Svalbard (2001) | Honduras (2008) | |
Administrative divisions | - | 18 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento); Atlantida, Choluteca, Colon, Comayagua, Copan, Cortes, El Paraiso, Francisco Morazan, Gracias a Dios, Intibuca, Islas de la Bahia, La Paz, Lempira, Ocotepeque, Olancho, Santa Barbara, Valle, Yoro |
Age structure | 0-14 years:
NA% 15-64 years: NA% 65 years and over: NA% |
0-14 years: 39.3% (male 1,500,949/female 1,439,084)
15-64 years: 57.2% (male 2,142,953/female 2,140,432) 65 years and over: 3.5% (male 117,774/female 142,571) (2007 est.) |
Agriculture - products | - | bananas, coffee, citrus; beef; timber; shrimp, tilapia, lobster; corn, African palm |
Airports | 4 (2000 est.) | 112 (2007) |
Airports - with paved runways | total:
1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2000 est.) |
total: 12
2,438 to 3,047 m: 3 1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 3 (2007) |
Airports - with unpaved runways | total:
3 under 914 m: 3 (2000 est.) |
total: 100
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2 914 to 1,523 m: 15 under 914 m: 83 (2007) |
Area | total:
62,049 sq km land: 62,049 sq km water: 0 sq km note: includes Spitsbergen and Bjornoya (Bear Island) |
total: 112,090 sq km
land: 111,890 sq km water: 200 sq km |
Area - comparative | slightly smaller than West Virginia | slightly larger than Tennessee |
Background | First discovered by the Norwegians in the 12th century, the islands served as an international whaling base during the 17th and 18th centuries. Norway's sovereignty was recognized in 1920; five years later it officially took over the territory. | 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. |
Birth rate | NA births/1,000 population | 27.59 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Budget | revenues:
$11.5 million expenditures: $11.5 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.) |
revenues: $2.089 billion
expenditures: $2.357 billion; including capital expenditures of $106 million (2007 est.) |
Capital | Longyearbyen | name: Tegucigalpa
geographic coordinates: 14 06 N, 87 13 W time difference: UTC-6 (1 hour behind Washington, DC during Standard Time) daylight saving time: +1hr, begins second Sunday in March; ends first Sunday in November; note - these dates become effective in 2007 |
Climate | arctic, tempered by warm North Atlantic Current; cool summers, cold winters; North Atlantic Current flows along west and north coasts of Spitsbergen, keeping water open and navigable most of the year | subtropical in lowlands, temperate in mountains |
Coastline | 3,587 km | 820 km |
Constitution | - | 11 January 1982, effective 20 January 1982; amended many times |
Country name | conventional long form:
none conventional short form: Svalbard (sometimes referred to as Spitzbergen) |
conventional long form: Republic of Honduras
conventional short form: Honduras local long form: Republica de Honduras local short form: Honduras |
Currency | Norwegian krone (NOK) | - |
Death rate | NA deaths/1,000 population | 5.32 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Debt - external | - | $3.871 billion (31 December 2007 est.) |
Dependency status | territory of Norway; administered by the Ministry of Industry, Oslo, through a governor (sysselmann) residing in Longyearbyen, Spitsbergen; by treaty (9 February 1920) sovereignty was given to Norway | - |
Diplomatic representation from the US | - | chief of mission: Ambassador Charles A. FORD
embassy: Avenida La Paz, Apartado Postal No. 3453, Tegucigalpa mailing address: American Embassy, APO AA 34022, Tegucigalpa telephone: [504] 236-9320, 238-5114 FAX: [504] 236-9037 |
Diplomatic representation in the US | - | chief of mission: Ambassador Roberto FLORES BERMUDEZ
chancery: Suite 4-M, 3007 Tilden Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 telephone: [1] (202) 966-7702 FAX: [1] (202) 966-9751 consulate(s) general: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco honorary consulate(s): Boston, Detroit, Jacksonville |
Disputes - international | focus of a maritime boundary dispute between Norway and Russia | International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on the delimitation of "bolsones" (disputed areas) along the El Salvador-Honduras border in 1992 with final settlement by the parties in 2006 after an Organization of American States (OAS) survey and a further ICJ ruling in 2003; the 1992 ICJ ruling advised a tripartite resolution to a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca with consideration of Honduran access to the Pacific; El Salvador continues to claim tiny Conejo Island, not mentioned in the ICJ ruling, off Honduras in the Gulf of Fonseca; Honduras claims the Belizean-administered Sapodilla Cays off the coast of Belize in its constitution, but agreed to a joint ecological park around the cays should Guatemala consent to a maritime corridor in the Caribbean under the OAS-sponsored 2002 Belize-Guatemala Differendum; memorials and countermemorials were filed by the parties in Nicaragua's 1999 and 2001 proceedings against Honduras and Colombia at the ICJ over the maritime boundary and territorial claims in the western Caribbean Sea - final public hearings are scheduled for 2007 |
Economic aid - recipient | $8.2 million from Norway (1998) | $680.8 million (2005) |
Economy - overview | Coal mining is the major economic activity on Svalbard. The treaty of 9 February 1920 gives the 41 signatories equal rights to exploit mineral deposits, subject to Norwegian regulation. Although US, UK, Dutch, and Swedish coal companies have mined in the past, the only companies still mining are Norwegian and Russian. The settlements on Svalbard are essentially company towns. The Norwegian state-owned coal company employs nearly 60% of the Norwegian population on the island, runs many of the local services, and provides most of the local infrastructure. There is also some trapping of seal, polar bear, fox, and walrus. | Honduras, the second poorest country in Central America and one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere, with an extraordinarily unequal distribution of income and massive unemployment, is banking on expanded trade under the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and on debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Despite improvements in tax collections, the government's fiscal deficit is growing due to increases in current expenditures and financial losses from the state energy and telephone companies. Honduras is the fastest growing remittance destination in the region with inflows representing over a quarter of GDP, equivalent to nearly three-quarters of exports. The economy relies heavily on a narrow range of exports, notably bananas and coffee, making it vulnerable to natural disasters and shifts in commodity prices, however, investments in the maquila and non-traditional export sectors are slowly diversifying the economy. Growth remains dependent on the economy of the US, its largest trading partner, and on reduction of the high crime rate, as a means of attracting and maintaining investment. |
Electricity - consumption | NA kWh | 4.036 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - exports | - | 0 kWh (2005) |
Electricity - imports | - | 57 million kWh (2005) |
Electricity - production | NA kWh | 5.339 billion kWh (2005) |
Electricity - production by source | fossil fuel:
NA% hydro: NA% nuclear: NA% other: NA% |
- |
Elevation extremes | lowest point:
Arctic Ocean 0 m highest point: Newtontoppen 1,717 m |
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Cerro Las Minas 2,870 m |
Environment - current issues | NA | 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, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Tropical Timber 83, Tropical Timber 94, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements |
Ethnic groups | Norwegian 55.4%, Russian and Ukrainian 44.3%, other 0.3% (1998) | mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%, Amerindian 7%, black 2%, white 1% |
Exchange rates | Norwegian kroner per US dollar - 8.7784 (January 2001), 8.8018 (2000), 7.7992 (1999), 7.5451 (1998), 7.0734 (1997), 6.4498 (1996) | lempiras per US dollar - 18.9 (2007), 18.895 (2006), 18.92 (2005), 18.206 (2004), 17.345 (2003) |
Executive branch | chief of state:
King HARALD V of Norway (since 17 January 1991) head of government: Governor Morten RUUD (since NA November 1998) and Assistant Governor Odd Redar HUMLEGAARD (since NA) elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; governor and assistant governor responsible to the Polar Department of the Ministry of Justice |
chief of state: President Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since 27 January 2006); Vice President Elvin Ernesto SANTOS Ordonez (since 27 January 2006); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government
head of government: President Manuel ZELAYA Rosales (since 27 January 2006); Vice President Elvin Ernesto SANTOS Ordonez (since 27 January 2006) cabinet: Cabinet appointed by president elections: president elected by popular vote for a four-year term; election last held 27 November 2005 (next to be held in November 2009) election results: Manuel ZELAYA Rosales elected president - 49.8%, Porfirio "Pepe" LOBO Sosa 46.1%, other 4.1% |
Exports | $NA | 765.4 bbl/day (2004) |
Exports - commodities | - | coffee, shrimp, bananas, gold, palm oil, fruit, lobster, lumber |
Exports - partners | - | US 70.6%, Guatemala 3.5%, El Salvador 3.4% (2006) |
Fiscal year | - | calendar year |
Flag description | the flag of Norway is used | three equal horizontal bands of blue (top), white, and blue with five blue, five-pointed stars arranged in an X pattern centered in the white band; the stars represent the members of the former Federal Republic of Central America - Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua; similar to the flag of El Salvador, which features a round emblem encircled by the words REPUBLICA DE EL SALVADOR EN LA AMERICA CENTRAL centered in the white band; also similar to the flag of Nicaragua, which features a triangle encircled by the word REPUBLICA DE NICARAGUA on top and AMERICA CENTRAL on the bottom, centered in the white band |
GDP | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - composition by sector | - | agriculture: 13.5%
industry: 31% services: 55.6% (2007 est.) |
GDP - per capita | purchasing power parity - $NA | - |
GDP - real growth rate | NA% | 6% (2007 est.) |
Geographic coordinates | 78 00 N, 20 00 E | 15 00 N, 86 30 W |
Geography - note | northernmost part of the Kingdom of Norway; consists of nine main islands; glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area | has only a short Pacific coast but a long Caribbean shoreline, including the virtually uninhabited eastern Mosquito Coast |
Highways | total:
NA km paved: NA km unpaved: NA km |
- |
Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%:
NA% highest 10%: NA% |
lowest 10%: 1.2%
highest 10%: 42.2% (2003) |
Illicit drugs | - | transshipment point for drugs and narcotics; illicit producer of cannabis, cultivated on small plots and used principally for local consumption; corruption is a major problem; some money-laundering activity |
Imports | $NA | 42,620 bbl/day (2004) |
Imports - commodities | - | machinery and transport equipment, industrial raw materials, chemical products, fuels, foodstuffs |
Imports - partners | - | US 53%, Guatemala 7%, El Salvador 4.5%, Costa Rica 4.1%, Mexico 4.1% (2006) |
Independence | none (territory of Norway) | 15 September 1821 (from Spain) |
Industrial production growth rate | NA% | 5.3% (2007 est.) |
Industries | - | sugar, coffee, textiles, clothing, wood products |
Infant mortality rate | NA deaths/1,000 live births | total: 25.21 deaths/1,000 live births
male: 28.3 deaths/1,000 live births female: 21.95 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) |
Inflation rate (consumer prices) | NA% | 6.4% (2007 est.) |
International organization participation | none | BCIE, CACM, FAO, G-77, IADB, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO (subscriber), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, LAES, LAIA (observer), MIGA, MINURSO, NAM, OAS, OPANAL, OPCW, PCA, RG, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, Union Latina, UNWTO, UPU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO |
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) | 13 (Svalbard and Jan Mayen) (2000) | - |
Irrigated land | NA sq km | 800 sq km (2003) |
Judicial branch | - | Supreme Court of Justice or Corte Suprema de Justicia (15 judges are elected for seven-year terms by the National Congress) |
Labor force | NA | 2.812 million (2007 est.) |
Labor force - by occupation | - | agriculture: 34%
industry: 23% services: 43% (2003 est.) |
Land boundaries | 0 km | total: 1,520 km
border countries: Guatemala 256 km, El Salvador 342 km, Nicaragua 922 km |
Land use | arable land:
0% permanent crops: 0% permanent pastures: 0% forests and woodland: 0% other: 100% (no trees, and the only bushes are crowberry and cloudberry) |
arable land: 9.53%
permanent crops: 3.21% other: 87.26% (2005) |
Languages | Russian, Norwegian | Spanish, Amerindian dialects |
Legal system | NA | rooted in Roman and Spanish civil law with increasing influence of English common law; recent judicial reforms include abandoning Napoleonic legal codes in favor of the oral adversarial system; accepts ICJ jurisdiction with reservations |
Legislative branch | - | unicameral National Congress or Congreso Nacional (128 seats; members are elected proportionally to the number of votes their party's presidential candidate receives to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 27 November 2005 (next to be held in November 2009) election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - PL 62, PN 55, PUD 5, PDC 4, PINU 2 |
Life expectancy at birth | total population:
NA years male: NA years female: NA years |
total population: 69.35 years
male: 67.78 years female: 70.99 years (2007 est.) |
Literacy | - | definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 80% male: 79.8% female: 80.2% (2001 census) |
Location | Northern Europe, islands between the Arctic Ocean, Barents Sea, Greenland Sea, and Norwegian Sea, north of Norway | Central America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Guatemala and Nicaragua and bordering the Gulf of Fonseca (North Pacific Ocean), between El Salvador and Nicaragua |
Map references | Arctic Region | Central America and the Caribbean |
Maritime claims | exclusive fishing zone:
200 NM unilaterally claimed by Norway but not recognized by Russia territorial sea: 4 NM |
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm exclusive economic zone: 200 nm continental shelf: natural extension of territory or to 200 nm |
Merchant marine | none (2000 est.) | total: 126 ships (1000 GRT or over) 352,534 GRT/481,217 DWT
by type: bulk carrier 9, cargo 58, chemical tanker 5, container 1, liquefied gas 1, livestock carrier 1, passenger 4, passenger/cargo 7, petroleum tanker 27, refrigerated cargo 8, roll on/roll off 4, specialized tanker 1 foreign-owned: 40 (Bangladesh 1, Canada 1, China 3, Egypt 4, Greece 1, Hong Kong 1, Israel 1, Japan 4, South Korea 6, Lebanon 2, Mexico 1, Singapore 10, Taiwan 2, Tanzania 1, US 1, Vietnam 1) (2007) |
Military - note | demilitarized by treaty (9 February 1920) | - |
Military branches | - | Army, Navy (includes Naval Infantry), Honduran Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Hondurena, FAH) (2007) |
Military expenditures - percent of GDP | - | 0.6% (2006 est.) |
National holiday | NA | Independence Day, 15 September (1821) |
Nationality | - | noun: Honduran(s)
adjective: Honduran |
Natural hazards | ice floes often block up the entrance to Bellsund (a transit point for coal export) on the west coast and occasionally make parts of the northeastern coast inaccessible to maritime traffic | frequent, but generally mild, earthquakes; extremely susceptible to damaging hurricanes and floods along the Caribbean coast |
Natural resources | coal, copper, iron ore, phosphate, zinc, wildlife, fish | timber, gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron ore, antimony, coal, fish, hydropower |
Net migration rate | NA migrant(s)/1,000 population | -1.36 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) |
Political parties and leaders | - | Christian Democratic Party or PDC [Felicito AVILA]; Democratic Unification Party or PUD [Cesar HAM]; Liberal Party or PL [Patricia RODAS]; National Innovation and Unity Party or PINU [Jorge AQUILAR Paredes]; National Party of Honduras or PN [Porfirio LOBO] |
Political pressure groups and leaders | - | Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Honduras or CODEH; Confederation of Honduran Workers or CTH; Coordinating Committee of Popular Organizations or CCOP; General Workers Confederation or CGT; Honduran Council of Private Enterprise or COHEP; National Association of Honduran Campesinos or ANACH; National Union of Campesinos or UNC; Popular Bloc or BP; United Confederation of Honduran Workers or CUTH |
Population | 2,332 (July 2001 est.) | 7,483,763
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 and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.) |
Population below poverty line | NA% | 50.7% (2004) |
Population growth rate | -3.55% (2001 est.) | 2.091% (2007 est.) |
Ports and harbors | Barentsburg, Longyearbyen, Ny-Alesund, Pyramiden | - |
Radio broadcast stations | AM 1, FM 1 (plus 2 repeaters), shortwave 0 (1998) | AM 241, FM 53, shortwave 12 (1998) |
Radios | NA | - |
Railways | 0 km | total: 699 km
narrow gauge: 279 km 1.067-m gauge; 420 km 0.914-m gauge (2006) |
Religions | - | Roman Catholic 97%, Protestant 3% |
Sex ratio | - | at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.043 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 1.001 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.826 male(s)/female total population: 1.011 male(s)/female (2007 est.) |
Suffrage | - | 18 years of age; universal and compulsory |
Telephone system | general assessment:
probably adequate domestic: local telephone service international: satellite earth station - 1 of unknown type (for communication with Norwegian mainland only) |
general assessment: inadequate system
domestic: beginning in 2003, private sub-operators allowed to provide fixed-lines in order to expand telephone coverage; fixed-line teledensity has increased to about 10 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone service has been increasing rapidly and subscribership in 2006 exceeded 30 per 100 persons international: country code - 504; landing point for both the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) and the MAYA-1 fiber optic submarine cable system that together provide connectivity to South and Central America, parts of the Caribbean, and the US; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); connected to Central American Microwave System |
Telephones - main lines in use | NA | 708,400 (2006) |
Telephones - mobile cellular | NA | 2.241 million (2006) |
Television broadcast stations | NA | 11 (plus 17 repeaters) (1997) |
Terrain | wild, rugged mountains; much of high land ice covered; west coast clear of ice about one-half of the year; fjords along west and north coasts | mostly mountains in interior, narrow coastal plains |
Total fertility rate | NA children born/woman | 3.48 children born/woman (2007 est.) |
Unemployment rate | - | 27.8% (2007 est.) |
Waterways | none | 465 km (most navigable only by small craft) (2007) |