Honduras
Republic of HondurasRepublica de Honduras
democratic constitutional republicIndependence 15 September 1821 (from Spain)
Honduras as the 2008 edition of the CIA World Factbook published it: 134 fields, one of 36 editions from 1990 to 2025.
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Introduction
1 fieldBackground
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
Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the Gulf of Fonseca (North Pacific Ocean), between El Salvador and Nicaragua
20 fieldsLand useshare of 112,090 sq km
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
Natural resources
timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower
Freshwater withdrawal (domestic/industrial/agricultural)
- total:
- 0.86 cu km/yr (8%/12%/80%)
- per capita:
- 119 cu m/yr (2000)
Natural hazards
frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast
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
- signed, but not ratified:
- none of the selected agreements
Geography - note
has only a short Pacific coast but a long Caribbean shoreline, including the virtually uninhabited eastern Mosquito Coast
People
22 fieldsAge structuremale left, female right · (2008 est.)
Note
Per 1,000 population(2008 est.)
Male · female
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:
- 0.82 male(s)/female
- total population:
- 1.01 male(s)/female (2008 est.)
Major infectious diseases
- degree of risk:
- high
- food or waterborne diseases:
- bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
- vectorborne diseases:
- dengue fever and malaria
- water contact disease:
- leptospirosis (2008)
Government
Democratic constitutional republic; President Jose Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since 27 January 2006); President Jose Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since 27 January 2006)
18 fieldsNational Congress or Congreso Nacional, 128 seats, elected 27 November 2005one dot, one seat
Country name
- conventional long form:
- Republic of Honduras
- conventional short form:
- Honduras
- local long form:
- Republica de Honduras
- local short form:
- Honduras
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
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
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
Executive branch
- chief of state:
- President Jose Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since 27 January 2006);
- Vice President Elvin Ernesto SANTOS Ordonez (since 27 January 2006);
- note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
- head of government:
- President Jose Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since 27 January 2006); Vice President Elvin Ernesto SANTOS Ordonez (since 27 January 2006)
- 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 in November 2009)
- election results:
- Jose Manuel ZELAYA Rosales elected president - 49.8%, Porfirio "Pepe" LOBO Sosa 46.1%, other 4.1%
Legislative branch
unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (128 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 in November 2009)
- election results:
- percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PL 62, PN 55, PUD 5, PDC 4, PINU 2
Judicial branch
Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (15 judges are elected for seven-year terms by the National Congress)
Political parties and leaders
- Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Felicito AVILA];
- Democratic Unification Party or PUD [Cesar HAM];
- Liberal Party or PL [Patricia RODAS];
- National Innovation and Unity Party or PINU [Jorge AQUILAR Paredes];
- National Party of Honduras or PN [Porfirio LOBO]
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 Confederation of Honduran Workers or CUTH
International organization participation
BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation in the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Roberto FLORES BERMUDEZ
- chancery:
- Suite 4-M, 3007 Tilden Street NW, Washington, 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 representation from the US
- chief of mission:
- Ambassador Hugo LLORENS
- embassy:
- Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453, Tegucigalpa
- mailing address:
- American Embassy, APO AA 34022, Tegucigalpa
- telephone:
- [504] 236-9320, 238-5114
- FAX:
- [504] 238-4357
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
Economy
49 fieldsGDP - composition by sector(2007 est.)
Trading partnersexports left, imports right
Electricity
Economy - overview
Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America and 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 US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
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. Honduras is the fastest growing remittance destination in the region with inflows representing over a quarter of GDP, equivalent to nearly three-quarters of exports.
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. Growth remains dependent on the economy of the US, its largest trading partner, and on reduction of the high crime rate, as a means of attracting and maintaining investment.
Agriculture - products
- bananas, coffee, citrus;
- beef;
- timber;
- shrimp, tilapia, lobster;
- corn, African palm
Imports - commodities
machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs
Exchange rates
lempiras (HNL) per US dollar - 18.9 (2007), 18.895 (2006), 18.92 (2005), 18.206 (2004), 17.345 (2003)
Communications
8 fieldsTelephone system
- general assessment:
- inadequate system
- domestic:
- beginning in 2003, private sub-operators allowed to provide fixed-lines in order to expand telephone coverage;
- fixed-line teledensity has increased to about 10 per 100 persons;
- mobile-cellular telephone service has been increasing rapidly and subscribership in 2006 exceeded 30 per 100 persons
- international:
- country code - 504;
- landing point for both the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) and the MAYA-1 fiber optic submarine cable system that together provide connectivity to South and Central America, parts of the Caribbean, and the US;
- satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean);
- connected to Central American Microwave System
Transportation
8 fieldsAirports by runway lengthpaved left, unpaved right
Networkskm
Merchant marine
- total:
- 123
- by type:
- bulk carrier 10, cargo 57, chemical tanker 6, container 1, liquefied gas 1, passenger 4, passenger/cargo 7, petroleum tanker 25, refrigerated cargo 7, roll on/roll off 4, specialized tanker 1
- foreign-owned:
- 42 (Bangladesh 1, Canada 1, China 3, Egypt 3, Greece 4, Hong Kong 1, Israel 1, Japan 4, South Korea 6, Lebanon 1, Mexico 1, Singapore 12, Taiwan 2, Tanzania 1, Vietnam 1) (2008)
Military
Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Honduran Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Hondurena, FAH) (2008)
6 fieldsMilitary branches
Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Honduran Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Hondurena, FAH) (2008)
Military service age and obligation
18 years of age for voluntary 2 to 3-year military service (2004)
Manpower available for military service
- males age 16-49:
- 1,868,940
- females age 16-49:
- 1,825,770 (2008 est.)
Transnational Issues
2 fieldsDisputes - international
- 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 (OAS) 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;
- memorials and countermemorials were filed by the parties in Nicaragua's 1999 and 2001 proceedings against Honduras and Colombia at the ICJ over the maritime boundary and territorial claims in the western Caribbean Sea - final public hearings are scheduled for 2007
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
Cite this entry
Central Intelligence Agency. “Honduras.” The World Factbook 2008. Archived by The Factbook, thefactbook.org/honduras/2008.