Demographics & population — Honduras
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators.
Profile updated 2026-06-02
⚡ Demographics & population at a glance
Population size, age structure, migration, ethnicity, language, education, and health indicators. Key figure for Honduras: 9,529,188
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Population overview
- Population
9,529,188
- Population - note
Note: Estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected
- Population Growth Rate
1.29%
- Population Distribution
- Most residents live in the mountainous western half of the country
- unlike other Central American nations, Honduras is the only one with an urban population that is distributed between two large centers - the capital of Tegucigalpa and the city of San Pedro Sula
- the Rio Ulua valley in the north is the only densely populated lowland area
- Urban Population
- Urban population: 60.2%
- of total population Rate of urbanization: 2.48% annual rate of change
- Population in Major Urban Areas
1.568 million TEGUCIGALPA (capital), 982,000 San Pedro Sula
- Population: Male/Female
- Male: 4,591,247
- Female: 4,937,941
Age & family
- Age Structure
- years: 28.7% (male 1,378,026/female 1,353,238) 15-64
- years: 65.7% (male 2,980,393/female 3,282,159) 65
- years and over: 5.6% (male 232,828/female 302,544)
- Median Age
- Total: 25.7
- years Male: 24.8
- years Female: 26.6 years
- Birth Rate - births/1,000 population
20
- Death Rate - deaths/1,000 population
5.4
- Total Fertility Rate - children born/woman
2.33
- Gross reproduction rate
1
- Child Marriage
- Women married by age 15: 9.2%
- Women married by age 18: 34%
- Men married by age 18: 10%
- Contraceptive Prevalance Rate - female 12-49
69.4%
- Contraceptive Prevalence Rate - female 12-49
69.4%
- Currently married women (ages 15-49)
53.5%
- Mean Age for Mother's First Birth (age 25-49)
20.3
- Mother's mean age at first birth
20.3
- Sex Ratio at Birth - male/female
- At birth: 1.03
- male(s)/female 0-14 years: 1.02
- male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.91
- male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.77
- male(s)/female Total population: 0.93 male(s)/female
Migration
- Net Migration Rate - migrant(s)/1,000 population
-1.7
- Demographic profile
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and has one of the world's highest murder rates.
More than half of the population lives in poverty and per capita income is one of the lowest in the region.
Poverty rates are higher among rural and indigenous people and in the south, west, and along the eastern border than in the north and central areas where most of Honduras' industries and infrastructure are concentrated.
The increased productivity needed to break Honduras' persistent high poverty rate depends, in part, on further improvements in educational attainment.
Although primary-school enrollment is near 100%, educational quality is poor, the drop-out rate and grade repetition remain high, and teacher and school accountability is low.
Honduras' population growth rate has slowed since the 1990s and is now 1.2% annually with a birth rate that averages 2.1 children per woman and more among rural, indigenous, and poor women.
Honduras' young adult population - ages 15 to 29 - is projected to continue growing rapidly for the next three decades and then stabilize or slowly shrink.
Population growth and limited job prospects outside of agriculture will continue to drive emigration.
Remittances represent about a fifth of GDP.
Ethnicity & language
- Ethnic Groups
Mestizo (mixed Indigenous and European) 90%, Indigenous 7%, African descent 2%, White 1%
- Language Note
Spanish (official), Amerindian dialects
- Nationality Noun
- Honduran(s) Adjective: Honduran
Education
- Literacy - total population
88.5%
- Literacy - male
88.2%
- Literacy - female
88.7%
- Literacy Definition
Age 15 and over can read and write
- Education Expenditures - percent of GDP
6.4%
- Total School Life Expectancy - (primary to tertiary)
- Total: 10
- years Male: 10
- years Female: 11 years
Health & living conditions
- Life Expectancy at Birth
- Ttotal population: 73.1
- years Male: 69.6
- years Female: 76.8 years
- Infant Mortality Rate
- Total: 15.4 deaths/1,000
- live births Male: 17.5 deaths/1,000
- live births Female: 13.2 deaths/1,000 live births
- Infant Mortality Rate - total deaths/1,000 live births
- Total: 15.4 deaths/1,000
- live births Male: 17.5 deaths/1,000
- live births Female: 13.2 deaths/1,000 live births
- Maternal Mortality Rate - deaths/100,000 live births
72
- Physicians Density - physicians/1,000 population
.5
- Hospital Bed Density - beds/1,000 population
.6
- Health Expenditures - percent of GDP
9%
- Major Infectious Diseases - degree of risk
- High Food or waterborne diseases: Bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A,
- and typhoid fever Vectorborne diseases: Dengue fever
- Obesity - adult prevalence rate
21.4%
- Alcohol consumption per capita
- Total: 2.73
- liters of pure alcohol Beer: 1.6
- liters of pure alcohol Wine: 0.04
- liters of pure alcohol Spirits: 1.09
- liters of pure alcohol Other alcohols: 0 liters of pure alcohol
- Drinking Water Source - percent of urban population improved
- Urban: 100%
- of population Rural: 90.7%
- of population Total: 96.1%
- Urban: 0%
- of population Rural: 9.3%
- of population Total: 3.9% of population
- Sanitation Facility Access - percent of urban population improved
- urban: 96.7%
- of population Rural: 87.9%
- of population Total: 93%
- urban: 3.3%
- of population Rural: 12.1%
- of population Total: 7% of population
- Underweight - percent of children under five years
7.1%