Country Facts - Nicaragua

The People

Ethnic Composition

Mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white)	69%
Caucasian	17%
Black (Jamaican origin)	9%
Amerindian	5%

Religious Composition

Roman Catholic	95%
Protestant	5%

Nationality

Nicaraguan(s)

Languages Spoken

Spanish (official), English, Amerindian, indigenous languages.

Education and Literacy

While schooling is free and compulsory between the ages of 6 and 13, the completion rate of primary school is only 20 percent. Adult literacy is 68.2 percent; 67.1 percent of adult males are literate while 70.5 percent of females are literate.

Labor Force

Total: 1,700,000

By occupation:

Services	43%
Agriculture	42%
Industry	15%

Geography

Land Mass Total

49,997 sq mi (129,494 sq km)

Land

46,430 sq mi (120,254 sq km)

Water

3,567 sq mi (9,240 sq km)

Land Boundaries

Total: 764 mi (1,231 km)
Border countries: Costa Rica 192 mi (309 km), Honduras 572 mi (922 km)

Coastline

565 mi (910 km)

Maritime claim

Contiguous zone: 25 nm security zone
Continental shelf: natural prolongation
Territorial sea: 200 nm

Climate/Weather

Tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands.

Terrain

Extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes.

Elevation extremes

Lowest: Pacific Ocean 0 ft (0 m)
Highest: Mogoton 7,998 ft (2,438 m)

Natural Resources

Gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber, fish.

Land use

Arable land	20%
Permanent crops	2%
Other	78%

(1998)

Natural hazards

Destructive earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, and occasionally severe hurricanes.

Environment - current issues

Deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution; Hurricane Mitch damage.

Geography Note

Largest country in Central America; contains the largest freshwater body in Central America, Lago de Nicaragua.

Demographics

Population

5,023,818 (July 2002)

Age structure

0-14 years:	38.3%	male 980,621	female 945,386
15-64 years:	58.7%	male 1,464,468	female 1,483,082
65 years and over:	3%	male 65,610	female 84,651

Growth Rate

2.09% (2002)

Life Expectancy

69.37 years (2002)
female: 71.44 years
male: 67.39 years

GDP Per Capita

Purchasing power parity
US$2,500 (2001)

Infant Mortality

32.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2002)

Sex ratio

At birth:	1.05 male(s)/female
Under 15 years:	1.04 male(s)/female
15-64 years:	0.99 male(s)/female
65 years and over:	0.78 male(s)/female
Total population:	1 male(s)/female

(2002)

Net migration rate

-1.3 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002)

Economy & Trade

Nicaragua, one of the hemisphere's poorest countries, faces low per capita income, flagging socio-economic indicators, and huge external debt. Distribution of income is extremely unequal. While the country has made progress toward macroeconomic stabilization over the past few years, a banking crisis and scandal has shaken the economy. Managua will continue to be dependent on international aid and debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Donors have made aid conditional on improving governability, the openness of government financial operation, poverty alleviation, and human rights. Nicaragua met the conditions for additional debt service relief in December 2000. Growth was limited to 1.5% in 2002 due to domestic austerity programs and general downturns in the global economy. GDP growth is expected to jump to 4.4 percent in 2003 as the result of IMF inputs and a return of private global investment.

Unemployment

23% plus considerable underemployment (2001)

Inflation Rate

7.4% (2001)

Industries

Food processing, chemicals, machinery and metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear, wood.

Exports

US$609.5 million (f.o.b., 2001)

Imports

US$1.6 billion (f.o.b., 2001)

Total Trade

Purchasing power parity
GDP US$12.3 billion (2001)

Top Export Partners

US 57.7%, Germany 5.3%, Canada 4.2%, Costa Rica 3.3%, Honduras 3% (2000)

Top Import Partners

US 23.9%, Costa Rica 11.4%, Venezuela 9.9%, Guatemala 7.9%, Mexico 5.9% (2000)

Top Exports

Coffee, shrimp and lobster, cotton, tobacco, beef, sugar, bananas, gold.

Top Imports

Machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum products, consumer goods.

Debt - external

$6.1 billion (2001)

Economic aid

Pledges of $1.4 billion in new aid in 1999.

Fiscal Year:

Calendar year

Business Workweek

	Monday - Friday	Saturday - Sunday
Offices	8:30a.m. to noon, and 2:30p.m. to 5:30p.m.	Saturday 8:30a.m. to 11:30a.m.
Retail	9a.m. to 6p.m.	Shorter hours on the weekend
Banks	8:30a.m. to 4:30p.m.	Saturday 8:30a.m. to 11:30a.m.
Government	8:30a.m. to noon, 2:30p.m. to 4:30p.m.	Closed

Holidays

Official Holidays

Holidays	2003	2004	2005
New Year's Day	January 1	January 1	January 1
Holy Thursday¹	April 17	April 8	March 24
Good Friday	April 18	April 9	March 25
Easter²	April 20	April 11	March 27
Labor Day	May 1	May1	May 1
Mother's Day	May 30	May 30	May 30
National Liberation Day	July 19	July 19	July 19
Fiesta Day	August 1	August 1	August 1
Battle of San Jacinto	September 14	September 14	September 14
Independence Day	September 15	September 15	September 15
All Souls' Day	November 2	November 2	November 2
Immaculate Conception	December 8	December 8	December 8
Christmas Day³	December 25	December 25	December 25

¹	Observed the Thursday before Easter. This feast commemorates the the institution of the Eucharist, and is one of the oldest rituals of Christian Holy Week. Maundy, or Holy Thursday also marks the beginning of passover.
²	Easter, a Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the first Sunday after the full moon and the vernal equinox (fixed in the Gregorian calendar at March 21), and often observed with Good Friday and Easter Monday. In the West, Easter is predicted using the Gregorian calendar, while Eastern Orthodox Christians use the much older Julian calendar, and celebrate 13 days later.
³	Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. In A.D.320, Pope Julius I fixed the date at December 25 based on the Gregorian calendar. The Orthodox church calculates Christmas using the Julian calendar and celebrates 13 days later on January 7.

Country information used by permission of World Trade Press