Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a country located in the middle of the Central American isthmus. It occupies a landmass of 129,000 km˛ and has a population of 5 million inhabitants. The population is very young, with two million under the age of 14.
History
Nicaragua was colonized both by Spain and Great Britain. The Spanish established its presence on the Pacific Coast, soon after its discovery by Christopher Columbus. The English occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century.
Nicaragua gained its independence in 1821. Unfortunately, Nicaragua has since been involved in armed conflicts: the incursion of the adventurer William Walker in 1855, the occupation of the country by the United States Army from 1912 until 1933 and a civil war in 1978. For 18 years now, Nicaragua has had democratically elected governments.
Besides armed conflicts, Nicaragua has been a victim of several natural disasters. Two earthquakes, one in 1931 and another one in 1972 destroyed the city of Managua, Nicaragua’s capital and its most populated city. Nicaragua also has been swept by strong tropical storms - Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and Hurricane Felix in 2007, both of which caused thousands of deaths, left many people homeless and big economic losses to the country.
Facts
Nicaragua is currently undergoing serious socio-economic problems – it is in fact the second poorest country of the Americas. The following facts illustrate the gravity of the problem:
- Three out of ten Nicaraguans suffer from malnutrition.
- One out of three people over age 15 can neither read nor write.
- Almost 50% of the labor force is under-employed and 48% of the population in Nicaragua lives under the poverty line.
Children carry a disproportionate load of the country’s suffering:
- The rate of infant mortality is 26 children for every thousand births.
- One of every 22 children dies before reaching the age of 5 years.
- More than 40% of the children do not go to school and 1 out of 2 children of those that actually attend drops out before finishing primary school.
Nicaragua needs all of the help it can get.
Maps
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