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| Honduras | Plants and Animal | Back to Top |
Throughout the twentieth century, Honduras's agriculture has been controlled first by bananas and then to a lesser extent by coffee and sugar. Although their overall importance has declined somewhat, bananas and coffee together still accounted for 50 % of the value of Honduran exports in 1992. The combined value of the two crops also continued to make the biggest contribution to the economy in 1992. Total banana sales that year were US$287 million, and total coffee sales amounted to US$148 million. These figures, which reflect a substantial decline from previous years' sales, reflect production losses suffered by banana producers and the withholding of coffee exports from the market in a futile effort to force improvements in the face of record breaking price declines.
Honduran dairy herds fared about the same as beef cattle, and Honduran milk yields were also among the lowest in Central America. The dairy industry was further handicapped by the difficulties of trying to transport milk over poor roads in a tropical nation, as well as by stiff competition in the domestic market from subsidized foreign imports, mostly from the United States.
| Honduras | Communications | Back to Top |
general assessment: insufficient system
domestic: NA
international: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to Central American Microwave System
| Honduras | Culture | Back to Top |
Honduran society is, for the most part, rural and poor. The overall standard of living in the nation is one of the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Foreign as well as domestic assessments of the nation have focused on its poverty to the point where this assessment dominates the outlook of the Honduran people.
contempt the depressing statistics, Honduran society has numerous strengths. Among some of the positive factors are a comparatively high number of grassroots organizations, a peasant movement that has continued even during times of repression, and a corporatist political system in which organizations and classes instead of political parties make their political demands. Positive, too, is the absence of civil war and the high level of terrorism experienced by neighboring countries.
The question for Honduras in the future is how, given the nation's limited resources, to deal with severe poverty and to avoid the repression and violence that poverty often engenders.
| Honduras | Defence | Back to Top |
Military branches: Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force
Military manpower - military age: 18 years of age
Military manpower - availability: males age 15-49: 1,515,101 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service: males age 15-49: 902,220 (2001 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually: males: 72,335 (2001 est.)
| Honduras | International Disputes | Back to Top |
with respect to the maritime boundary in the Golfo de Fonseca, the ICJ referred to the line determined by the 1900 Honduras-Nicaragua Mixed Boundary Commission and advised that some tripartite resolution among El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua likely would be required; the maritime boundary dispute with Nicaragua in the Caribbean Sea is before the ICJ
| Honduras | Economy | Back to Top |
Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy. Government plans seek to promote and expand the manufacturing sector, diversify agriculture, improve transportation facilities, and develop hydroelectric projects. In 1999 electricity production amounted to 3.3 billion kilowatt-hours, of which 65.56 % was hydroelectric. The national budget in 1995 included $713 million in revenue and $591 million in expenditure. The gross domestic product, which measures the total value of goods and services produced, was $5.4 billion in 1999.
Honduras is a poor nation, and the majority of Hondurans work under extremely difficult conditions. The government has, adopted more active economic policies since the mid-20th century. In 1954 striking banana workers led the trade union movement to one of its most resounding triumphs, which resulted in the promulgation (in 1955) of a labour code that is considered one of the most complete instruments of its kind in Latin America. The code has generally resulted in a higher standard of living for the worker and better operating conditions for business; labour laws are not always strictly applied, and some workplaces are substandard.
Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, is banking on expanded trade privileges under the Enhanced Caribbean Basin Initiative and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. While reconstruction from 1998's Hurricane Mitch is at an advanced stage, and the nation has met most of its macroeconomic targets, it failed to meet the IMF's goals to liberalize its energy and telecommunications sectors. Economic growth has rebounded nicely since the hurricane and should continue in 2001.
| Honduras | Education | Back to Top |
Honduras deficiencyed a national education system until the late 1950s. Before the reforms of 1957, education was the exclusive privilege of those who could afford to send their children to private institutions. The government of Ramón Villeda Morales (1957-63) introduced reforms that led to the establishment of a national public education system and began a school construction program.
Education in Honduras is free and compulsory for children between the ages of 7 and 12. The government has pledged to raise the literacy rate, which stands at 83.7 %. In 1994, 1.01 million pupils were listed in 8,114 primary schools. only 32 % of secondary school-age children were listed in school.The National Autonomous University of Honduras (1847), in Tegucigalpa, is the major institution of higher learning. In 1994 enrollment in higher education numbered 54,100 students.
| Honduras | Government | Back to Top |
Government: In 1982 freely elected civilian president and National Congress inaugurated, returning nation to constitutional rule after ten years of military-led government. New constitution, nation's sixteenth, devised and ratified by Constituent Assembly in 1982. President, three presidential designates (vice presidents), deputies of 134-member Congress, and nine justices of Supreme Court of Justice all serve four-year terms. President appoints and dismisses twelve secretaries of state and two other agency directors, who form Council of Ministers, or cabinet. Most heads of various decentralized autonomous and semiautonomous agencies appointed by, or with concurrence of, president, who also appoints eighteen departmental governors. Local governments (municipios), including mayor and five- to seven-member council, normally elected every two to three years.
Politics: Revolve around Liberal Party of Honduras and National Party of Honduras. Since late 1960s, armed forces have evolved as principal political force, governing directly, influencing general policy, or controlling national security affairs. Private enterprise sector, labor, peasants, teachers, and professionals all highly organized and actively pursue own interests through a mixture of means, including media, personal contact with officials, rallies, and demonstrations.
Judicial System: Judicial system consists of Supreme Court of Justice, which handles both civil and criminal cases, courts of appeal, courts of first instance at departmental level, and justices of the peace at municipal level. Administrative Divisions: Eighteen departments, further separated into 291 municipalities.
Foreign Relations: During 1980s focused on national defense and efforts to achieve peace and stability within Central America. Regional political crisis, reached of thousands of refugees in Honduras, and presence of anti-Sandinista counterrevolutionaries on Honduran territory burdened nation and drew it closer to conflict. Involvement in regional politics deepened as Honduras expanded military ties with United States through increased levels of military aid, modification and construction of airfields, establishment of regional training center, and series of large military exercises. Following early 1990s' peace accords, relations with neighbors have improved, and Honduras has become less dependent on United States aid.
| Honduras | History | Back to Top |
Throughout its history, Honduras has been an underdeveloped area. Its rugged topography and deficiency of good ports on the Pacific coast have combined to keep it comparatively isolated from the mainstream of social and economic development. The capital, Tegucigalpa, is located high in the central mountains, removed from the isthmus's main north-south transportation routes.
The rugged topography and semi-isolation have provided Honduras some advantages as well as disadvantages. Unlike the neighboring republics of El Salvador and Guatemala, Honduras did not produce a totally dominant landholding oligarchy. It also escaped the turmoil over transisthmian transit routes that plagued Nicaragua and Panama. Finally, Honduras, alone among Central America's republics, is not controlled by a single city. The isolation of the capital led to the rise of San Pedro Sula in the twentieth century as the nation's commercial and industrial center. Both a product and a victim of its past, in the mid-1990s, Honduras was striving to find some means of gaining the benefits of modernization while avoiding the violent conflicts that wracked its neighbors in the 1980s.
| Honduras | Introduction | Back to Top |
Honduras, republic in Central America, bounded on the north and east by the Caribbean Sea, on the south by Nicaragua, on the south-west by the Pacific Ocean and El Salvador, and on the west by Guatemala. Honduras is one of the largest Central American republics, with an area of 112,088 sq km (43,277 sq mi). Its capital city is Tegucigalpa.
Official Name- Republic of Honduras| Honduras | Land | Back to Top |
The total land area of Honduras is 11.2 million hectares, of which a scant 1.7 million hectares (about 15 %) are well suited for agriculture. Most land in Honduras is covered by mountains, giving rise to the nation's nickname, "the Tibet of Central America." Nevertheless, the Honduran economy has always depended almost exclusively on agriculture, and in 1992 agriculture was still the largest area of the economy, contributing 28 % to the GDP. Less than half of Honduras's cultivable land was planted with crops as newly as the mid-1980s.Potential for additional productivity from fallow land was questionable, because much of Honduras's soil deficiencys the thick volcanic ash found elsewhere in Central America. In addition, by 1987 about 750,000 hectares of Honduran land had been seriously eroded as a result of misuse by cattle ranchers and slash-and-burn squatters who planted unsuitable food crops.
The Honduran government and two banana companies--Chiquita Brands International and Dole Food Company--owned around 60 % of Honduras's cultivable land in 1993. The banana companies acquired most of their landholdings in the early 20th century in return for building the railroads used to transport bananas from the interior to the coast. Much of their land remained unused because it deficiencyed irrigation. Only about 14 % of cultivated land was irrigated in 1987. Most land under cultivation in 1992 was planted in bananas, coffee, and specialized export crops such as melons and winter vegetables.
| Honduras | Languages | Back to Top |
Spanish is the official language and is spoken by nearly all the Honduran people. English is spoken by some people in the north, and the Native Americans have retained their languages. Roman Catholics are 94 % of the people; Protestants constitute a small minority.
| Honduras | Legal | Back to Top |
Legal system: rooted in Roman and Spanish civil law with increasing determine of English common law; recent judicial reforms include abandoning Napoleonic legal codes in favor of the oral adversarial system; accepts ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations vote: 18 years of age; universal and compulsory administrator branch: chief of state: President Carlos Roberto FLORES Facusse (since 27 January 1998); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government; First Vice President William HANDAL (since NA); Second Vice President Gladys CABALLERO de Arevalo (since NA); Third Vice President Hector Vidal CERRATO Hernandez (since NA) head of government: President Carlos Roberto FLORES Facusse (since 27 January 1998); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government; First Vice President William HANDAL (since NA); Second Vice President Gladys CABALLERO de Arevalo (since NA); Third Vice President Hector Vidal CERRATO Hernandez (since NA) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by president elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 30 November 1997 (next to be held 25 November 2001) election results: Carlos Roberto FLORES Facusse elected president; % of vote - Carlos Roberto FLORES Facusse (PL) 50%, Nora de MELGAR (PN) 40%, other 10% 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 on 30 November 1997 (next to be held 25 November 2001) election results: % of vote by party - PL 46%, PN 38%, PINU-SD 4%, PDC 2%, PUD 2%; seats by party - PL 67, PN 55, PINU-SD 3, PDC 2, PUD 1 Judicial branch: Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (judges are elected for four-year terms by the National Congress)
| Honduras | Life | Back to Top |
The family is the fundamental social unit in Honduras, providing a bulwark in the midst of political upheavals and economic reversals. People emphasize the trust, the assistance, and the solidarity that kin owe to one another. Family loyalty is an ingrained and unquestioned virtue; from early childhood, individuals learn that relatives are to be trusted and relied on, whereas those outside the family are, implicitly at least, suspect. In all areas of life and at every level of society, a person looks to family and kin for both social identity and assistance.
Parent-child relationships are markedly different depending on the sex of the parent. Mothers openly display affection for their children; the mother-child tie is virtually inviolate. Father-child relationships vary more depending on the family. Ideally, the father is an authority figure to be obeyed and respected; fathers are typically more removed from daily family affairs than mothers.
| Honduras | organization | Back to Top |
BCIE, CACM, ECLAC, FAO, G-77, IADB, IBRD, ICAO, ICFTU, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Intelsat, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (correspondent), ITU, LAES, LAIA (observer), MINURSO, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW (signatory), PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WCL, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTrO
| Honduras | People | Back to Top |
Although Honduras, with 46 inhabitants per square kilometer, has a comparatively low population density, particularly when compared to its neighbors to the west, uneven distribution has contributed to overpopulation in certain areas.The nation's second-largest and least-populated department, Gracias a Dios, had a population density of only 2.5 inhabitants per square kilometer in 1989. Honduras's only densely populated lowland area is the Río Ulúa valley. In 1989 the department of Cortés, on the west bank of the Río Ulúa, had a population density of 188 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Honduras is the only nation in Central America with an urban population distributed between two large centers. Whereas other Central American capitals are home to more than 50 % of their countries' urban populations, Tegucigalpa's %age of total urban population is considerably lower. The difference is accounted for by the growth of San Pedro Sula. By the beginning of the twenty-first century, Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula are projected to account for nearly 73 % of the population living in urban areas. The two cities are also projected to account for 25 % of the total population of Honduras by the end of the twentieth century.
The official language of Honduras is Spanish, and the predominant religion is Roman Catholicism, more than four-fifths of the population being adherents. The largest of the remaining groups are Protestant, with famous congregations in the east and on the Bay Islands. There has been rapid growth in Protestant churches, particularly since the upheaval caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998.
| Honduras | Politics | Back to Top |
Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Efrain DIAZ Arrivillaga, president]; Democratic Unification Party or PUD [Marias FUNES Valladares, president]; Liberal Party or PL [Carlos Roberto FLORES Facusse, president]; National Innovation and Unity Party-Social Democratic Party or PINU-SD [Olban VALLADARES, president]; National Party of Honduras or PN [Carlos URBIZO, president] 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 Federation of Honduran Workers or FUTH
| Honduras | Provinces | Back to Top |
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
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| Honduras | Time | Back to Top |
| Honduras | Currency and General Information | Back to Top |
| Honduras Lempiras | United States Dollars |
| 1.00 HNL | 0.0617665 USD |
| 16.1900 HNL | 1 USD |
| Countries Currency Unit | USD/Unit | Units/USD | |
| DZD | Algeria Dinars | 0.0129554 | 77.1877 |
| USD | United States Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| ARS | Argentina Pesos | 0.341293 | 2.93004 |
| AUD | Australia Dollars | 0.533413 | 1.87472 |
| ATS | Austria Schillings ** | 0.0632609 | 15.8076 |
| BSD | Bahamas Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| BBD | Barbados Dollars | 0.502513 | 1.99000 |
| BEF | Belgium Francs ** | 0.0215788 | 46.3417 |
| BMD | Bermuda Dollars | 1.00000 | 1.00000 |
| BRL | Brazil Reals | 0.430318 | 2.32386 |
| GBP | United Kingdom Pounds | 1.42399 | 0.702251 |
| BGL | Bulgaria Leva | 0.447293 | 2.23567 |
| CAD | Canada Dollars | 0.627606 | 1.59336 |
| CLP | Chile Pesos | 0.00152392 | 656.202 |
| CNY | China Yuan Renminbi | 0.120813 | 8.27726 |
| CYP | Cyprus Pounds | 1.49883 | 0.667186 |
| CZK | Czech Republic Koruny | 0.0281883 | 35.4758 |
| DKK | Denmark Kroner | 0.117155 | 8.53568 |
| XCD | East Caribbean Dollars | 0.370370 | 2.70000 |
| EGP | Egypt Pounds | 0.217271 | 4.60255 |
| EUR | Euro | 0.870489 | 1.14878 |
| FJD | Fiji Dollars | 0.447227 | 2.23600 |
| FIM | Finland Markkaa ** | 0.146406 | 6.83034 |
| FRF | France Francs ** | 0.132705 | 7.53550 |
| DEM | Germany Deutsche Marks ** | 0.445074 | 2.24682 |
| XAU | Gold Ounces | 301.977 | 0.00331151 |
| GRD | Greece Drachmae ** | 0.00255463 | 391.447 |
| HKD | Hong Kong Dollars | 0.128215 | 7.79939 |
| HUF | Hungary Forint | 0.00358416 | 279.006 |
| ISK | Iceland Kronur | 0.00999868 | 100.013 |
| INR | India Rupees | 0.0205205 | 48.7319 |
| IDR | Indonesia Rupiahs | 0.000102055 | 9,798.61 |
| IEP | Ireland Pounds ** | 1.10529 | 0.904738 |
| ILS | Israel New Shekels | 0.212386 | 4.70841 |
| ITL | Italy Lire ** | 0.000449570 | 2,224.35 |
| JMD | Jamaica Dollars | 0.0210041 | 47.6099 |
| JPY | Japan Yen | 0.00754183 | 132.594 |
| JOD | Jordan Dinars | 1.41057 | 0.708931 |
| LBP | Lebanon Pounds | 0.000660937 | 1,513.00 |
| LUF | Luxembourg Francs ** | 0.0215788 | 46.3417 |
| MYR | Malaysia Ringgits | 0.263330 | 3.79751 |
| MXN | Mexico Pesos | 0.111007 | 9.00848 |
| NZD | New Zealand Dollars | 0.440474 | 2.27028 |
| NOK | Norway Kroner | 0.113022 | 8.84780 |
| NLG | Netherlands Guilders ** | 0.395011 | 2.53158 |
| PKR | Pakistan Rupees | 0.0166945 | 59.9000 |
| PHP | Philippines Pesos | 0.0196386 | 50.9202 |
| XPT | Platinum Ounces | 510.962 | 0.00195709 |
| PLN | Poland Zlotych | 0.243488 | 4.10699 |
| PTE | Portugal Escudos ** | 0.00434198 | 230.310 |
| ROL | Romania Lei | 0.0000303433 | 32,956.21 |
| RUR | Russia Rubles | 0.0321342 | 31.1195 |
| SAR | Saudi Arabia Riyals | 0.266668 | 3.74998 |
| XAG | Silver Ounces | 4.65692 | 0.214734 |
| SGD | Singapore Dollars | 0.542540 | 1.84318 |
| SKK | Slovakia Koruny | 0.0208441 | 47.9751 |
| ZAR | South Africa Rand | 0.0883340 | 11.3207 |
| KRW | South Korea Won | 0.000759354 | 1,316.91 |
| ESP | Spain Pesetas ** | 0.00523174 | 191.141 |
| XDR | IMF Special Drawing Rights | 1.24862 | 0.800882 |
| SDD | Sudan Dinars | 0.00384615 | 260.000 |
| SEK | Sweden Kronor | 0.0964189 | 10.3714 |
| CHF | Switzerland Francs | 0.593789 | 1.68410 |
| TWD | Taiwan New Dollars | 0.0286531 | 34.9002 |
| THB | Thailand Baht | 0.0230087 | 43.4619 |
| TTD | Trinidad and Tobago Dollars | 0.163399 | 6.12000 |
| TRL | Turkey Liras | 0.000000763622 | 1,309,549.07 |
| VEB | Venezuela Bolivares | 0.00108696 | 920.000 |
| ZMK | Zambia Kwacha | 0.000239866 | 4,169.00 |
| Honduras : Geographic coordinates | 15 00 N, 86 30 W |
| Honduras : Population growth rate | 2.43% |
| Honduras : Birth rate | 31.94 births/1,000 population |
| Honduras : Death rate | 5.52 deaths/1,000 population |
| Honduras : People living with HIV/AIDS | 63,000 |
| Honduras : Independence | 15 September 1821 |
| Honduras : National holiday | Independence Day, 15 September |
| Honduras : Constitution | 11 January 1982 |
| Honduras : GDP | purchasing power parity - $17 billion |
| Honduras : GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $2,700 |
| Honduras : Electricity - consumption | 3.232 billion kWh |
| Honduras : Exports | $2 billion coffee, bananas, shrimp, lobster, meat; zinc, lumber |
| Honduras : Imports | $2.8 billion machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs |
| Honduras : Telephones | 234,000 |
| Honduras : Mobile cellular | 14,427 |
| Honduras : Radio broadcast stations | AM 241, FM 53, shortwave 12 |
| Honduras : Radios | 2.45 million |
| Honduras : Television broadcast stations | 11 |
| Honduras : Televisions | 570,000 |
| Honduras : Internet country code | .hn |
| Honduras : Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 8 |
| Honduras : Internet users | 20,000 |
| Honduras : Railways | 595 km |
| Honduras : Highways | 15,400 km |
| Honduras : Waterways | 465 km |
| Honduras : Pipelines | N/A |
| Honduras : Ports and harbors | La Ceiba, Puerto Castilla, Puerto Cortes, San Lorenzo, Tela, Puerto Lempira |
| Honduras : Merchant marine | 313 ships |
| Honduras : Airports | 119 |
| Honduras : Heliports | N/A |
| Honduras : Military branches | Army, Navy (includes Marines), Air Force |
| Honduras : Military expenditures | $35 million |