Honduras

By Prof. Raju Vatsavayi

Name

Official name	Republic of Honduras — República de Honduras
Former names	A province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala (to 1821); a state of the Federal Republic of Central America (1824–1838); the Bay Islands a British colony (1852–1860)
Demonym	Honduran; catracho in the vernacular, from the general Florencio Xatruch of 1856
Meaning of the name	"Depths" — for the deep water off the coast, or Columbus's thanks for leaving them in 1502
Motto	"Libre, Soberana e Independiente" — free, sovereign and independent; on the arms

Quick facts

Capital	Tegucigalpa — founded 1578, the capital since 1880, with Comayagüela the Central District since 1938; at 990 m; about 1.3 million in the metropolitan area
Largest cities	Tegucigalpa; San Pedro Sula, about 1 million in its area; Choloma; La Ceiba; El Progreso; Choluteca; Comayagua, the old capital; Puerto Cortés; Roatán
Official language	Spanish; Garifuna and Miskito on the Caribbean coast, English in the Bay Islands, and the Lenca, Tolupan, Pech and Tawahka tongues
Currency	Lempira — ISO code HNL, L; 100 centavos; about 26 to the U.S. dollar
Time zone	Central Standard Time, UTC−6, all year
Calling code	+504
Internet domain	.hn
ISO 3166 codes	HN · HND · 340
Vehicle registration code	HN
Driving side	Right
Electricity	110 V, 60 Hz; plug types A and B
Independence	15 September 1821, from Spain, with Central America — the national day; the republic 5 November 1838
National days	15 September, Independence Day; 3 October, Soldier's Day, Morazán's birthday; 12 October, Discovery of America; 21 October, Armed Forces Day; 20 July, Lempira Day; the Feria Juniana of San Pedro Sula
Constitution	11 January 1982 — the twentieth since 1825, in force from 20 January 1982; a president of one four-year term, the ban on re-election the cause of the coup of 2009 and softened by the Supreme Court in 2015; amended many times
Population	8,303,771 at the census of 2013; about 10.8 million (INE and UN, 2025 est.)
Area	112,492 km² (43,433 sq mi) — land 111,890 km², water 200 km²; the second-largest in Central America

Flag & national symbols

National flag	Three horizontal bands of turquoise blue, white and turquoise blue — the two oceans and the land between — with five blue stars in the white for the five states of the old Central American federation, in the hope of its return; the colors of 1823, the stars of 1866, the shade fixed as turquoise by the decree of 2022.Flag of Honduras
Coat of arms	An oval with a Masonic pyramid rising from the sea between two towers, under a rainbow and the Phrygian cap, ringed by the words República de Honduras Libre, Soberana e Independiente and the date of 1821, over a landscape of mountains, mines, oaks and pines with two cornucopias and a quiver of arrows — the arms of 3 October 1825, restored 1935
National anthem	"Himno Nacional de Honduras" — "Tu bandera es un lampo de cielo" — words by Augusto Constantino Coello, music by Carlos Hartling; adopted 15 November 1915; seven stanzas and a chorus, the chorus and the seventh sung
National motto	"Libre, Soberana e Independiente"
National colors	Turquoise blue and white
National bird	The scarlet macaw — the guara roja, Ara macao; declared 28 June 1993
National animal	The white-tailed deer — el venado cola blanca; declared 28 June 1993
National flower	The orchid Rhyncholaelia digbyana — the flor de la Virgen; declared 26 November 1969, replacing the rose
National tree	The pine — the pino, Pinus oocarpa; declared 14 May 1926
National dish	The baleada — a flour tortilla folded over beans, cheese and cream; the sopa de caracol of the coast; widely cited, the baleada declared by the Congress in 2024
Symbol status	The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by decree; the bird, animal, flower and tree by decree; the dish by the declaration of 2024

Geography

Location	The center of Central America — the Caribbean to the north and the Gulf of Fonseca on the Pacific to the south; Guatemala and El Salvador to the west, Nicaragua to the east; the Bay Islands off the north coast
Land borders	1,575 km (979 mi) with three countries
Border with Nicaragua	940 km (584 mi) — the Coco River, the longest in Central America, and the Mosquitia
Border with El Salvador	391 km (243 mi) — fought over in the war of 1969 and settled by the International Court of Justice in 1992
Border with Guatemala	244 km (152 mi)
Coastline	832 km (517 mi) — 669 km on the Caribbean, 163 km on the Gulf of Fonseca
Highest point	Cerro Las Minas, 2,870 m (9,416 ft), in the Celaque range
Lowest point	The Caribbean Sea and the Pacific, 0 m
Mean elevation	684 m (2,244 ft)
Major rivers	The Patuca, 500 km, the longest wholly Honduran, through the Mosquitia; the Ulúa and the Chamelecón of the Sula valley, the country's breadbasket; the Coco on the Nicaraguan border; the Aguán of the palm; the Choluteca to the Pacific
Lakes	Yojoa, 79 km², the only natural lake, between the mountains west of the Sula valley; the Caratasca lagoon of the Mosquitia; the El Cajón reservoir
The Bay Islands	Roatán, Utila and Guanaja, 50 km off the coast on the Mesoamerican Reef, the second-largest barrier reef in the world — the diving islands, English-speaking, British until 1860; the Swan Islands far out; the Cayos Cochinos
Terrain	Mountains over four-fifths of the land — the ranges of the west and center without volcanoes; the Sula valley and the north coast plain; the Mosquitia lowlands of the east, the largest wilderness in Central America; the Pacific lowlands of the south
Climate	Tropical on the coasts and in the Mosquitia, with 3,000 mm of rain on the north coast; temperate in the highlands; the dry corridor of the south; the hurricane season
Natural hazards	Hurricanes — Fifi 1974, about 8,000 dead; Mitch, October 1998, about 7,000 dead in Honduras and the country's roads and bridges gone; Eta and Iota within two weeks in November 2020; floods of the Sula valley; earthquakes; drought in the dry corridor
Natural resources	Timber and the pine forests; gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc and antimony; the farmland of the north; hydropower; fish and shrimp; the reef
Land use	Agricultural land about 29%; forest about 45%
National parks	Celaque, with the highest peak; La Tigra above the capital, the first, 1980; Pico Bonito above La Ceiba; Cusuco; the Río Plátano biosphere reserve of the Mosquitia, 5,000 km²; Jeannette Kawas on the coast; the Cayos Cochinos
UNESCO World Heritage	2 — the Maya Site of Copán (1980), with its hieroglyphic stairway of 2,200 glyphs; the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve (1982), on the danger list
Administrative divisions	18 departments — Francisco Morazán with the capital, Cortés with San Pedro Sula, Atlántida, Yoro, Olancho the largest, Gracias a Dios the Mosquitia, Islas de la Bahía and the rest — and 298 municipalities

People

Population	8,303,771 (census of 2013); about 10.8 million (2025 est.)
Population density	About 95 per km² (245 per sq mi)
Population growth	About 1.5% a year
Median age	About 25 years
Life expectancy	About 73 years
Fertility rate	About 2.3 births per woman
Urban population	About 60%
Adult literacy	About 89%
Ethnic groups	Mestizo about 90%; Indigenous about 7% — the Lenca, Miskito, Tolupan, Chortí, Pech and Tawahka; Afro-Honduran about 2% — the Garifuna of the coast and the Bay Islanders; white about 1%
Languages	Spanish by nearly all; Garifuna, the Arawakan language of the coast; Miskito in the Mosquitia; English in the Bay Islands; Lenca gone as a spoken tongue
Religion	Roman Catholic about 46%; Evangelical Protestant about 41%, among the highest shares in Latin America; no religion about 10%
Human Development Index	0.645 (2023 data, 2025 report) — medium; about 141st of 193
Violence	The homicide rate of 86 per 100,000 in 2011, the highest in the world, and San Pedro Sula the murder capital of the earth in 2011–14; about 26 per 100,000 by 2024 under the states of exception; the gangs MS-13 and Barrio 18, the extortion, the narcos of the north coast
Migration	Some 1.5 million Hondurans in the United States, the caravans of 2018–19 the country's; the deportation flights of 2025–26; the temporary protected status of the Mitch generation ended in 2025
Sport	Football — La H at the World Cups of 1982, 2010 and 2014; the Olympic semifinals of 2016; Olimpia and Motagua of the capital, Real España and Marathón of San Pedro Sula; baseball on the coast; Mauricio Dubón in the major leagues
Diaspora	About 1.5 million in the United States — Houston, Miami, New York, Los Angeles; the Garifuna of New York; remittances the country's largest income

Government

Form of government	Unitary presidential republic under the Constitution of 1982 — the president head of state and government for one four-year term, elected in a single round by plurality; the National Congress of 128
President	Nasry Juan Asfura Zablah (National Party), since 27 January 2026 — "Tito"; a civil engineer and construction magnate of Palestinian descent, mayor of the Central District 2014–2022, born 8 June 1958 in Tegucigalpa; the runner-up of 2021 to Xiomara Castro
The 2025 election	Held 30 November 2025 — the closest in the country's history: Asfura 40.26% and 1,481,414 votes, Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party 39.54% and 1,455,076, Rixi Moncada of the governing Libre 19.19%; turnout 58.2%, down eleven points; the count of the National Electoral Council stalled by the tabulation platform's outages, suspended twice, with about 15% of the tally sheets recounted by hand, the lead changing through the first week; the U.S. president's endorsement of Asfura days before the vote as the only candidate his government would work with, his warning of "hell to pay" if the result changed, and his pardon of the jailed former president Juan Orlando Hernández on 1 December; the council's declaration of Asfura on 24 December 2025, the State Department's recognition of a "clear electoral victory" that day, the OAS "taking note" and condemning the timing, Nasralla calling the result "fraudulent" and refusing to concede; Congress: the National Party 49, the Liberals 41, Libre 35, the PINU 2 and the Christian Democrats 1
Predecessor	Xiomara Castro (Libre), president 27 January 2022 to 27 January 2026 — the first woman, the wife of the deposed Manuel Zelaya; the state of exception against the gangs since December 2022; her party's collapse to third in 2025
Congress	The National Congress — 128 deputies elected for four years by department with the president; the government without a majority, the Nationals and Liberals the working coalition; the Supreme Court of Justice of 15, chosen by Congress
The next election	Due in November 2029
The coup of 2009	President Manuel Zelaya, seeking a poll on a constituent assembly, seized by the army in his pajamas at dawn on 28 June 2009 and flown to Costa Rica — the first coup in the region since the Cold War, condemned by the OAS, which suspended the country; the election of November 2009 under the interim government; Zelaya's return in 2011 and his wife's election in 2021
Juan Orlando Hernández	President 2014–2022 of the National Party, re-elected in 2017 after the court lifted the ban and amid the disputed count; extradited to the United States in April 2022, convicted in New York in March 2024 of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine and sentenced to 45 years; pardoned by the U.S. president on 1 December 2025, the day after the election, and freed
Legal system	Civil law; the Supreme Court of Justice and its Constitutional Chamber; the anti-corruption mission CICIH, promised by Castro with the UN and never installed; the extraditions to the United States since 2014
Departments	18, each with a governor appointed by the president; the 298 municipalities with elected mayors
The ZEDEs	The Employment and Economic Development Zones of 2013 — private cities with their own laws, Próspera on Roatán the first; repealed by Congress in 2022 and the repeal ruled retroactive by the court in 2024; the investors' US$11 billion arbitration claim against the state
United Nations	A founding member, 17 December 1945
Memberships	The Central American Integration System (SICA); the Central American Parliament; the OAS, from which it was suspended 2009–11; CAFTA-DR since 2006; the WTO; relations switched from Taiwan to China in March 2023

Economy

GDP (nominal)	About US$38 billion (2025, IMF)
GDP per capita	About US$3,500 (2025)
GDP per capita (PPP)	About US$7,500 (2025)
GDP growth	About 3.5% a year (2024–25)
Economy by sector	Services about 58%, industry about 28%, agriculture about 12% — employing a quarter
Currency	Lempira (HNL)
Remittances	About US$10 billion in 2024 and more in 2025 — about a quarter of GDP, the highest share in Central America, from the 1.5 million in the United States
Coffee	The largest exporter in Central America and among the largest in the world — about 5 million bags a year from the mountains of Copán, Santa Bárbara and Comayagua; the largest agricultural export
Bananas	The original banana republic — the United Fruit and Standard Fruit plantations of the north coast from the 1890s, which named O. Henry's Anchuria; still an export with the palm oil, the melons and the shrimp
Maquilas	The garment and auto-harness factories of San Pedro Sula and the free zones — the largest export by value, some 150,000 jobs, sewing for the United States
Trade partners	The United States about half of trade; Central America; Mexico; China since 2023
Public finances	Public debt about 45% of GDP; an IMF program of 2023; the electricity company's losses the chronic hole
Income classification	Lower-middle income (World Bank)

Transport & infrastructure

Main airports	Palmerola International at Comayagua, opened October 2021 in place of the capital's Toncontín, whose short runway between the hills was among the most dangerous in the world; Ramón Villeda Morales at San Pedro Sula, the busiest; Roatán; La Ceiba
Airlines	No national carrier; Avianca, American, United, Spirit, Copa and the Central American carriers; CM Airlines and Aerolíneas Sosa within
Main ports	Puerto Cortés — the largest deep-water port in Central America, on the Caribbean near San Pedro Sula; La Ceiba; Puerto Castilla; San Lorenzo on the Gulf of Fonseca
Railways	The banana railways of the north coast, about 700 km at their most, nearly all gone; no passenger service
Roads	About 15,000 km (9,300 mi), a fifth paved; the CA-5 from Puerto Cortés through San Pedro Sula and the capital to the Pacific; the Pan-American Highway across the south; the dry canal of the plans
The islands	The ferries and flights to Roatán and Utila from La Ceiba; the cruise ships at Roatán, the most in Central America

History in dates

c. 400–850	Copán — the Maya city of the sculptors; abandoned in the 9th century
1502	Columbus lands at Guanaja and Trujillo on his fourth voyage, 14 August — the first Mass on the mainland
1537	Lempira's war against the Spanish; killed by treachery
1578	Tegucigalpa founded on the silver
1821	Independence, 15 September
1838	Honduras leaves the Central American federation, 5 November
1842	Francisco Morazán, the federation's champion, shot in Costa Rica, 15 September
1880	The capital moves from Comayagua to Tegucigalpa
1899	The banana companies — United Fruit from 1899, Cuyamel, Standard Fruit
1954	The banana workers' strike; the U.S. base
1969	The Football War with El Salvador, 14–18 July
1974	Hurricane Fifi, 18 September
1982	The Constitution; the Contra bases against Nicaragua
1998	Hurricane Mitch, 26–31 October — about 7,000 dead
2009	The coup against Zelaya, 28 June
2014	Juan Orlando Hernández president, 27 January
2020	Eta and Iota, 3 and 17 November
2021	Palmerola airport, 15 October; Xiomara Castro elected, 28 November
2022	Castro inaugurated, 27 January; Hernández extradited, 21 April
2024	Hernández convicted in New York, 8 March
2025	The election, 30 November; Hernández pardoned, 1 December; Asfura declared, 24 December
2026	Asfura inaugurated, 27 January

Records & firsts

The original banana republic	O. Henry's phrase, 1904, for this country
The largest coffee exporter in Central America	About 5 million bags
The second-largest barrier reef	The Mesoamerican Reef off the Bay Islands
The closest election	26,000 votes, 2025
Once the murder capital of the world	San Pedro Sula, 2011–14
The largest wilderness in Central America	The Mosquitia
The largest port in Central America	Puerto Cortés
A president convicted of trafficking 400 tons	Hernández, New York, 2024 — pardoned 2025
The first coup of the century in the region	28 June 2009
A currency named for a chief	The lempira
The hieroglyphic stairway	Copán, 2,200 glyphs
Columbus's mainland	The first Mass, 1502

Frequently asked questions

What is the official name of Honduras?

The Republic of Honduras — República de Honduras — independent from Spain with the rest of Central America on 15 September 1821 and a republic of its own since the federation broke up in 1838. The name is Spanish for "depths," by the old story from Columbus's words on escaping the storms of the Mosquito Coast in 1502 — "thank God we have left those depths" — or, more likely, from the deep water off the coast the sailors sounded. Under Spain it was a province of the Captaincy General of Guatemala; the Bay Islands were British until 1860.

What is the capital of Honduras?

Tegucigalpa, in a mountain basin at 990 m — the silver-mining town of 1578, the capital since 1880, when it took the title from Comayagua, and since 1938 one city with Comayagüela across the Choluteca River, the Central District; about 1.3 million people in the metropolitan area. San Pedro Sula in the Sula valley of the north, the industrial and commercial capital, is nearly as large and the country's engine; La Ceiba on the Caribbean, Choloma, El Progreso and Choluteca follow.

How big is Honduras, and how many people live there?

About 112,492 km² (43,433 sq mi) — a little larger than Tennessee, about the size of Bulgaria — the second-largest country of Central America, from a long Caribbean coast over the mountains of the interior to a short shore on the Gulf of Fonseca. The census of 2013 counted 8,303,771 people; INE and the UN estimate about 10.8 million for 2025, the second population of the isthmus after Guatemala's, with some 1.5 million more Hondurans in the United States.

What are the highest and lowest points of Honduras?

Cerro Las Minas, 2,870 m (9,416 ft), in the Celaque range of the west, in a cloud-forest national park — and the sea on both coasts. Honduras is the most mountainous country of Central America, four-fifths of it highland, without the volcanoes of its neighbors; Lake Yojoa is its one natural lake, the Patuca and the Ulúa its great rivers, the Mosquitia its wilderness and the Bay Islands its reef.

What currency does Honduras use?

The lempira (ISO code HNL, L), of 100 centavos, issued by the Central Bank of Honduras since 1931 and named for the Lenca chief who fought the Spanish in 1537 — at about 26 to the U.S. dollar. Clocks keep Central Standard Time, UTC−6, all year.

Who governs Honduras?

President Nasry "Tito" Asfura of the National Party, a construction magnate and former mayor of Tegucigalpa, in office since 27 January 2026 after the closest election in the country's history: on 30 November 2025 he took 40.26 percent of the vote to Salvador Nasralla's 39.54, a margin of 26,000 votes, in a count that stalled for three weeks and was twice suspended, with a hand recount of a seventh of the tally sheets, the endorsement and threats of the U.S. president, Nasralla's refusal to concede and his charge of fraud, and the electoral council's declaration on 24 December 2025. Xiomara Castro of Libre, the first woman president, left office with her party third. The next election is due in November 2029; presidents serve one four-year term.

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