Honduras

Honduras ranks better on Comparative Liveability (76th) than on Economic Competitiveness (84th). Its favourable climate and high employment rates contrast with rather poor scores for many Economic Competitiveness indicators, such as education and innovation. Honduras’ overall ranking is 83rd, equal with Moldova.

Despite signs of optimism and recuperation, economic growth in Honduras has been generally slow and weak, and is characterized by underproduction, low levels of capital investment and low average wages. Honduras’ economic niche is textile manufacturing, which represents nearly 6.5% of the growth in GDP, and provides employment to one in three Hondurans.

The country has not moved to higher value-added activities, and records low scores for commercialisation of innovation, exporting few high tech products and registering few patents. Entrepreneurship is similarly lacking. The level of mass education is also a serious weakness: a Honduran worker has on average less than 18 months of secondary education. Given that 41% of the country’s 7 million inhabitants are under 14, an ailing education system is a serious threat to the nation’s future.

Honduras’ efforts at policy implementation are plagued by ineffective governance and limited institutional capacity, although there has been significant progress in the developing banking sector in terms of regulation and transparency. Honduras also remains somewhat dependent on foreign aid, as economic growth is weak.

Honduras is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. It ranks below the global average and the regional average on all the indicators, although the picture is not unremittingly bleak.

Just a couple of decades ago, Honduras was considered a repressive society, and human-rights abuses were a common occurrence. The government’s human rights record has improved but serious problems persist. Health-adjusted life expectancy languishes at 58.4 years, but Honduran citizens report surprisingly high levels of satisfaction with personal health, according to the Gallup World Poll. The moderate climate and strong family life provide a social basis for life satisfaction. Rates of widowhood for Honduras are a low 1.9%^g, and divorce rates are just 0.6%^g.

At $4,150, Honduras’ income per capita is far below the global and the regional average. According to USAID, around 70% of Hondurans live in poverty, and nearly 80% of the rural population is poor. Unemployment is also very high at 27%.