Overview: Haiti and the Dominican Republic may share the same island, but there's a surprising amount of inequality between the two neighbors. If you're born in Haiti, you're over two times more likely to die as a baby compared to in the DR. Haitians are also almost 10 times poorer and are more likely to have a shorter life. To understand why this is the case, you have to look at the countries' past and especially how they were colonized.