Why is Haiti the Least Developed Country in the Western Hemisphere?

 by Juliette F

President Moise,
assassinated in 2021.

Haiti is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere, with more than half the population living below the poverty line. With political crises, natural disasters, gang violence and food insecurity being among the many factors encouraging Haitians to migrate out of their country, quality of life has still not improved in Haiti, it can be argued that it is getting worse, even despite the humanitarian aid it regularly receives.

Haiti was first inhabited by Spanish settlers in the 1400s, and became a French colony in 1697. The French brought thousands of slaves from Western Africa to Haiti to harvest its rich natural resources including sugar, coffee and timber. From the beginning of French colonisation, the French exploited and exported Haitian goods, meaning they gained profit off of Haiti’s resources. Rebellion against exploitative French rule began in the late 1700s, and culminated in Haiti becoming the first post-colonial independent Black republic in 1804. 

However, foreign involvement in Haiti did not stop then. The French only recognised Haiti as a state in 1825, once they agreed to pay France $21 billion (in today’s dollars) in reparations, which took them over 122 years, with up to 80% of their revenue contributing to this debt. According to France this was to compensate for the loss of their slaves and slave colony, that they would have continued to profit off of in the future. This initial debt meant that Haiti struggled to successfully grow as a new state, and the economy was very weak from the beginning. Haiti debt has only grown, with it reaching almost $5,000 million in 2022. With a country in such severe debt, it prevents them from focusing on improving development through healthcare and education, or investing in their economy. Instead, the majority of their revenue has to go to repaying debt.

The United States then occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934. The US was afraid of German influence in the Caribbean, and feared that with the first world war, that possible German control in Haiti would be dangerous due to Haiti’s proximity to the US. Haiti was targeted because of the assassination of the President a few months prior meaning that political instability was increasing, and it seemed a vulnerable target that Germany could attack. Therefore, Woodrow Wilson sent Marines to supposedly help improve the political stability in Haiti. During the decades-long occupation, the US completely controlled Haiti’s finances, as well as imposing racial segregation in a predominantly black country, and introducing forced labour and press censorship. Around fifteen thousand Haitians were killed in rebellions against the US, showing their violent occupation and the obvious hostility from the Haitian population.

After the US withdrew, a series of unstable governments followed, partially because the Haitians had little experience in governing after the US were in control for so long, leading to Duvalier ruling Haiti as a dictator from 1957. His government was extremely corrupt, and is said to have drained the nation's coffers, as well as committed many human rights violations resulting in an estimated 30,000 people dead or missing. This included opponents of Duvalier being kidnapped or murdered by the military, as well as civilians being abducted, raped and tortured. 

Once this dictatorship ended, Haiti finally had a democratically elected president, however instability continued with frequent coups and changes of leadership, and recently in 2021, the President Moïse was assassinated after the population became unhappy with his governing due to increased fuel prices, removing subsidies, and overall a worsening economic crisis. However, since then elections have still not been held, and in this power vacuum, gang activity has increased, especially in and surrounding the capital Port-Au-Prince. This gang activity has caused over 165,000 Haitians to flee their homes in Port Au Prince, as the gangs destroy neighbourhoods, leading to an increase in the internally displaced population. 

Throughout all of the political instability, Haiti also faces difficulties such as natural disasters, the most prominent being the 2010 earthquake that they are still recovering from. The estimated death toll was 300,000, making it one of the worst natural disasters in history. The country had weak and insufficient infrastructure, especially after the two tropical storms and two hurricanes that struck Haiti in 2008, which they had not fully recovered from. The earthquake broke the already unreliable electric power system, meaning that many rural areas were completely cut off, and it took a very long time for any aid that was sent to reach them. Over 3 million people were affected, and around 1.5 million lost their homes. Following this, the terrible conditions that people were living in led to an outbreak of cholera, causing approximately 10,000 deaths over 12 years until it was eradicated. The political instability has led to neglect of public health, and many people in Haiti do not have any access to clean, safe water, and there has been another outbreak of cholera in 2022 because of this.

Overall, Haiti has had a long history of occupation, political instability and debt, leading to neglect of improvements to development that resulted in the Haitians being the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.