The latest ENHOGAR 2025 household survey has delivered mixed news for digital progress in the Dominican Republic, marking a landmark milestone in the country’s push for broader digital access while highlighting stubborn gaps that continue to block equitable connectivity for marginalized communities. According to the official survey results, more than 50 percent of all Dominican households now have consistent internet access – a jump that represents one of the most significant advances in national digital inclusion efforts in recent years. Despite this measurable forward momentum, the research team behind the survey has issued a clear warning that deep territorial and socioeconomic disparities still act as major barriers to universal, equal access across the nation.
The gap between urban and rural regions is particularly stark, the report reveals. In densely populated urban centers, internet connectivity reaches more than 70 percent of all families, giving most city-based households regular access to the digital tools that have become a core requirement for daily life in the 21st century. By contrast, in scattered rural communities across the country, household internet penetration barely climbs above 30 percent, leaving nearly two-thirds of rural families disconnected from the broader digital ecosystem.
This connectivity gap does not only represent a lack of access to entertainment or communication – it creates tangible, long-lasting limitations that cut across critical areas of daily opportunity. Students in disconnected households struggle to complete remote schoolwork and access digital educational resources, working-age adults cannot take advantage of remote work opportunities that would boost their incomes, and all residents are locked out of essential government, healthcare and commercial digital services that have shifted online in recent years.
Socioeconomic status further widens this territorial divide, the survey confirms. For households in the highest income brackets, internet penetration is almost universal, with nearly every high-income Dominican home enjoying reliable, high-speed connectivity. For low-income households, by comparison, most can only afford basic prepaid mobile data plans that come with strict data caps, slow speeds and frequent interruptions. These low-cost plans do not support the reliable, high-quality connection needed for activities like remote work, online classes or telehealth appointments, trapping low-income communities in a cycle of digital exclusion.
Leading Dominican economist Winston Marte, who specializes in development and digital economy policy, argues that closing this persistent divide requires targeted action on two core fronts. To Marte, expanding hard technological infrastructure into underserved rural and low-income urban areas, paired with policy interventions that bring down the cost of internet access for low-resource households, are the two non-negotiable pillars of any effective strategy to bridge the digital gap. In its concluding findings, the ENHOGAR 2025 survey underscores that delivering universal, equitable internet access remains one of the most pressing unmet challenges for Dominican public policy makers as the country works to build a fully inclusive digital economy.