Many young people hoping to escape the cycle of rural poverty move to Port-au-Prince or Cap Haïtien, and most end up living in shantytowns like Cité Soleil, where 200,000 people occupy 5 sq km (2 sq mi) of reclaimed swampland. An almost total lack of civilian infrastructure is as obvious as the open sewage ditches and as invisible as the dearth of accountable police maintaining some semblance of law and order. In the cool hills above the slums, however, the mainly mulatto 1% of Haiti that controls 44% of the country's wealth live in the gated communities of Pétionville, where fine restaurants and glittering shopping centers cater to a very different side of Haitian society.

There are deep and bitter divisions between blacks (about 95% of the population) and mulattos (about 5%). While blacks have always had an overwhelming majority, mulattos have had advantages within education, government and the military. Most mulattos speak French, the language of higher education and most job opportunities, while the vast majority of Haitians speak Creole. This two-tiered social system is perhaps the greatest barrier to Haiti coming into its own as a stable and successful Caribbean nation.