World Facts

conventional long form: Republic of Honduras
Capital: Tegucigalpa
Type of Government: democratic constitutional republic-
Administrative Divisions: 18 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Atlantida, Choluteca, Colon, Comayagua, Copan, Cortes, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Gracias a Dios, Intibuca, Islas de la Bahia, La Paz, Lempira, Ocotepeque, Olancho, Santa Barbara, Valle, Yoro
Age Structure: 0-14 years: 40.8% (male 1,452,646/female 1,393,271)
Agriculture: bananas, coffee, citrus; beef; timber; shrimp
Airports: 115 (2004 est.)
With Paved Runways: total: 11
With Unpaved Runways:
Area: total: 112,090 sq km. slightly larger than Tennessee
Background: Once part of Spain's vast empire in the New World, Honduras became an independent nation in 1821. After two and a half decades of mostly military rule, a freely elected civilian government came to power in 1982. During the 1980s, Honduras proved a haven for anti-Sandinista contras fighting the Marxist Nicaraguan Government and an ally to Salvadoran Government forces fighting leftist guerrillas. The country was devastated by Hurricane Mitch in 1998, which killed about 5,600 people and caused approximately $2 billion in damage.
Birth rate: 30.38 births/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Budget: revenues: $1.693 billion
Coastline: 820 km-
Climate: subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains
Communications:
Constitution: 11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982; amended 1995
Currency: lempira (HNL)
Current account balance: $-456 million (2005 est.)
Death rate: 6.87 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Debt - external: $4.675 billion (2005 est.)-
Dependency status: -
Dependent areas:
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Charles A. FORD
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Norman GARCIA Paz
Disputes - international: in 1992, ICJ ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border, but despite OAS intervention and a further ICJ ruling in 2003, full demarcation of the border remains stalled; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in the ICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca; Honduras claims Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize, but agreed to creation of a joint ecological park and Guatemalan corridor in the Caribbean in the failed 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum, which the OAS is attempting to revive; Nicaragua filed a claim against Honduras in 1999 and against Colombia in 2001 at the ICJ over a complex dispute over islands and maritime boundaries in the Caribbean Sea
Distribution of family income: 55 (1999)-
Economic aid - donor:
Economic aid - recipient: $557.8 million (1999)
Economy - overview: Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere with an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and massive unemployment, is banking on expanded trade under the U.S.-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The country has met most of its macroeconomic targets, and began a three-year IMF Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PGRF) program in February 2004. Growth remains dependent on the economy of the US, its largest trading partner, on commodity prices, particularly coffee, and on reduction of the high crime rate.
Electricity - consumption:
Electricity - exports:
Electricity - imports:
Electricity - production:
Elevation extremes: lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
Environment - current issues: urban population expanding; deforestation results from logging and the clearing of land for agricultural purposes; further land degradation and soil erosion hastened by uncontrolled development and improper land use practices such as farming of marginal lands; mining activities polluting Lago de Yojoa (the country's largest source of fresh water), as well as several rivers and streams, with heavy metals
Environment - International Agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
Ethnic groups: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1%
Exchange rates: lempiras per US dollar - 18.92 (2005), 18.206 (2004), 17.345 (2003), 16.433 (2002), 15.474 (2001)
Executive branch: chief of state: President Ricardo (Joest) MADURO (since 27 January 2002); First Vice President Vicente WILLIAMS Agasse (since 27 January 2002); Second Vice President Armida Villela Maria DE LOPEZ Contreras (since 27 January 2002); Third Vice President Alberto DIAZ Lobo (since 27 January 2002); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
Exports: $1.726 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - partners: US 54.4%, El Salvador 8.1%, Germany 5.9%, Guatemala 5.4% (2004)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Flag description: three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with five blue, five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern centered in the white band; the stars represent the members of the former Federal Republic of Central America - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua; similar to the flag of El Salvador, which features a round emblem encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA CENTRAL centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Nicaragua, which features a triangle encircled by the word REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on top and AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom, centered in the white band
GDP (official exchange rate): $8.038 billion (2005 est.)
GDP (purchasing power parity): $20.56 billion (2005 est.)
GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 12.7%
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,900 (2005 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2005 est.)
Geographic coordinates: 15 00 N, 86 30 W
Geography - note: has only a short Pacific coast but a long Caribbean shoreline, including the virtually uninhabited eastern Mosquito Coast-
Government - note:
HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 1.8% (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - deaths: 4,100 (2003 est.)
HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 63,000 (2003 est.)-
Heliports:
Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 0.6%
Illicit drugs: transshipment point for drugs and narcotics; illicit producer of cannabis, cultivated on small plots and used principally for local consumption; corruption is a major problem; some money-laundering activity
Imports: $4.161 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - partners: US 37.5%, Guatemala 6.9%, Mexico 5.4%, Costa Rica 4.3%, El Salvador 4% (2004)
Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
Industrial production growth rate: 7.7% (2003 est.)
Industries: sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products
Infant mortality rate: total: 29.32 deaths/1,000 live births
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9.2% (2005 est.)
International organization participation: BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITU, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
Internet country code: .hn
Internet hosts: 1,944 (2003)
Internet users: 168,600 (2002)
Investment (gross fixed): 27% of GDP (2005 est.)
Irrigated land: 760 sq km (1998 est.)
Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (judges are elected for seven-year terms by the National Congress)
Labor force: 2.54 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
Land boundaries: total: 1,520 km
Land use: arable land: 9.55%
Languages: Spanish, Amerindian dialects
Legal system: rooted in Roman and Spanish civil law with increasing influence of English common law; recent judicial reforms include abandoning Napoleonic legal codes in favor of the oral adversarial system; accepts ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations
Legislative branch:
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 69.3 years
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
Location: Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the Gulf of Fonseca (North Pacific Ocean), between El Salvador and Nicaragua-
Major infectious diseases:
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 1,448,369 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 955,019 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually: males: 77,399 (2005 est.)
Map references: Central America and the Caribbean
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm
Median age: total: 19.15 years
Merchant marine: total: 137 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 598,600 GRT/616,158 DWT-
Military - note:
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Air Force
Military expenditures - dollar figure: $100.6 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP: 1.4% (2004)-
Military service age and obligation:
National holiday: Independence Day, 15 September (1821)
Nationality: noun: Honduran(s)-
Natural gas - consumption: -
Natural gas - exports: -
Natural gas - imports:
Natural gas - production: -
Natural gas - proved reserves:
Natural hazards: frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast
Natural resources: timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower
Net migration rate: -1.95 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.)
Oil - consumption: 37,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
Oil - exports: NA (2001)
Oil - imports: NA (2001)
Oil - production: 0 bbl/day (2003 est.)-
Oil - proved reserves: -
People - note: -
Political parties and leaders: Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Saul ESCOBAR Andrade]; Democratic Unification Party or PUD [Matias FUNES]; Liberal Party or PL [Patricia RODAS]; National Innovation and Unity Party or PINU [Olban F. VALLADARES]; National Party of Honduras or PN [Gilberto GOLDSTEIN]
Political pressure groups and leaders: Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras or CODEH; Confederation of Honduran Workers or CTH; Coordinating Committee of Popular Organizations or CCOP; General Workers Confederation or CGT; Honduran Council of Private Enterprise or COHEP; National Association of Honduran Campesinos or ANACH; National Union of Campesinos or UNC; Popular Bloc or BP; United Federation of Honduran Workers or FUTH
Population: 6,975,204
Population below poverty line: 53% (1993 est.)
Population growth rate: 2.16% (2005 est.)
Ports and terminals: Puerto Castilla, Puerto Cortes, San Lorenzo, Tela
Public debt: 70.5% of GDP (2005 est.)
Radio broadcast stations: AM 241, FM 53, shortwave 12 (1998)-
Railways: -
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
Religions: Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%
Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $2.23 billion (2005 est.)
Roadways: total: 13,603 km
Sex ratio:
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Telephone system: general assessment: inadequate system
Telephones - main lines in use: 322,500 (2002)
Telephones - mobile cellular: 326,500 (2002)
Television broadcast stations: 11 (plus 17 repeaters) (1997)
Terrain: mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains
Total fertility rate: 3.87 children born/woman (2005 est.)-
Transportation - note:
Unemployment rate: 28% (2005 est.)-
Waterways: