Social conditions
Honduras is Latin America’s most economically unequal country and the population one of the poorest in the region. Around two-thirds of Hondurans are estimated to live in poverty.
In rural areas, poverty is even more widespread. There, it is estimated that one in five residents live in extreme poverty (less than US $ 1.90 per day), according to the World Bank estimates for 2016.
- Countryaah Official Site: Official statistics for population in Honduras, including population growth, density, and estimation in next 50 years.
More than a third of the population has access to basic health care. The care at the state hospitals is inadequate and there is often a shortage of medicines. There is a health insurance system for employees and their families, but it covers just over one-fifth of the workforce.
Honduras is, according to the UN, the least equated country in Central America. While nearly nine out of ten men were employed in 2012, only half of the women do any kind of work outside the home. According to the World Bank, only about one in ten adult women in Honduras have formal full-time employment. By law, 40 percent of political party candidates in general elections are women. But of the National Assembly’s 128 members, only 28 were women after the 2017 election. Violence against women is widespread and a growing problem. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, half of all teenage pregnancies are the result of rape, often in the home. Abortion is totally prohibited, even if the mother’s life or health is at stake.
Violence and high crime are a major social problem, especially in the capital Tegucigalpa and in the industrial city of San Pedro Sula. Honduras is among the countries in the world that have the highest homicide rate. Domestic violence is one of the most reported crimes. Murders of women, children and adolescents have risen sharply since the 1990s. The police get help from the military to try to curb crime (see also Democracy and Rights).
The many youth gangs (maras) is a major social problem. According to Honduran police, Maras organizes about 35,000 youth. Unemployment, lack of education, youth and social policies and divided families form a basis for recruitment for the gang, which has spread from neighboring countries and the United States. The gang is found all over Central America and in Mexico and the United States. They are mainly engaged in drug trafficking and protection activities, but also cooperate with organized crime syndicates, which deal with people, drugs and weapons, among others.
The youth in Maras also form a particularly vulnerable group, as do those living on the street. According to human rights organizations, more than 5,000 young people were killed in 1998-2008. The number has increased during the following ten-year period. Few of the murders are investigated. Murders of human rights and environmental activists, leaders of indigenous peoples and homosexuals have also become more common.
A breeding ground for the youth gang is the country’s overcrowded prisons, where there are twice as many prisoners as places. Accidents and violence are common in prisons. Many younger interns are trained in the gang operations in the prisons.
- AbbreviationFinder Website: Provides commonly used acronyms, history, politics and geography of country Honduras.
FACTS – SOCIAL CONDITIONS
Infant Mortality: 15 per 1000 births (2018)
Percentage of HIV infected: 0.3 percent (2018)
Proportion of HIV infected among young women
0.1 percent (2018)
Proportion of HIV infected among young men: 0.2 percent (2018)
Proportion of population with access to clean water: 92.2 percent (2015)
Proportion of the population having access to toilets: 81.3 percent (2017)
Public expenditure on health care as a percentage of GDP: 7.6 percent (2015)
Public expenditure on health care per person: US $ 200 (2016)
Proportion of women in parliament: 21 percent (2018)