Republic of Honduras

National name: República de Honduras

President: Manuel Zelaya (2006)

Land area: 43,201 sq mi (111,891 sq km); total area: 43,278 sq mi (112,090 sq km)

Population (2006 est.): 7,326,496 (growth rate: 2.2%); birth rate: 28.2/1000; infant mortality rate: 25.8/1000; life expectancy: 69.3; density per sq mi: 170

Capital and largest city (2003 est.): Tegucigalpa, 1,436,000 (metro. area), 1,248,300 (city proper)

Monetary unit: Lempira

Languages: Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects; English widely spoken in business

Ethnicity/race: mestizo 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1%

Religions: Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%

Literacy rate: 76% (2003 est.)

Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2005 est.): $20.21 billion; per capita $2,800. Real growth rate: 4%. Inflation: 9.2%. Unemployment: 28%. Arable land: 10%. Agriculture: bananas, coffee, citrus; beef; timber; shrimp. Labor force: 2.54 million; agriculture 34%, industry 21%, services 45% (2001 est.). Industries: sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products. Natural resources: timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower. Exports: $1.726 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): coffee, shrimp, bananas, gold, palm oil, fruit, lobster, lumber. Imports: $4.161 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs (2000). Major trading partners: U.S., El Salvador, Germany, Guatemala (2004).

Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 322,500 (2002); mobile cellular: 326,500 (2002). Radio broadcast stations: AM 241, FM 53, shortwave 12 (1998). Television broadcast stations: 11 (plus 17 repeaters) (1997). Internet hosts: ,944 (2003). Internet users: 168,600 (2002).

Transportation: Railways: total: 699 km (2004). Highways: total: 13,603 km; paved: 2,775 km; unpaved: 10,828 km (1999 est.). Waterways: 465 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2004). Ports and harbors: Puerto Castilla, Puerto Cortes, San Lorenzo, Tela. Airports: 115 (2004 est.).

International disputes: 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.


 

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