from
CIA World Factbook 2006
Honduras
Introduction
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.
Geography
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
Geographic 15 00 N, 86 30 W
coordinates:
Map Central America and the Caribbean
references:
Area: total: 112,090 sq km
land: 111,890 sq km
water: 200 sq km
Area - slightly larger than Tennessee
comparative:
Land total: 1,520 km
boundaries: border countries: Guatemala 256 km, El Salvador 342 km,
Nicaragua 922 km
Coastline: 820 km
Maritime territorial sea: 12 nm
claims: contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: natural extension of territory or to
200 nm
Climate: subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains
Terrain: mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains
Elevation lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
extremes: highest point: Cerro Las Minas 2,870 m
Natural timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore,
resources: antimony, coal, fish, hydropower
Land use: arable land: 9.53%
permanent crops: 3.21%
other: 87.26% (2005)
Irrigated 800 sq km (2003)
land:
Natural frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely
hazards: susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the
Caribbean coast
Environment - urban population expanding; deforestation results from
current logging and the clearing of land for agricultural
issues: 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 - party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate
international Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered
agreements: Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine
Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution,
Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected
agreements
Geography - has only a short Pacific coast but a long Caribbean
note: shoreline, including the virtually uninhabited eastern
Mosquito Coast
People
Population: 7,326,496
note: estimates for this country explicitly take into
account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS;
this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant
mortality and death rates, lower population and growth
rates, and changes in the distribution of population by
age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2006
est.)
Age structure: 0-14 years: 39.9% (male 1,491,170/female 1,429,816)
15-64 years: 56.7% (male 2,076,727/female 2,077,975)
65 years and over: 3.4% (male 113,747/female 137,061)
(2006 est.)
Median age: total: 19.5 years
male: 19.1 years
female: 19.8 years (2006 est.)
Population 2.16% (2006 est.)
growth rate:
Birth rate: 28.24 births/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Death rate: 5.28 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.)
Net migration -1.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
rate:
Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female
total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2006 est.)
Infant total: 25.82 deaths/1,000 live births
mortality male: 29 deaths/1,000 live births
rate: female: 22.47 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)
Life total population: 69.33 years
expectancy at male: 67.75 years
birth: female: 70.98 years (2006 est.)
Total 3.59 children born/woman (2006 est.)
fertility
rate:
HIV/AIDS - 1.8% (2003 est.)
adult
prevalence
rate:
HIV/AIDS - 63,000 (2003 est.)
people living
with HIV/AIDS:
HIV/AIDS - 4,100 (2003 est.)
deaths:
Nationality: noun: Honduran(s)
adjective: Honduran
Ethnic groups: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian
7%, black 2%, white 1%
Religions: Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%
Languages: Spanish, Amerindian dialects
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 76.2%
male: 76.1%
female: 76.3% (2003 est.)
Government
Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Honduras
conventional short form: Honduras
local long form: Republica de Honduras
local short form: Honduras
Government democratic constitutional republic
type:
Capital: name: Tegucigalpa
geographic coordinates: 14 06 N, 87 13 W
time difference: UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC
during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins second Sunday in
March; ends first Sunday in November; note - these new
dates become effective in 2007
Administrative 18 departments (departamentos, singular -
divisions: 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
Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
National Independence Day, 15 September (1821)
holiday:
Constitution: 11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982; amended
1995
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
Suffrage: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory
Executive chief of state: President Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since
branch: 27 January 2006); First Vice President Elvin Ernesto
SANTOS Ordonez (since 27 January 2006); Second Vice
President (vacant); Third Vice President (vacant); note
- the president is both the chief of state and head of
government
head of government: President Manuel ZELAYA Rosales
(since 27 January 2006); First Vice President Elvin
Ernesto SANTOS Ordonez (since 27 January 2006); Second
Vice President (vacant); Third Vice President (vacant)
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by president
elections: president elected by popular vote for a
four-year term; election last held 27 November 2005
(next to be held November 2009)
election results: Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (PL) elected
president - 49.8%, Porfirio "Pepe" LOBO Sosa (PN)
46.1%, other 4.1%
Legislative unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (128
branch: seats; members are elected proportionally to the number
of votes their party's presidential candidate receives
to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 27 November 2005 (next to be held
November 2009)
election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats
by party - PL 62, PN 55, PUD 5, PDC 4, PINU 2
Judicial Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia
branch: (judges are elected for seven-year terms by the
National Congress)
Political Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Saul ESCOBAR
parties and Andrade]; Democratic Unification Party or PUD [Matias
leaders: 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 Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras
pressure or CODEH; Confederation of Honduran Workers or CTH;
groups and Coordinating Committee of Popular Organizations or
leaders: 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
Confederation of Honduran Workers or CUTH
International BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt,
organization ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO,
participation: Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITU, LAES, LAIA
(observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA,
RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO
Diplomatic chief of mission: Ambassador Roberto FLORES Bermudez
representation chancery: Suite 4-M, 3007 Tilden Street NW, Washington,
in the US: DC 20008
telephone: [1] (202) 966-7702
FAX: [1] (202) 966-9751
consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los
Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, San
Francisco
honorary consulate(s): Boston, Detroit, Jacksonville
Diplomatic chief of mission: Ambassador Charles A. FORD
representation embassy: Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453,
from the US: Tegucigalpa
mailing address: American Embassy, APO AA 34022,
Tegucigalpa
telephone: [504] 236-9320, 238-5114
FAX: [504] 236-9037
Flag three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and
description: 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
Economy
Economy - Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western
overview: Hemisphere with an extraordinarily unequal distribution
of income and massive unemployment, is banking on
expanded trade under the US-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 continued exports of non-traditional
agricultural products (such as melons, chiles, tilapia,
and shrimp), and on reduction of the high crime rate.
GDP $20.61 billion (2005 est.)
(purchasing
power parity):
GDP (official $7.812 billion (2005 est.)
exchange
rate):
GDP - real 4.2% (2005 est.)
growth rate:
GDP - per $2,900 (2005 est.)
capita (PPP):
GDP - agriculture: 13.9%
composition by industry: 31.2%
sector: services: 54.9% (2005 est.)
Labor force: 2.54 million (2005 est.)
Labor force - agriculture: 34%
by occupation: industry: 21%
services: 45% (2001 est.)
Unemployment 28% (2005 est.)
rate:
Population 53% (1993 est.)
below poverty
line:
Household lowest 10%: 0.6%
income or highest 10%: 42.7% (1998)
consumption by
percentage
share:
Distribution 55 (1999)
of family
income - Gini
index:
Inflation rate 8.8% (2005 est.)
(consumer
prices):
Investment 23.2% of GDP (2005 est.)
(gross fixed):
Budget: revenues: $1.693 billion
expenditures: $1.938 billion; including capital
expenditures of $106 million (2005 est.)
Public debt: 68.4% of GDP (2005 est.)
Agriculture - bananas, coffee, citrus; beef; timber; shrimp
products:
Industries: sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products
Industrial 7.7% (2003 est.)
production
growth rate:
Electricity - 4.338 billion kWh (2003)
production:
Electricity - fossil fuel: 50.2%
production by hydro: 49.8%
source: nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
Electricity - 4.369 billion kWh (2003)
consumption:
Electricity - 0 kWh (2003)
exports:
Electricity - 335 million kWh (2003)
imports:
Oil - 0 bbl/day (2003 est.)
production:
Oil - 37,000 bbl/day (2003 est.)
consumption:
Oil - exports: NA bbl/day
Oil - imports: NA bbl/day
Natural gas - 0 cu m (2003 est.)
production:
Natural gas - 0 cu m (2003 est.)
consumption:
Current $-42.3 million (2005 est.)
account
balance:
Exports: $1.726 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Exports - coffee, shrimp, bananas, gold, palm oil, fruit,
commodities: lobster, lumber
Exports - US 73.2%, Guatemala 2.9%, El Salvador 2.9% (2005)
partners:
Imports: $4.161 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.)
Imports - machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw
commodities: materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs (2000)
Imports - US 53.1%, Guatemala 6.5%, El Salvador 4.1% (2005)
partners:
Reserves of $2.339 billion (2005 est.)
foreign
exchange and
gold:
Debt - $5.795 billion (2005 est.)
external:
Economic aid - $557.8 million (1999)
recipient:
Currency lempira (HNL)
(code):
Currency code: HNL
Exchange lempiras per US dollar - 18.92 (2005), 18.206 (2004),
rates: 17.345 (2003), 16.433 (2002), 15.474 (2001)
Fiscal year: calendar year
Communications
Telephones - 494,400 (2005)
main lines in
use:
Telephones - 1.282 million (2005)
mobile
cellular:
Telephone general assessment: inadequate system
system: domestic: NA
international: country code - 504; satellite earth
stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to
Central American Microwave System
Radio AM 241, FM 53, shortwave 12 (1998)
broadcast
stations:
Radios: 2.45 million (1997)
Television 11 (plus 17 repeaters) (1997)
broadcast
stations:
Televisions: 570,000 (1997)
Internet .hn
country code:
Internet 3,973 (2006)
hosts:
Internet 8 (2000)
Service
Providers
(ISPs):
Internet 223,000 (2005)
users:
Transportation
Airports: 116 (2006)
Airports - total: 11
with paved 2,438 to 3,047 m: 3
runways: 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 3 (2006)
Airports - total: 105
with unpaved 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
runways: 914 to 1,523 m: 19
under 914 m: 84 (2006)
Railways: total: 699 km
narrow gauge: 279 km 1.067-m gauge; 420 km 0.914-m
gauge (2005)
Roadways: total: 13,603 km
paved: 2,775 km
unpaved: 10,828 km (1999)
Waterways: 465 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2005)
Merchant total: 136 ships (1000 GRT or over) 405,984 GRT/557,179
marine: DWT
by type: bulk carrier 11, cargo 61, chemical tanker 5,
container 1, liquefied gas 1, livestock carrier 1,
passenger 5, passenger/cargo 9, petroleum tanker 29,
refrigerated cargo 8, roll on/roll off 4, specialized
tanker 1
foreign-owned: 43 (Canada 1, China 3, Egypt 4, Greece
3, Hong Kong 2, Israel 1, Japan 4, South Korea 6,
Lebanon 1, Mexico 1, Qatar 1, Singapore 11, Taiwan 2,
Tanzania 1, US 1, Vietnam 1) (2006)
Ports and Puerto Castilla, Puerto Cortes, San Lorenzo, Tela
terminals:
Military
Military Army, Navy (includes naval infantry), Honduran Air
branches: Force (Fuerza Aerea Hondurena, FAH) (2006)
Military 18 years of age for voluntary two-three year military
service age service (2004)
and
obligation:
Manpower males age 18-49: 1,537,232
available for females age 18-49: 1,515,120 (2005 est.)
military
service:
Manpower fit males age 18-49: 1,100,991
for military females age 18-49: 1,121,649 (2005 est.)
service:
Manpower males age 18-49: 82,105
reaching females age 18-49: 78,971 (2005 est.)
military
service age
annually:
Military $52.8 million (2005 est.)
expenditures -
dollar figure:
Military 2.55% (2005 est.)
expenditures -
percent of
GDP:
Transnational
Issues
Disputes - in 1992, International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on
international: the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along
the El Salvador-Honduras border, but despite
Organization of American States (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
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