Geography
Economy
- Location-Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the North Pacific Ocean, between El Salvador and Nicaragua
- Geographic coordinates-15 00 N, 86 30 W
- Size-total: 42,600 sq miles
- Area - comparative: slightly larger than Tennessee
- 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
- Land use-arable land: 15.15%, permanent crops: 3.13%, other: 81.72% (1998 est.)
- Population-6,560,608
- Religions- Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant minority
- Languages- Spanish, Amerindian dialects
Economy
- Economy - overview: Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere with an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income, 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 the country has met most of its macroeconomic targets, it failed to meet the IMF's goals to liberalize its energy and telecommunications sectors. Growth remains dependent on the status of the US economy, its major trading partner, on commodity prices, particularly coffee, and on containment of the recent rise in crime.
- GDP-purchasing power parity - $17 billion (2001 est.)
- GDP - real growth rate: 2.1% (2001 est.)
- GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $2,600 (2001 est.)
- GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 18% industry: 32% services: 50% (2000 est.)
- Population below poverty line: 53% (1993 est.)
- Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 34%, industry 21%, services 45% (2001 est.)
- Unemployment rate: 28% (2001 est.)
- Agriculture - products: bananas, coffee, citrus; beef; timber; shrimp
- Currency- lempira: Exchange rates: lempiras per US dollar - 18.89 (January 2009), 15.9197 (2001), 15.1407 (2000), 14.5039 (1999), 13.8076 (1998), 13.0942 (1997)