Dominican Republic Has More Than 1.5 Million Single Moms, Report Says

DECATUR, IL - FEBRUARY 18: Three-month-old Alexis sits on her mother's lap in the common area of her ward at the Decatur Correctional Center February 18, 2011 in Decatur, Illinois. Alexis, who was born while her mother Brandi Ceci was serving a 54 month sentence for burglary, lives with her mother at the prison, part of the Moms with Babies program at the minimum security facility. The program allows incarcerated women to keep their newborn babies with them for up to two years while serving their sentence. The program boasts a zero percent recidivism rate compared to the statewide rate of 51.3 percent. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) (2011 Getty Images)

More than 1.5 million women in the Dominican Republic – by choice, being widowed, divorce or some other reason – are single moms, according to a report.

More than 35 percent of the homes in the Caribbean nation are single-parent homes – and of those, 90 percent are women, according to a story in ElCaribe.com.do. Those women are poor, too, according to the story – a little over 20 percent of them survive on less than two dollars a day.

Doña Mireya, 75, says there's been a great difference in household dynamics, and it concerns her.

"When I moved here, there weren't too many single mothers," she said. "But now, in nearly every house, you see young ladies, even girls, getting pregnant and then living with their parents."

The last study to measure single mothers in the Dominican Republic was conducted in 2007. It found that 1.4 million women in the country were solely responsible for raising their children.

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