ACOG - Nicaragua  - IBM

Geography

Location: Middle America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras

Area:
total area: 129,494 sq km
land area: 120,254 sq km
comparative area: slightly larger than New York State

Land boundaries: total 1,231 km, Costa Rica 309 km, Honduras 922 km

Coastline: 910 km


People

Population: 4,206,353 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 44% (female 921,356; male 930,594)
15-64 years: 53% (female 1,146,485; male 1,097,811)
65 years and over: 3% (female 62,607; male 47,500)

Population growth rate: 2.61% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 33.73 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 6.45 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: -1.19 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 50.3 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 64.54 years
male: 61.67 years
female: 67.53 years

Total fertility rate: 4.17 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and Caucasian) 69%, white 17%, black 9%,Indian 5%

Religions: Roman Catholic 95%, Protestant 5%

Languages: Spanish (official)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1971)
total population: 57%
male: 57%
female: 57%


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Nicaragua
conventional short form: Nicaragua

Type: republic

Capital: Managua

Independence: 15 September 1821 (from Spain)

Constitution: 9 January 1987


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $6.4 billion

National product real growth rate: 3.2%

National product per capita: $1,570

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 19.5%

Unemployment rate: 21.8%; underemployment 50%

Electricity:
capacity: 460,000 kW
production: 1.6 billion kWh
consumption per capita: 376 kWh



Olympic Factoid
Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Games involved a crew of 2,100 who worked with more than 3,500 performers as well as thousands of athletes who celebrated on the field of Olympic Stadium.