Haiti by the Numbers, Five Years Later

Originally posted at CEPR

Number of people killed in the earthquake in 2010: over 217,300

Minimum number of Haitians killed by the U.N.–caused cholera epidemic: 8,774

Number of years it took after the introduction of cholera for the international community to hold a donor conference to raise funds for the cholera response: 4

Amount pledged for cholera eradication: $50 million

Amount needed: $2.2 billion

Number of years it would take to fully fund the cholera-eradication plan at current disbursement rate: 40

Number of Haitians who died from cholera through the first 8 months of 2014: 55

Number who have died since, coinciding with the start of the rainy season: 188

Number of new cholera cases in 2014, through August: 9,700

Projected number of cholera cases for all of 2014, after the United Nations reduced their estimate in September 2014: 15,000

Minimum number of new cholera cases since that announcement: 14,000 (through December 8)

Number of U.N. lawyers who were present during oral arguments in a federal court in New York to argue in favor of the U.N.’s immunity: 0

Number of members of the U.S. Congress who wrote to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month urging the U.N. to respond justly to cholera claims: 77

Humanitarian funding appeal for 2014, by the United Nations: $157 million

Percent of appeal covered, as of December 30, 2014: 54 percent

Minimum amount raised by tax on international phone calls that is supposed to be allocated to the National Education Fund: $95.6 million

Number of students the Haitian government says have received free tuition as a result: 1.3 million

Estimated amount missing from the Education Fund in 2012: $26 million

Number of principals and other school officials arrested for fraudulently receiving benefits from National Education Fund: at least 29

Percent of school-age children in school in 2001: 78

Percent in 2012: 90

Number of years the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have funded similar tuition waiver programs: 8

Poverty rate in 2012: 58.5 percent

Poverty rate in rural areas in 2012: 74.9 percent

Extreme poverty in rural Haiti in 2000: 38 percent

Extreme poverty in rural Haiti in 2012: 38 percent

Percent of income held by the richest 20 percent: 64

Percent of income held by the poorest 20 percent: Less than 1

Percent of Haitian workers who have a job yet earn less than the minimum wage: 60

Percent less that women earn as compared to men: 32

Percent by which per capita GDP is lower today than it was in 2000: 2.7

Dollar amount of textile exports to the United States in fiscal year 2012/13: $387.7 million

Percentage points of GDP growth these exports accounted for in that year: 0.32[i]

Percent of textile exports to the United States made with local goods: 0.6

Minimum amount committed by the Inter-American Development Bank and United States to the Caracol Industrial Park and related infrastructure: $482.9 million[ii]

Total amount of budget support to the Haitian government since the earthquake: $340.2 million

Number of jobs at the Caracol industrial park as of September 2014: 4,156

Estimated number of jobs that will be created, according to the U.S. State Department: 65,000

Estimated amount of tax revenue collected from Caracol’s largest tenant over first 15 years of operations: $0

Minimum amount spent by USAID on feasibility and other studies for a planned port in northern Haiti, which was never built: $4.25 million

Number of apparel factories with a union presence, before earthquake: 1

Share of apparel factories in Haiti where there is at least a partial union presence now: Over one-half

Minimum number of workers fired for apparent union activity, since 2011: 223[iii]

Number of people still living in tent camps, as of September 2014: 85,432

Percent decrease from its peak: 93.7

Share of this decrease that return programs (rental subsidy & other programs) were responsible for: 16.7 percent

Percent of remaining IDPs that are “not targeted” for return programs: 81.5

Number of individuals living in informal settlements on outskirts of Port-au-Prince, not counted in official displaced population, according to Haitian government: 300,000

Number of new homes built by international reconstruction efforts, as of October 2014: 9,032

Planned number of new homes originally to be built with USAID support: 15,000

Original planned cost of those new homes: $53 million

Current planned number of new homes to be built: 2,600

Actual cost: More than $90 million

Minimum cost for additional work on 750 houses in Caracol that were found to be built with substandard materials: $4.5 million

Number of projects financed by Venezuela’s Petrocaribe program: 268

Total projected cost: $1.7 billion

Share of Haitian government’s capital expenditure financed by Petrocaribe: 25 percent

Total debt cancellation for Haiti since 2010: $895 million

Total public debt, as percent of GDP, in fiscal year 2009/10: 13.0

Total public debt, as percent of GDP in fiscal year 2013/14: 19.8

Interest payments on external debt, as percent of GDP in fiscal year 2013/14: 0.1

Percent of total external public debt owed to Venezuela through Petrocaribe Initiative: 84.7

Total amount committed by international donors and NGOs since 2010, according to the Haitian government: $9.3 billion

Amount disbursed: $7.6 billion

Total number of projects funded by donors since 2010: 2,262

Total amount awarded in contracts and grants by USAID: $1.5 billion[iv]

Percent that went directly to Haitian organizations: 1[v]

Percent that went to firms located inside the beltway (DC, Maryland and Virginia): 56

USAID’s goal for local procurement in Haiti: 17 percent

Amount of USAID efunds earmarked for local procurement in 2015: $5.5 million

Total amount awarded to Chemonics International, a for-profit development company, since the earthquake: $216 million[vi]

Performance bonus paid to Chemonics CEO Richard Dreiman last year: $2.5 million[vii]

Amount awarded directly to Haiti’s Ministry of Health (one of the only government institutions to receive direct funding) by the U.S. government: $170.9 million[viii]

Percent of children under five years suffering from chronic malnutrition, 2006: 29

Percent of children under five years suffering from chronic malnutrition, 2012: 22

Number of hospitals, out of 48 total, which were put out of service by the earthquake: 37

Minimum number of cities where health facilities have been renovated, with U.S. support: 9

Percent of Haitian government’s budget that went to health ministry in 2014: 5.3

Minimum number of sexual abuse allegations against the U.N. mission in Haiti, MINUSTAH, since 2007: 94[ix]

Percent of total U.N. troops worldwide, stationed in Haiti: 7.2

Share of total worldwide sexual abuse allegations against U.N. troops that MINUSTAH has accounted for over the last 2 years: 1 in 4 [x]

Months that partial legislative and local elections have been delayed: 39 and counting

Number of “municipal agents” named by President Martelly to replace elected mayors whose terms expired in 2012: 130

Share of Senate seats currently empty due to lack of elections: One-third

Number of members of the 99-seat Chamber of Deputies whose terms expire on January 12, 2015: 99

Percent of parliament represented by women: 4

Number of environmental monitoring officers deployed in 2014, to protected areas: 150

Percent of land covered by forest: Less than 3

Number of seedlings planted between 2010 and 2014: 5.5 million


[i] Author’s calculation.

[ii] Calculation based on numbers from IADB productive infrastructure programs, GAO report from 2014, and a new $15 million commitment from the U.S.

[iii] Calculation based on numbers in reports from Better Work Haiti and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

[iv] Author’s calculations based on data from USAspending.gov and USAID.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Author’s calculation based on data from USAspending.gov.

[vii] From personal communication with Chemonics spokesperson.

[viii] Author’s calculation based on data from USAspending.gov.

[ix] Author’s calculation based on data from U.N. Conduct and Discipline Unit.

[x] Ibid.