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. Since then, the economy has slowly rebounded.

Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the Gulf of Fonseca (North Pacific Ocean), between El Salvador and Nicaragua

slightly larger than Tennessee

Caribbean Sea 669 km; Gulf of Fonseca 163 km

subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains

mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains

timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower

frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast

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

has only a short Pacific coast but a long Caribbean shoreline, including the virtually uninhabited eastern Mosquito Coast

8,143,564 (July 2011 est.)

25.14 births/1,000 population (2011 est.)

5.02 deaths/1,000 population (July 2011 est.)

-1.25 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2011 est.)

TEGUCIGALPA (capital) 1 million (2009)

3.09 children born/woman (2011 est.)

urban: 95% of population

rural: 77% of population

total: 86% of population

urban: 5% of population

rural: 23% of population

total: 14% of population (2008)

urban: 80% of population

rural: 62% of population

total: 71% of population

urban: 20% of population

rural: 38% of population

total: 29% of population (2008)

mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1%

Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3%

Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects

democratic constitutional republic

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

15 September 1821 (from Spain)

Independence Day, 15 September (1821)

11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982; amended many times

accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; accepts ICCt jurisdiction

18 years of age; universal and compulsory

unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (128 seats; members elected proportionally by department to serve four-year terms)

Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (15 judges are elected for seven-year terms by the National Congress)

Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Felicito AVILA Ordonez]; Democratic Unification Party or PUD [Cesar HAM]; Liberal Party or PL [Roberto MICHELETTI Bain]; National Party or PN [Antonio ALVAREZ Arias]; Social Democratic Innovation and Unity Party or PINU [Jorge Rafael AGUILAR Paredes]

Beverage and Related Industries Syndicate or STIBYS; 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; United Farm Workers' Movement of the Aguan (MUCA)

BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-11, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC (suspended), IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS (suspended), OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, PetroCaribe, RG (suspended), SICA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCO (suspended), WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO

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; the blue bands symbolize the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea; the white band represents the land between the two bodies of water and the peace and prosperity of its people

Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America, suffers from extraordinarily unequal distribution of income, as well as high underemployment. While historically dependent on the export of bananas and coffee, Honduras has diversified its export base to include apparel and automobile wire harnessing. Nearly half of Honduras's economic activity is directly tied to the US, with exports to the US accounting for 30% of GDP and remittances for another 20%. The US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) came into force in 2006 and has helped foster foreign direct investment, but physical and political insecurity, as well as crime and perceptions of corruption, may deter potential investors; about 70% of FDI is from US firms. The economy registered sluggish economic growth in 2010, insufficient to improve living standards for the nearly 60% of the population in poverty. The LOBO administration inherited a difficult fiscal position with off-budget debts accrued in previous administrations and government salaries nearly equivalent to tax collections. His government has displayed a commitment to improving tax collection and cutting expenditures, and attracting foreign investment. This enabled Tegucigalpa to secure an IMF Precautionary Stand-By agreement in October 2010. The IMF agreement has helped renew multilateral and bilateral donor confidence in Honduras following the ZELAYA administration's economic mismanagement and the 2009 coup.

$33.63 billion (2010 est.)

$32.72 billion (2009 est.)

$33.44 billion (2008 est.)

$15.35 billion (2010 est.)

3.394 million (2010 est.)

23.3% of GDP (2010 est.)

26.1% of GDP (2010 est.)

23.7% of GDP (2009 est.)

19.16% (31 December 2009 est.)

17.94% (31 December 2008 est.)

$1.296 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$1.564 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$7.618 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$7.064 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$7.581 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$7.029 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

bananas, coffee, citrus, corn, African palm; beef; timber; shrimp, tilapia, lobster

sugar, coffee, woven and knit apparel, wood products, cigars

6.58 billion kWh (2009 est.)

11.8 million kWh (2007 est.)

0 bbl/day (2009 est.)

56,000 bbl/day (2009 est.)

0 bbl/day (2007 est.)

46,130 bbl/day (2007 est.)

0 bbl (1 January 2010 est.)

0 cu m (1 January 2010 est.)

$-1.048 billion (2010 est.)

$-1.327 billion (2009 est.)

$5.879 billion (2010 est.)

$5.09 billion (2009 est.)

apparel, coffee, shrimp, wire harnesses, cigars, bananas, gold, palm oil, fruit, lobster, lumber

US 59.6%, El Salvador 5.61%, Guatemala 5.28%, Mexico 4.19%, Germany 4.04% (2009)

$8.878 billion (2010 est.)

$5.924 billion (2009 est.)

machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs

US 46.81%, Guatemala 8.92%, El Salvador 7.13%, Mexico 5.54%, Costa Rica 4.91% (2009)

$2.302 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$2.127 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

$3.54 billion (31 December 2010 est.)

$3.311 billion (31 December 2009 est.)

lempiras (HNL) per US dollar -

7.714 million (2009)

multiple privately-owned terrestrial television networks, supplemented by multiple cable TV networks; Radio Honduras is the lone government-owned radio network; roughly 300 privately-owned radio stations (2007)

465 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2010)

La Ceiba, Puerto Cortes, San Lorenzo, Tela

Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Honduran Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Hondurena, FAH) (2008)

18 years of age for voluntary 2 to 3 year military service (2004)

0.6% of GDP (2006 est.)

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

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