Yearbook 1996
Honduras. In February, the President appointed José Luis Núñez Beneth as new Minister of Defense. The election was the president’s own and ran counter to Commander General Mario Hung Pacheco’s proposal, suggesting that tensions between civil and military power remain. In July, Pacheco staged a military uprising against himself. The reason for the uprising was that ten officers were arrested on suspicion of human rights violations.
In September, the International Labor Organization (ILO) presented a report showing that the farmers in H. are among the poorest of the world’s poor. In a report on child labor, however, the US Department of Labor states that this has decreased in H., especially in the textile industry, due to the fact that 35 US textile importers now demand that child labor must not occur.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER.ORG: What does HN stand for? In the field of geography, this two letter acronym means Honduras. Check this to see its other meanings in English and other 35 languages.
The environmental organization Coddeffagolf has called for an international boycott of giant shrimp grown in the Bay of Fonseca. The farms are planted in mangrove swamp which is devastated and thus loses its natural fauna, which gives relief to the local fishermen. In September, the government reacted to the protests by introducing a law that could provide a prison sentence for those who oppose the country’s financial interests.
Population 1996
According to Countryaah.com, the population of Honduras in 1996 was 5,708,903, ranking number 98 in the world. The population growth rate was 2.870% yearly, and the population density was 51.0234 people per km2.
HONDURAS
In the second half of the seventies and in the eighties the demographic increase was very remarkable, as can be seen from the last census of 1988, according to which, in that year, the Honduran population amounted to 4,443,721 residents (they were 2,653,857 at the previous 1974 census): an increase that is not surprising if we consider that the death rate has fallen to extraordinarily low values (7 ‰ in 1990), compared to a birth rate among highest in the world (38 ‰). In 1990, the estimated population was 5.1 million. The capital, Tegucigalpa, is close to 700,000 residents; the other major city, San Pedro Sula, reached 460,000. The urban population amounts to 44% of the total.
Country with a predominantly agricultural economy, Honduras employs 43% of its active population in the sector. Overall, despite many structural difficulties, agriculture has made some progress, as evidenced by the increase in all the main productions, except that – essential for exports – of bananas, which registered, between ups and downs, a downward trend (10.1 million q in 1990). Coffee (1,180,000 q in 1990), cattle herd (3.5 million head in 1990, the most conspicuous in Isthmian America and, after Cuba, all of Central America), wood (6.1 million m 3in 1990), three items which, together with bananas, contribute significantly to exports. There is also a significant increase in maize, which is mainly destined for internal consumption.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the production of electricity more than tripled, thanks above all to the more intense exploitation of water sources. Only in part, however, it was used by industries, still limited to modest units concentrated almost exclusively in the two main urban areas.
The trade balance has gradually come closer to balance. The United States continues to be the largest customer and supplier. Tourists were 250,000 in 1990. The road network has been expanded and extends for about 18,000 km, but is largely made up of non-asphalt roads. Gross domestic product per capita is the lowest in Isthmian America ($ 590 in 1990), according to World Bank estimates.