Honduras
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Honduras (formerly "Spanish Honduras") is a Central American nation between Guatemala (to the northeast) and Nicaragua (to the south) and bordering El Salvador to the southwest. Honduras' northern coast fronts the Caribbean Sea, whiles its much shorter southwestern coast fronts the Gulf of Fonseca on the North Pacific Ocean.
Its main environmental issues include urban population expansion; 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; and mining activities polluting Lago de Yojoa (the country's largest source of fresh water), as well as several rivers and streams, with heavy metals.
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 Coordinates: 15 00 N, 86 30 W
Area: 112,090 sq km (111,890 sq km of land, 200 sq km of water)
arable land: 3.05%
permanent crops: 1.39%
other: 95.56% (2005)
Coastline: 820 km
Maritime Claims: Territorial sea to 12 nautical miles; contiguous zone to 24 nautical miles; exclusive economic zone to 200 nautical miles; continental shelf to the natural extension of territory or to 200 nautical miles.
Natural Hazards: Frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast.
Terrain: Mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains.
Climate: Subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains.
The Human Development Index for Honduras is 0.683, which gives Honduras a rank of 117th out of 177 countries with data. See Honduras's Human Development Index for 2004
Ecology and Biodiversity
The region is a part of the Mesoamerica Biodiversity Hotspot because of the numerous plant and animal species that can be found there. The country hosts more than 6,000 species of vascular plants, of which 630 (described so far) are orchids; around 250 reptiles and amphibians, more than 700 bird species, and 110 mammal species, half of them being bats. The Central American dry forests, Central American montane forests, and Central American pine-oak forests ecoregions extend through Honduras. The Northern Honduras mangroves extend along the Caribbean coast.
Protected Areas
In the northeastern region of La Mosquitia lies the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, a lowland rainforest which is home to a great diversity of life. The reserve was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites List in 1982.
International Environmental Agreements
Honduras is 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
People and Society
Population: 7,792,854
Age Structure:
0-14 years: 38.1% (male 1,514,544/female 1,451,862)
15-64 years: 58.3% (male 2,278,508/female 2,267,527)
65 years and over: 3.6% (male 125,991/female 154,422) (2009 est.)
Population Growth Rate: 1.956% (2009 est.)
Birthrate: 26.93 births/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Death Rate: 5.36 deaths/1,000 population (2008 est.)
Life Expectancy at Birth: 69.4 years
Total Fertility Rate: 3.27 children born/woman (2009 est.)
Languages: Spanish, Amerindian dialects
Literacy: 80%
Economy
Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America, has an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and high unemployment. The economy relies heavily on a narrow range of exports, notably bananas and coffee, making it vulnerable to natural disasters and shifts in commodity prices; however, investments in the maquila and non-traditional export sectors are slowly diversifying the economy. Economic growth remains dependent on the US economy its largest trading partner, and will decline in 2009 as a result of reduction in export demand and tightening global credit markets. Remittances represent over a quarter of GDP or nearly three-quarters of exports. The US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) came into force in 2006 and has helped foster investment. Despite improvements in tax collections, the government's fiscal deficit is growing due to increases in current expenditures and financial losses from the state energy and telephone companies.
GDP: (Purchasing Power Parity): $33.63 billion (2008 est.)
GDP: (Official Exchange Rate): $13.78 billion (2008 est.)
GDP-real growth rate: 4% (2008 est.)
GDP- per capita (PPP): $4,400 (2008 est.)
GDP- composition by sector:
agriculture: 13.4%
industry: 28.2%
services: 58.5% (2008 est.)
Industries: sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products
Natural Resources: timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower
Currency: lempiras (HNL)
Further Reading
Return to Honduras's country profile
Return to the Latin America and the Caribbean Collection