Cerro Las Minas 2,870 m

Natural resources: timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore,
antimony, coal, fish

Land use:
arable land: 15%
permanent crops: 3%
permanent pastures: 14%
forests and woodland: 54%
other: 14% (1993 est.)

Irrigated land: 740 sq km (1993 est.)

Natural hazards: frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; damaging
hurricanes and floods along 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

Environment-international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Nuclear
Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber
94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

@Honduras:People

Population: 5,861,955 (July 1998 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 42% (male 1,248,291; female 1,204,574)
15-64 years: 55% (male 1,591,995; female 1,615,449)
65 years and over: 3% (male 96,017; female 105,629) (July 1998 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.33% (1998 est.)

Birth rate: 31.79 births/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Death rate: 7.02 deaths/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Net migration rate: -1.48 migrant(s)/1,000 population (1998 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.91 male(s)/female (1998 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 41.88 deaths/1,000 live births (1998 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 65.01 years
male: 63.31 years
female: 66.8 years (1998 est.)

Total fertility rate: 4.12 children born/woman (1998 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Honduran(s)
adjective: Honduran

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

Religions: Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant minority

Languages: Spanish, Amerindian dialects

Literacy:
definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 72.7%
male: 72.6%
female: 72.7% (1995 est.)

@Honduras:Government

Country name:
conventional long