Honduras: People & Society#
| Population | 8,893,259 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 2016 est.) |
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| Nationality | noun: Honduran(s) adjective: Honduran |
| Ethnic groups | mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1% |
| Languages | Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects |
| Religions | Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3% |
| Demographic profile | Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and has the world's highest murder rate. More than half of the population lives in poverty and per capita income is one of the lowest in the region. Poverty rates are higher among rural and indigenous people and in the south, west, and along the eastern border than in the north and central areas where most of Honduras' industries and infrastructure are concentrated. The increased productivity needed to break Honduras' persistent high poverty rate depends, in part, on further improvements in educational attainment. Although primary-school enrollment is near 100%, educational quality is poor, the drop-out rate and grade repetition remain high, and teacher and school accountability is low. Honduras' population growth rate has slowed since the 1990s, but it remains high at nearly 2% annually because the birth rate averages approximately three children per woman and more among rural, indigenous, and poor women. Consequently, Honduras' young adult population - ages 15 to 29 - is projected to continue growing rapidly for the next three decades and then stabilize or slowly shrink. Population growth and limited job prospects outside of agriculture will continue to drive emigration. Remittances represent about a fifth of GDP. |
| Age structure | 0-14 years: 33.55% (male 1,524,195/female 1,459,679) 15-24 years: 21.09% (male 956,315/female 918,925) 25-54 years: 36.19% (male 1,627,072/female 1,591,025) 55-64 years: 4.99% (male 207,821/female 235,776) 65 years and over: 4.19% (male 161,734/female 210,717) (2016 est.) |
| Dependency ratios | total dependency ratio: 57.8% youth dependency ratio: 50.1% elderly dependency ratio: 7.7% potential support ratio: 13.1% (2015 est.) |
| Median age | total: 22.6 years male: 22.3 years female: 23 years (2016 est.) |
| Population growth rate | 1.64% (2016 est.) |
| Birth rate | 22.8 births/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Death rate | 5.2 deaths/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Net migration rate | -1.1 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2016 est.) |
| Population distribution | most residents live in the mountainous western half of the country; unlike other Central American nations, Honduras is the only one with an urban population that is distributed between two large centers - the capital of Tegucigalpa and the city of San Pedro Sula; the Rio Ulua valley in the north is the only densely populated lowland area |
| Urbanization | urban population: 54.7% of total population (2015) rate of urbanization: 3.14% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.) |
| Major urban areas - population | TEGUCIGALPA (capital) 1.123 million; San Pedro Sula 852,000 (2015) |
| Sex ratio | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 15-24 years: 1.04 male(s)/female 25-54 years: 1.02 male(s)/female 55-64 years: 0.88 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.77 male(s)/female total population: 1.01 male(s)/female (2016 est.) |
| Mother's mean age at first birth | 20.4 note: median age a first birth among women 25-29 (2011-12 est.) |
| Maternal mortality rate | 129 deaths/100,000 live births (2015 est.) |
| Infant mortality rate | total: 17.7 deaths/1,000 live births male: 20 deaths/1,000 live births female: 15.2 deaths/1,000 live births (2016 est.) |
| Life expectancy at birth | total population: 71.1 years male: 69.5 years female: 72.8 years (2016 est.) |
| Total fertility rate | 2.72 children born/woman (2016 est.) |
| Contraceptive prevalence rate | 73.2% (2011/12) |
| Health expenditures | 8.7% of GDP (2014) |
| Physicians density | 0.37 physicians/1,000 population (2005) |
| Hospital bed density | 0.7 beds/1,000 population (2012) |
| Drinking water source | improved: urban: 97.4% of population rural: 83.8% of population total: 91.2% of population unimproved: urban: 2.6% of population rural: 16.2% of population total: 8.8% of population (2015 est.) |
| Sanitation facility access | improved: urban: 86.7% of population rural: 77.7% of population total: 82.6% of population unimproved: urban: 13.3% of population rural: 22.3% of population total: 17.4% of population (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate | 0.37% (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS | 20,000 (2015 est.) |
| HIV/AIDS - deaths | 1,000 (2015 est.) |
| Major infectious diseases | degree of risk: high food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever vectorborne diseases: dengue fever and malaria note: active local transmission of Zika virus by Aedes species mosquitoes has been identified in this country (as of August 2016); it poses an important risk (a large number of cases possible) among US citizens if bitten by an infective mosquito; other less common ways to get Zika are through sex, via blood transfusion, or during pregnancy, in which the pregnant woman passes Zika virus to her fetus (2016) |
| Obesity - adult prevalence rate | 16.3% (2014) |
| Children under the age of 5 years underweight | 7.1% (2012) |
| Education expenditures | 5.9% of GDP (2013) |
| Literacy | definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 88.5% male: 88.4% female: 88.6% (2015 est.) |
| School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education) | total: 11 years male: 11 years female: 12 years (2014) |
| Child labor - children ages 5-14 | total number: 280,809 percentage: 16% (2002 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 8% male: 5.5% female: 13.8% (2011 est.) |