Nicaragua is a Central American country about the size of South Carolina. It is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south, while its east and west borders are the Caribbean and Pacific coasts, respectively. The poorest country in Central America and the second poorest in the Western Hemisphere, Nicaragua was torn by unrest starting in the 1960s, which led to the civil war between the socialist Sandinista rebels and the Contras (counter revolutionaries) from 1979-1990. In many ways a proxy of the Cold War, complete with internationally forbidden United States assistance to the Contras, the war left the Sandinistas in power and the country thirty years behind its neighbors in development. Today, Nicaragua's nineteen volcanoes, beautiful lakes, tropical climate, and big waves have made it a tourist destination. It has made drastic economic and demographic improvements since the war, but the country still faces issues such as migration to Costa Rica and the U.S., accusations of corrupt elections, and a controversial transnational canal whose proposed path cuts through the middle of the country.
PeoplePopulation: 5,907,881
Literacy Rate: 82.8% GDP per Capita: $4,800 Urban/Rural: 58.8% / 41.2% Religion: Roman Catholic (58.5%), Protestant (23.2%), other (2.5%), none (15.7%) GovernmentIndependence: 1821
Civil War: 1979-1990 President: Daniel Ortega (Sandinista) Capital: Managua National Language: Spanish Currency: Nicaraguan Córdoba and US Dollar HealthLife Expectancy: 73 years
Maternal Mortality: 150 deaths/100,000 live births (76th in the world) Infant Mortality: 19.65 deaths/1,000 live births (88th in world) Physician Density: 0.9 physicians/1,000 people |
Information from CIA World Factbook (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html).