Honduras profile
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| Map source: OCHA/ReliefWeb |
Honduran society is rife with economic inequality, malnutrition, poor housing and infant diseases are widespread.
The country has a youthful population, with 50 per cent of Hondurans under the age of 19 years. But endemic poverty, chronic unemployment and the prospects offered by drug trafficking have contributed to a virulent crime-wave conducted mainly by youth gangs known as “maras”.
The maras are said to have tens of thousands of members and use threats and violence to control poorer districts in towns and cities. Meanwhile, police officers have been implicated in high-profile crimes, and the police have been accused of involvement in the murders by death squads of youths and street children.
For information about GOAL's work in Honduras, click here.
Honduras - Fact Box
| Average life expectancy: 69.6 years (male), 74.4 years (female) |
| Infant mortality rate: 54 per 1,000 births (World Bank, 2009) |
| Children under five years underweight for their age: 11 per cent |
| Probability at birth of not surviving to age of 40: 9.3 per cent |
| Population not using an improved water source: 16 per cent |
| People living below poverty line of US$2 a day: 29.7 per cent |
| Gross National Income per capita: US$1, 740 (World Bank, 2009) |
| Honduras ranked 112th out of 182 countries on the UN’s Human Development Index (2009) |
Unless otherwise stated, all statistics in the Fact Box have been sourced from the United Nations' Development Report 2009.