Honduras

agricultural land:

28.8%;

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

forest:

45.3%

other:

25.9% (2011 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

• 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

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

noun:

Honduran(s)

adjective:

Honduran

• 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

at birth:

1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

15-24 years:

1.04 male(s)/female

25-54 years:

1.02 male(s)/female

55-64 years:

0.88 male(s)/female

65 years and over:

0.77 male(s)/female

total population:

1.01 male(s)/female (2016 est.)

conventional long form:

Republic of Honduras

conventional short form:

Honduras

local long form:

Republica de Honduras

local short form:

Honduras

etymology:

the name means "depths" in Spanish and refers to the deep anchorage in the northern Bay of Trujillo

name:

Tegucigalpa

geographic coordinates:

14 06 N, 87 13 W

time difference:

UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time)

• 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

• 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)

citizenship by birth:

yes

citizenship by descent:

yes

dual citizenship recognized:

yes

residency requirement for naturalization:

1 to 3 years

chief of state:

• President Juan Orlando HERNANDEZ Alvarado (since 27 January 2014);
• Vice Presidents Ricardo ALVAREZ, Rossana GUEVARA, and Lorena HERRERA (since 27 January 2014);
• note - the president is both chief of state and head of government

head of government:

President Juan Orlando HERNANDEZ Alvarado (since 27 January 2014); Vice Presidents Ricardo ALVAREZ, Rossana GUEVARA, and Lorena HERRERA (since 27 January 2014)

cabinet:

Cabinet appointed by president

elections/appointments:

• president directly elected by simple majority popular vote for a single 4-year term;
• election last held on 24 November 2013 (next to be held on 26 November 2017);
• note - in 2015, the Constitutional Chamber of the Honduran Supreme Court struck down the constitutional provisions on presidential term limits

election results:

• Juan Orlando HERNANDEZ Alvarado elected president;
• percent of vote - Juan Orlando HERNANDEZ Alvarado (PNH) 36.9%, Xiomara CASTRO (LIBRE) 28.8%, Mauricio VILLEDA (PL) 20.3%, Salvador NASRALLA (PAC) 13.4%, other 0.6%

description:

unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (128 seats; members directly elected in multi-seat constituencies by proportional representation vote; members serve 4-year terms)

elections:

last held on 24 November 2013 (next to be held on 26 November 2017)

election results:

• percent of vote by party - PNH 33.6%, LIBRE 27.5%, PL 17.0%, PAC 15.2%, PINU 1.9%, UD 1.7%, DC 1.6%, other 1.5%;
• seats by party - PNH 48, LIBRE 37, PL 27, PAC 13, PINU 1, UD 1, DC 1;
• note - seats by party as of 6 January 2016 - PNH 49, PL 27, LIBRE 31, PAC 13, VAMOS 4, PINU 1, UD 1, independents 2

highest court(s):

• Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (15 principal judges - including the court president - and 7 alternates; court organized into civil, criminal, constitutional, and labor chambers);
• note - the court has both judicial and constitutional jurisdiction

judge selection and term of office:

• court president elected by his peers;
• judges elected by the National Congress from candidates proposed by the Nominating Board, a diverse 7-member group of judicial officials, and other government and non-government officials selected by each of their organizations;
• judges elected by Congress for renewable, 7-year terms

subordinate courts:

• courts of appeal;
• courts of first instance;
• peace courts

• Anti-Corruption Party or PAC [Marlene ALVARENGA]
• 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]
• Go Solidarity Movement or VAMOS [Augusto CRUZ Asensio]
• Liberal Party or PL [Mauricio VILLEDA Bermudez]
• National Party of Honduras or PNH [Gladis Aurora LOPEZ]
• Innovation and Unity Party or PINU [Guillermo VALLE]

• Beverage and Related Industries Syndicate or STIBYS
• Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras or CODEH
• Committee 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

chief of mission:

Ambassador Marlon Ramsses TABORA Munoz (since 24 April 2017)

chancery:

Suite 4-M, 3007 Tilden Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

telephone:

[1] (202) 966-2604

FAX:

[1] (202) 966-9751

consulate(s):

Dallas, McAllen (TX)

consulate(s) general:

Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco

chief of mission:

Ambassador (vacant); Charge d'Affaires Heide B. FULTON (since June 2017)

embassy:

Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453, Tegucigalpa

mailing address:

American Embassy, APO AA 34022, Tegucigalpa

telephone:

[504] 2236-9320, 2238-5114

FAX:

[504] 2236-9037

name:

"Himno Nacional de Honduras" (National Anthem of Honduras)

lyrics/music:

Augusto Constancio COELLO/Carlos HARTLING

note: adopted 1915; the anthem's seven verses chronicle Honduran history; on official occasions, only the chorus and last verse are sung

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

agriculture:

39.2%

industry:

20.9%

services:

39.8% (2005 est.)

lowest 10%:

1.2%

highest 10%:

38.4% (2014)

general assessment:

• fixed-line connections are increasing but still limited;
• competition among multiple providers of mobile-cellular services is contributing to a sharp increase in subscribership

domestic:

• beginning in 2003, private sub-operators allowed to provide fixed lines in order to expand telephone coverage contributing to a small increase in fixed-line teledensity;
• mobile-cellular subscribership is roughly 90 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 (2016)

• 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)

number of registered air carriers:

5; inventory of registered aircraft operated by air carriers: 10

annual passenger traffic on registered air carriers:

251,149

annual freight traffic on registered air carriers:

502,372 mt-km (2015)

total:

699 km

narrow gauge:

• 164 km 1.067-m gauge;
• 115 km 1.057-m gauge;
• 420 km 0.914-m gauge (2014)

country comparison to the world: 101

total:

14,742 km

paved:

3,367 km

unpaved:

11,375 km (1,543 km summer only)

note: an additional 8,951 km of non-official roads used by the coffee industry (2012)

country comparison to the world: 125

• 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