Data Insights

Military personnel refers to all active-duty service members, including certain paramilitary forces capable of supporting or replacing the regular army.

In 1989, the country had approximately 9,000 active soldiers. Two years later, President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a military coup, just seven months after taking power. Upon his return from exile in 1995, he officially demobilized the Forces Armées d'Haïti (FADH), an institution marked by decades of abuses and political interference. The resulting security vacuum was filled by the National Police and international forces, notably MINUSTAH, a UN mission present for 13 years.

In 2010, a devastating earthquake struck Haiti. Amid the chaos, the last remaining elements of the former forces disappeared from the records, and the indicator officially dropped to zero.

Then in 2017, as the Blue Helmets prepared to leave the country, Haiti began rebuilding its army: 500 recruits, aged 18 to 25, selected through a competitive process in Léogâne. Idle youth, in a country plagued by endemic unemployment, who saw in this an opportunity to serve their nation.

By 2020, the Haitian army had reached 1,000 soldiers, a figure still largely symbolic in the face of today's security challenges.

Source: The Military Balance — International Institute for Strategic Studies (2026), World Bank. Data processed and visualized by Ayitistats.

In Haiti, religion holds a central place in the lives of the population. According to data from the Integrated Values Surveys, three out of four Haitians consider religion to be very or rather important in their lives. Only 7% declare that it is not important at all. As for those undecided or without an answer, they represent a negligible share, accounting for just 2% of respondents.

Source: Integrated Values Surveys (2024), Our World in Data, with minor visual processing by AyitiStats.

For more than a decade, Haiti had a lower homicide rate than its neighbors in the region. In 2007, the rate stood at 5.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, well below that of the Dominican Republic and far behind Jamaica.

Then the trend gradually reversed. It all began in 2018, with violent riots following the announcement of fuel price hikes, followed by a series of deadly political protests and instances of "peyi lòk" (nationwide shutdowns) that brought the entire country to a standstill.

At the same time, armed groups grew in power and organization, to the point of uniting to extend their control over the entire national territory. The assassination of the President of the Republic in 2021 precipitated the collapse of institutions, paving the way for widespread insecurity for which the civilian population pays the price on a daily basis.

In 2023, the homicide rate reached 41.2 per 100,000 inhabitants, the highest level ever recorded in the country, representing a fourfold increase in less than ten years.

Source: United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC, 2025), Our World in Data, data processed by Our World in Data, and visualized by AyitiStats.

According to 2024 data from the International Labour Organization, more than one in two Haitians works on their own account, with no employer and no staff, often in the informal trade sector or subsistence farming.

Only 23% hold a formal salaried job. 24% contribute to a family business or farm without fixed pay. As for those who actually create jobs for others, they account for barely 1% of the active population.

Source: International Labour Organization (2026), Our World in Data, with light visual treatment by AyitiStats.