Honduras Facts:
The Basics:
- Located in Central America
- Borders Guatemala, Nicaragua, & El Salvador & the Carribean Sea
- Honduras is slightly smaller than the state of West Virginia
- There are 18 “states” in Honduras – called departments
- Population – about 8 million
- Government: constitutional republic
- Language – Spanish with some dialects
- Religion – 97% Roman Catholic / 3% Protestant
- Per Capita Income per year: $3,100 (in 2006)
- According to cia.gov, Honduras suffers an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and soaring unemployment rates (around 28%) Most trade relies on the U.S. including tourism & agricultural exports of bananas, coffee, citrus, beef, timber, & Shrimp)
- Over 80% of the land is mountainous
- Honduras is on Central Time zone – and doesn’t change for daylight savings time
- Money – Lempira – exchange rate is 18.8952 L/1 Dollar
Comparisons to U.S.
| Honduras | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|
| Literacy Rate | 80% | 90% |
| % Using Sanitation | Urban:87% Rural: 54% | Urban:100% Rural: 100% |
| Life Expectancy | Mail: 67.81 Female:71.01 | Mail: 75.29 Female:81.13 |
| Uner 5 Mortality Rate | 27/1,000 | 8/1,000 |
| GPA per Capita | $4,300 | 45,800 |
Poverty Problems:
- On average, only one-third of Honduran children attend school past the primary level – resulting in decreased availability of qualified labor, productivity, and income generation.
- Child labor – an estimated 384,000 between the ages of five & 18 that are employed.
- 51-60% of Honduras lives below the poverty line – poverty line is $1.45per day/person (statistics differ)
- There is a huge gap between the rich and the poor – resulting in a very unequal society.
- Physican to people ratio = 0.57 per 1,000 people
- Only 30% of Honduras has access to sanitation facilities
- Unemployment rate: 28%
- HIV/AIDS – The Honduran city of San Pedro Sula is estimated to have the 2nd highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the world. 70% of all Central American HIV/AIDS cases are found in Honduras. One out of 100 people living in Honduras is infected with HIV.
Information found at: www.worldvision.com / www.cia.gov / www.nationmaster.com