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. Since then, the economy has slowly rebounded.

Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the Gulf of Fonseca (North Pacific Ocean), between El Salvador and Nicaragua

15 00 N, 86 30 W

Central America and the Caribbean

slightly larger than Tennessee

823 km (Caribbean Sea 669 km, Gulf of Fonseca 163 km)

subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains

mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains

highest point: Cerro Las Minas 2,870 m

timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower

arable land 9.1%; permanent crops 4%; permanent pasture 15.7%

900 sq km (2012)

most residents live in the mountainous western half of the country; unlike other Central American nations, Honduras is the only one with an urban population that is distributed between two large centers - the capital of Tegucigalpa and the city of San Pedro Sula; the Rio Ulua valley in the north is the only densely populated lowland area

frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast

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

has only a short Pacific coast but a long Caribbean shoreline, including the virtually uninhabited eastern Mosquito Coast

8,893,259

mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1%

Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects

Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and has the world's highest murder rate. More than half of the population lives in poverty and per capita income is one of the lowest in the region. Poverty rates are higher among rural and indigenous people and in the south, west, and along the eastern border than in the north and central areas where most of Honduras' industries and infrastructure are concentrated. The increased productivity needed to break Honduras' persistent high poverty rate depends, in part, on further improvements in educational attainment. Although primary-school enrollment is near 100%, educational quality is poor, the drop-out rate and grade repetition remain high, and teacher and school accountability is low.

Honduras' population growth rate has slowed since the 1990s, but it remains high at nearly 2% annually because the birth rate averages approximately three children per woman and more among rural, indigenous, and poor women. Consequently, Honduras' young adult population - ages 15 to 29 - is projected to continue growing rapidly for the next three decades and then stabilize or slowly shrink. Population growth and limited job prospects outside of agriculture will continue to drive emigration. Remittances represent about a fifth of GDP.

1.64% (2016 est.)

22.8 births/1,000 population (2016 est.)

5.2 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.)

-1.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.)

most residents live in the mountainous western half of the country; unlike other Central American nations, Honduras is the only one with an urban population that is distributed between two large centers - the capital of Tegucigalpa and the city of San Pedro Sula; the Rio Ulua valley in the north is the only densely populated lowland area

TEGUCIGALPA (capital) 1.123 million; San Pedro Sula 852,000 (2015)

20.4

129 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.)

2.72 children born/woman (2016 est.)

73.2% (2011/12)

8.7% of GDP (2014)

0.37 physicians/1,000 population (2005)

0.7 beds/1,000 population (2012)

urban: 97.4% of population

rural: 83.8% of population

total: 91.2% of population

urban: 2.6% of population

rural: 16.2% of population

total: 8.8% of population (2015 est.)

urban: 86.7% of population

rural: 77.7% of population

total: 82.6% of population

urban: 13.3% of population

rural: 22.3% of population

total: 17.4% of population (2015 est.)

0.37% (2015 est.)

20,000 (2015 est.)

1,000 (2015 est.)

16.3% (2014)

7.1% (2012)

5.9% of GDP (2013)

presidential republic

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

15 September 1821 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 15 September (1821)

several previous; latest approved 11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982; amended many times, last in 2012; note - in 2015, the Honduran Supreme Court struck down several constitutional articles on presidential term limits (2016)

civil law system

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

Anti-Corruption Party or PAC [Salvador NASRALLA]

Christian Democratic Party or DC [Felicito AVILA Ordonez]

Democratic Unification Party or UD [Cesar HAM]

Freedom and Refounding Party or LIBRE [Jose Manuel ZELAYA Rosales]

Liberal Party or PL [Mauricio VILLEDA Bermudez]

National Party of Honduras or PNH [Gladys Aurora LOPEZ]

Social Democratic Innovation and Unity Party or PINU [Jorge Rafael AGUILAR Paredes]

Beverage and Related Industries Syndicate or STIBYS

Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras or CODEH

Commiittee of the Relatives of the Disappeared in Honduras or COFADEH

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 Confederation of Honduran Workers or CUTH

United Farm Workers' Movement of the Aguan OR MUCA

BCIE, CACM, CD, CELAC, EITI (candidate country), FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC (suspended), IOM, IPU, ISO (subscriber), ITSO, ITU, ITUC (NGOs), LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, MINUSTAH, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, Pacific Alliance (observer), PCA, Petrocaribe, SICA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCO (suspended), WFTU (NGOs), WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

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; the blue bands symbolize the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea; the white band represents the land between the two bodies of water and the peace and prosperity of its people

scarlet macaw, white-tailed deer; national colors: blue, white

Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America, suffers from extraordinarily unequal distribution of income, as well as high underemployment. While historically dependent on the export of bananas and coffee, Honduras has diversified its export base to include apparel and automobile wire harnessing.

Honduras’s economy depends heavily on US trade and remittances. The US-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement came into force in 2006 and has helped foster foreign direct investment, but physical and political insecurity, as well as crime and perceptions of corruption, may deter potential investors; about 15% of foreign direct investment is from US firms.

The economy registered modest economic growth of 2.6%-4.0% from 2010 to 2015, insufficient to improve living standards for the nearly 65% of the population in poverty. In 2015, Honduras faced rising public debt but its economy has performed better than expected due to low oil prices and improved investor confidence. The IMF continues to monitor the three-year standby arrangement signed in December 2014, aimed at easing Honduras’s poor fiscal position.

$41.06 billion (2015 est.)

$39.62 billion (2014 est.)

$38.43 billion (2013 est.)

$20.3 billion (2015 est.)

3.6% (2015 est.)

3.1% (2014 est.)

2.8% (2013 est.)

$4,900 (2015 est.)

$4,800 (2014 est.)

$4,700 (2013 est.)

17.7% of GDP (2015 est.)

14.6% of GDP (2014 est.)

12.2% of GDP (2013 est.)

bananas, coffee, citrus, corn, African palm; beef; timber; shrimp, tilapia, lobster, sugar, oriental vegetables

sugar, coffee, woven and knit apparel, wood products, cigars

3.2% (2015 est.)

3.573 million (2015 est.)

4.1% (2015 est.)

4.3% (2014 est.)

60% (2010 est.)

57.7 (2007)

53.8 (2003)

19.7% of GDP (2015 est.)

-3.1% of GDP (2015 est.)

45.3% of GDP (2015 est.)

45% of GDP (2014 est.)

calendar year

3.2% (2015 est.)

6.1% (2014 est.)

6.25% (31 December 2010)

20.66% (31 December 2015 est.)

20.61% (31 December 2014 est.)

$2.326 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$2.105 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$8.087 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$7.538 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$11.84 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$11.41 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$NA

-$1.291 billion (2015 est.)

-$1.444 billion (2014 est.)

$8.041 billion (2015 est.)

$8.072 billion (2014 est.)

coffee, apparel, coffee, shrimp, automobile wire harnesses, cigars, bananas, gold, palm oil, fruit, lobster, lumber

US 36%, Germany 8.7%, El Salvador 8.5%, Guatemala 6%, Nicaragua 5.6%, Netherlands 4.1% (2015)

$11.1 billion (2015 est.)

$11.07 billion (2014 est.)

communications equipment, machinery and transport, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs

US 35.2%, China 13.6%, Guatemala 9.2%, Mexico 6.6%, El Salvador 5.1% (2015)

$3.755 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$3.458 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

$7.649 billion (31 December 2015 est.)

$7.331 billion (31 December 2014 est.)

lempiras (HNL) per US dollar -

22.098 (2015 est.)

21.137 (2014 est.)

21.137 (2013 est.)

19.64 (2012 est.)

18.895 (2011 est.)

7.7 billion kWh (2014 est.)

5.3 billion kWh (2014 est.)

500 million kWh (2014 est.)

800 million kWh (2014 est.)

2.1 million kW (2014 est.)

60.9% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

28.7% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

10.4% of total installed capacity (2012 est.)

0 bbl/day (2015 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2016 es)

0 bbl/day (2013 est.)

53,000 bbl/day (2014 est.)

13,160 bbl/day (2013 est.)

64,820 bbl/day (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (2013 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2014 es)

10 million Mt (2013 est.)

multiple privately owned terrestrial TV networks, supplemented by multiple cable TV networks; Radio Honduras is the lone government-owned radio network; roughly 300 privately owned radio stations (2007)

.hn

HR (2016)

103 (2013)

465 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2012)

Honduran Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas de Honduras, FFAA): Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Honduran Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Hondurena, FAH) (2012)

18 years of age for voluntary 2- to 3-year military service; no conscription (2012)

1.05% of GDP (2012)

1.13% of GDP (2011)

1.05% of GDP (2010)

International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border in 1992 with final settlement by the parties in 2006 after an Organization of American States survey and a further ICJ ruling in 2003; 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 the Belizean-administered Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize in its constitution, but agreed to a joint ecological park around the cays should Guatemala consent to a maritime corridor in the Caribbean under the OAS-sponsored 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum

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