About Honduras (The Country)

'
Source: flickr.com.

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.

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.

Geographic coordinates

15 00 N, 86 30 W

Area

Total: 112,090 sq km Country comparison to the world: 103 Land: 111,890 sq km Water: 200 sq km

Climate

Subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains.

Terrain

Mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains.

Natural Resources

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

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.

People

Population

8,598,561 Country comparison to the world: 94 Note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2014 est.).

Age Structure

0-14 years: 34.8% (male 1,529,578/female 1,465,188) 15-24 years: 21.2% (male 928,756/female 892,629) 25-54 years: 35.3% (male 1,530,429/female 1,502,916) 55-64 years: 4.7% (male 187,771/female 217,093) 65 years and over: 3.9% (male 150,681/female 193,520) (2014 est.)

Median Age

Total: 21.9 years Male: 21.6 years Female: 22.3 years (2014 est.)

Population Growth

1.74% (2014 est.) Country comparison to the world: 71

Source

Cited from CIA World Factbook