Population and Demographics

The population of Honduras is predominantly Hispanic, except along the northern coast where, until recently, communities of English speakers maintained a separate culture. This is primarily because some islands and some Caribbean coastal areas were occupied by pirates and by the British at one time or another.

Groups of Garifuna (people of mixed of Amerindian (Caribbean natives) and African ancestry) live along the north coast and islands, where there are also many Afro-Latin Americans. This ethnic group, with an estimated 150,000 people, has it origin in black slaves' expelled by the British authorities from St. Vincent's island during the 18th century after an insurrection. Garífunas are part of Honduras' identity through theatrical presentations such as Louvavagu. Other indigenous peoples in Honduras such as Chortí (Mayan descent), Pech or Paya (2,500), Tolupan or Xicaque (25,000), Lenca (100,000), Sumo or Tawahka (1,000), and Miskito (40,000) still exist, and most still keep their language, Lenca being an exception. For the most part, these tribes live in rural areas and deal with extreme poverty.

Many Honduran families have roots in the Middle East, specifically Palestine. These Arab-Hondurans are sometimes called 'turcos', because they arrived in Honduras using Turkish travel documents, as their homeland was then under the control of the Ottoman Empire. The 'turcos', along with a tiny Jewish minority population, exert considerable influence on Honduran economics and politics through their industrial and financial interests. East Asians in Honduras are mostly of Chinese and some Japanese decent, but in the 1980s and 1990s when the US army was stationed in Honduras, a number of Korean, Ryukyuan, Filipino and Vietnamese came to Honduras as contract labourers.

The nation's capital and largest city, Tegucigalpa, has a million inhabitants.

Facts and Figures

• Population: 7,326,496
• Age Structure:
  • 0-14 years: 39.9% (male 1,491,170/female 1,429,816)
  • 15-64 years: 56.7% (male 2,076,727/female 2,077,975)
  • 65 years and over: 3.4% (male 113,747/female 137,061)
• Median Age:
  • Total: 19.5 years
  • Male: 19.1 years
  • Female: 19.8 years
• Population Growth Rate: 2.16%
• Birth Rate: 28.24 births/1,000 population
• Death Rate: 5.28 deaths/1,000 population
• Net Migration Rate: -1.39 migrant(s)/1,000 population
• Sex Ratio:
  • At birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
  • Under 15 years: 1.04 male(s)/female
  • 15-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
  • 65 years and over: 0.83 male(s)/female
  • Total population: 1.01 male(s)/female
• Infant Mortality Rate:
  • Total: 25.82 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Male: 29 deaths/1,000 live births
  • Female: 22.47 deaths/1,000 live births
• Life Expectancy at Birth:
  • Total population: 69.33 years
  • Male: 67.75 years
  • Female: 70.98 years
• Total Fertility Rate: 3.59 children born/woman
• HIV/AIDS:
  • Adult prevalence rate: 1.8%
  • People living with HIV/AIDS: 63,000
• Ethnic Groups:
  • Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and European) 90%
  • Amerindian 7%
  • Black 2%
  • White 1%
• Religions:
  • Roman Catholic 97%
  • Protestant 3%
• Languages:
  • Spanish
  • Amerindian dialects
• Literacy:
  • Total population: 76.2%
  • Male: 76.1%
  • Female: 76.3%