Countries
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Disputes - international: the 1992 ICJ ruling for El Salvador and Honduras advised a tripartite resolution to establish a maritime boundary in the Gulf of Fonseca, which considers Honduran access to the Pacific; legal dispute over navigational rights of San Juan River on border with Costa Rica
Illicit drugs: transshipment point for cocaine destined for the US and transshipment point for arms-for-drugs dealing
Military branches: National Army of Nicaragua (Ejercito Nacional de Nicaragua, ENN; includes Navy, Air Force)
Military service age and obligation:
18-30 years of age for voluntary military service; tour of duty 18-36 months; requires Nicaraguan nationality and 6th-grade education
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 1,452,107
females age 16-49: 1,552,698
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 1,227,757
females age 16-49: 1,335,653
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 69,093
female: 67,522
Military expenditures: 0.6% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 158
Airports: 143
country comparison to the world: 40
Pipelines: oil 54 km
Roadways: total: 19,137 km
country comparison to the world: 112
Waterways: 2,220 km (navigable waterways as well as the use of the large Lake Managua and Lake Nicaragua; rivers serve only the sparsely populated eastern part of the country)
country comparison to the world: 40
Ports and terminals: Bluefields, Corinto
Telephones - main lines in use: 258,000
country comparison to the world: 123
Telephones - mobile cellular: 3.771 million
country comparison to the world: 113
Telephone system: general assessment: system being upgraded by foreign investment; nearly all installed telecommunications capacity now uses digital technology, owing to investments since privatization of the formerly state-owned telecommunications company
domestic: since privatization, access to fixed-line and mobile-cellular services has improved but teledensity still lags behind other Central American countries; fixed-line teledensity roughly 5 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscribership is increasing and approached 65 per 100 persons in 2010; connected to Central American Microwave System
Broadcast media: multiple privately-owned terrestrial TV networks, supplemented by cable TV in most urban areas; of more than 100 radio stations, nearly all are privately owned; Radio Nicaragua is government-owned and Radio Sandino is controlled by the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN)
Internet country code: .ni
Internet hosts: 176,985
country comparison to the world: 72
Internet users: 199,800
country comparison to the world: 141
Nicaragua, the poorest country in Central America and the second poorest in the Hemisphere, has widespread underemployment and poverty. The US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) has been in effect since April 2006 and has expanded export opportunities for many agricultural and manufactured goods. Textiles and apparel account for nearly 60% of Nicaragua's exports, but increases in the minimum wage during the ORTEGA administration will likely erode its comparative advantage in this industry. ORTEGA's promotion of mixed business initiatives, owned by the Nicaraguan and Venezuelan state oil firms, together with the weak rule of law, could undermine the investment climate for domestic and international private firms in the near-term. Nicaragua relies on international economic assistance to meet internal- and external-debt financing obligations. Foreign donors have curtailed this funding, however, in response to November 2008 electoral fraud. In early 2004, Nicaragua secured some $4.5 billion in foreign debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Managua still struggles with a high public debt burden, however, it succeeded in reducing that burden substantially in 2011. The economy grew at a rate of about 4% in 2011.
Government type: republic
Administrative divisions: 15 departments (departamentos, singular - departamento) and 2 autonomous regions* (regiones autonomistas, singular - region autonoma); Atlantico Norte*, Atlantico Sur*, Boaco, Carazo, Chinandega, Chontales, Esteli, Granada, Jinotega, Leon, Madriz, Managua, Masaya, Matagalpa, Nueva Segovia, Rio San Juan, Rivas
Legal system: civil law system; Supreme Court may review administrative acts
International law organization participation: accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction with reservations; non-party state to the ICCt
Suffrage: 16 years of age; universal
Ethnic groups: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5%
Languages: Spanish (official) 97.5%, Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census)
note: English and indigenous languages found on the Atlantic coast
Religions: Roman Catholic 58.5%, Protestant 23.2% (Evangelical 21.6%, Moravian 1.6%), Jehovah's Witnesses 0.9%, other 1.7%, none 15.7%
Population: 5,727,707
country comparison to the world: 108
Median age: total: 23.4 years
male: 22.6 years
female: 24.2 years
Population growth rate: 1.067%
country comparison to the world: 111
Net migration rate: -3.4 migrant(s)/1,000 population
country comparison to the world: 181
Urbanization: urban population: 57% of total population
rate of urbanization: 2% annual rate of change
Major cities - population: MANAGUA (capital) 934,000
Life expectancy at birth: total population: 72.18 years
country comparison to the world: 129
male: 70.07 years
female: 74.39 years
Total fertility rate: 2.08 children born/woman
country comparison to the world: 118
Health expenditures: 9.5% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 38
Major infectious diseases: degree of risk: high
food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria
water contact disease: leptospirosis
Education expenditures: 3.1% of GDP
country comparison to the world: 130
Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 67.5%
male: 67.2%
female: 67.8%
Unemployment, youth ages 15-24: total: 8.6%
country comparison to the world: 112
male: 8.1%
female: 9.7%
Location: Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras
Land boundaries: total: 1,231 km
border countries: Costa Rica 309 km, Honduras 922 km
Coastline: 910 km
Maritime claims: territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
continental shelf: natural prolongation
Climate: tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands
Terrain: extensive Atlantic coastal plains rising to central interior mountains; narrow Pacific coastal plain interrupted by volcanoes
Natural resources: gold, silver, copper, tungsten, lead, zinc, timber, fish
Land use:
arable land: 14.81%
permanent crops: 1.82%
other: 83.37%
Natural hazards: destructive earthquakes; volcanoes; landslides; extremely susceptible to hurricanes
volcanism: significant volcanic activity; Cerro Negro (elev. 728 m), which last erupted in 1999, is one of Nicaragua's most active volcanoes; its lava flows and ash have been known to cause significant damage to farmland and buildings; other historically active volcanoes include Concepcion, Cosiguina, Las Pilas, Masaya, Momotombo, San Cristobal, and Telica
Environment - current issues: deforestation; soil erosion; water pollution
Environment - international agreements: party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
Geography - note: largest country in Central America; contains the largest freshwater body in Central America, Lago de Nicaragua
The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century. Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades. Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979. Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s. After losing free and fair elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001, former Sandinista President Daniel ORTEGA Saavedra was elected president in 2006 and reelected in 2011. The 2008 municipal elections, 2010 regional elections, and November 2011 presidential elections were marred by widespread irregularities. Nicaragua's infrastructure and economy - hard hit by the earlier civil war and by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 - are slowly being rebuilt, but democratic institutions have been weakened under the ORTEGA administration.
Nicaragua
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