Honduras Fact File - General Information

Population: 6.8 million

Size of Country: 43,278 square miles (112,090 square kilometers), slightly larger than Tennessee

Capital city: Tegucigalpa

Location: Honduras is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the North; Nicaragua to the South; and Guatemala, El Salvador, and the Pacific Ocean to the West.

International airport: Toncontin International Airport, Tegucigalpa

Climate: "Subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains"

Currency: Honduran Lempira (US $1 = 17.75 Lempira)

Language: Spanish and native dialects

System of government: Constitutional Democracy, led by President Ricardo Maduro

Telephone country code: 504

Time zone: One hour behind Eastern Standard Time

Electricity: Honduras runs on 110 Volts, 60Hz

National holidays: New Years Day (January 1), Maundy Thursday (March/April), Good Friday (March/April), Americas Day (April 14), Labor Day/May Day (May 1), Independence Day (September 15), Morazan Day (October 3), Christopher Columbus Day (October 12), Army Day (October 21), Christmas Day (December 25)

Religion: Roman Catholic

Life expectancy at birth: 66 years

Business hours: Businesses are usually open from 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 5pm during the week.  On Saturdays businesses open at 9am and close at noon.  Government offices are open at 8:30am and close at 4:30pm.

Media: 11 major television broadcast stations and 294 radio stations (241 AM and 53 FM)

Education: Public education is free and mandatory for children between the ages of 7 and 15.  Primary school lasts six years and is followed by five years of secondary school (divided into two levels-the first three years and then an additional two). Upon completion of the mandatory primary education, each child is required to teach at least two illiterate adults to read and write.  The major university is the National Autonomous University of Honduras, founded in Tegucigalpa in 1847, with branches in San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba.

Economy: Based on tourism, agriculture (bananas, coffee, citrus, beef, timber,  shrimp) and industry (sugar, coffee, textile, clothing, wood products)

Export: $1.4 billion

Primary trade partners: U.S., El Salvador, and Mexico

Imports: $3.1 billion

Gross Domestic Product: $17 billion

GDP per capita: $2,600

Inflation rate: 9.7% in 2001