurance and social security is that social insurance is a labor right that only covers workers and, in the best of cases, their families.  That is, it excludes the population that is not connected to the world of salaried work.  Social security, however, is not just a labor right, but a human right, which encompasses all Dominicans and all residents of the country.  Consequently, the change from a social insurance to a social security system contributes to encouraging the equality of human beings in the opportunities for enjoying protection against disease, work accidents, and risks of old age and incapacity.

Source: Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Social (National Social Security Council)

Social Security Systems

Art. 7 of the Law 87-01 establishes that the Dominican Social Security System (SDSS, for its acronym in Spanish) will be integrated by the following systems of funding:

• A Contributory System, which will include salaried public and private workers and employers, financed by workers and employers, including the State as an employer.
• A Subsidized System, which will protect self-employed workers with income unstable and below the national minimum wage, as well as unemployed, disabled and poor people, financed by the Dominican State.
• A Contributory Subsidized System, which will protect professionals and independent technical workers and self-employed workers with incomes at or above the minimum national salary, with support from the worker and a state subsidy to compensate for the lack of employer.

Old-Age, Disability and Survival Plan

The pension system has the objective of replacing the loss or reduction of income due to old-age, death, disability, unemployment in advanced age and survival.

The provisional system, under the contributory system, will provide the following benefits: a) a pension for old-age; b) a pensions for total or partial disability; c) a pension for unemployment due to advanced age; d) a survival pension.

Likewise, the pension for old-age includes protection for the pensioner and their surviving family members. They are acquired the same right when the affiliate certifies: a) to be sixty (60) years old and have paid contributions for a minimum of three hundred sixty (360) months; or b) is fifty-five (55) years old and accumulated a fund that allows them to enjoy fifty percent (50%) of the minimum pension.

Source: Consejo Nacional de Seguridad Social

Administrators of the Pension Funds of the Dominican Republic:

AFP Scotia Crecer
https://www.scotiacrecer.com.do

AFP Popular
http://www.afppopular.com.do

AFP Reservas
http://www.afpreservas.com

AFP Siembra
http://www.afpsiembra.com

AFP Romana
http://www.afpromana.com

Administrators’ Associations of the Pension Funds:

Asociación Dominicana de Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones
http://www.adafp.org.do

Federación Internacional de Administradores de Fondos de Pensiones
http://www.fiap.cl

Geriatric Services

Integral development and protection projects and programs for older adults in the Dominican Republic, coordinated by the National Council of Aged People (CONAPE, for its acronym in Spanish):

Extracted from the CONAPE Strategic Plan

1. Retirement City. These are the current nursing homes homes, converted in places with recreational areas for elderly people, with amenities and services to make aging life pleasant.
2. Mi Familia Geriatric Centers Micro Project is a permanent home where only 10 elderly people live, which offers a familial character.
3. Services Center of Recreation and Training (SECARE, for its acronym in Spanish) is a daytime home that functions from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm, where integral programs are developed, consisting of (1) a health unit, (1) a pharmacy, (1) an economical café, (1) a unit of adult literacy and recreation areas.
4. Transit, Recuperation and Rehabilitation (HOTRARE, for its acronym in Spanish) is a center for a short term stay for those that are in special situations (physical, mental, or addiction) until they are in condition to integrate into their household or a permanent secure center.
5. Elderly Vocational Project is a school oriented towards the formation of technical-professional skills for the elderly. It will function Tuesday to Thursday during the hours of 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm, in the premises of the Secares Centers and adult literacy.
6. Information and Services Offices Project: These are offices accredited by the council for giving services to the female elderly population: a) legal; b) health c) nutritional d) diagnostic.
7. Regional Administrative Center Installation Project a) Central Administrative Office, Santo Domingo b) Three Regional Office c) United Operatives in the Provincial Governments.
8. Information and Services Center Program.
9. Diagnostic and Monitoring Program for the Elderly is a supporter for all the information of the person, to determine how they live, that they live and with whom they live.
10. Mano Amiga del Presidente (The President’s Helping Hand) Program. (Immediate Actions) of the demands that are received through calls, letters and complaints.
11. Provides Program is a program for the transference of funds from subsidies allocated by the President through the Tarjeta Solidaridad (Solidarity Card), to achieve with the different components the Subsidized Solidarity Pension.
12. Planting to Live Program is an occupational therapy consisting of the planting of fruit and vegetable trees in homes, as well as the participation in the initiatives for the reforestation of the country.
13. Grandfather and Grandmothers Back to the Park – Recreational, Sports, and Cultural Program Consists of the development of sport, recreational and cultural activities and TAI-CHI therapy for a group of people older than 60 years. Production of the Tours de envejeciente (Tours of the Elderly).

Additionally, the Decree 83-15 eliminates the General Directorate for the Protection of Old-Age of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance and arranges for the transfer of its functions and powers, its human and assigned resources, or those put at its disposal, to the Executive Directorate of CONAPE.

Nursing Homes*

Source: CONAPE

References:
http://www.sipen.gov.do/images/docs/normativa/marco_legal/Ley%2087-01%20CNSS%202010.pdf
http://www.cnss.gob.do/app/do/sdss_beneficiarios.aspx
https://www.conape.gob.do/transparencia/publicaciones_oficiales/Decreto_83-15.pdf