Background

• Pacific coast was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century
• Independence from Spain was declared in 1821
• Became an independent republic in 1838
• The Caribbean Coast was occupied by Britain in the first half of the 19th century, but gave up the territory in later decades
• Marxist Sandinista guerillas came to power in 1979 as a result of a civil war 
• The US sponsered anti-Sandinista contra guerillas throughout the 1980s
• Former Sandinista president Daniel Ortega Saaverda was elected president in 2006 and re-elected in 2011
• Nicaragua's infrastructure and economy were hit hard by the civil war and Hurricane Mitch in 1998 but are starting to slowly be rebuilt
• Democratic institutions have been weakened by the Ortega administration

Location

• Central America
• Bordered by the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean
• Between Costa Rica and Honduras
• Total area: 130, 370 sq km
• Largest country in Central America

Government

• Government type: Republic
• Legal system: Civil law system; Supreme Court may review administrative acts
• Executive, legislative, and judicial branches

Population and Society

• Population as of July 2014: 5,848,641
• Ethnic Groups: Mestizo (mixed Ameridian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Ameridian 5%
• Religions: Roman Catholic 58.5%, Protestant 23.2%, Jehovah's Witnesses 0.9%, other 1.6%, none 15.7%
• Main Language: Spanish 
• Birth Rate: 18.41 births/1,000 population 
• Death Rate: 5.07 deaths/1,000 population 
• Child Labor: 14%
• Unemployment Rate: 7.2%
• Population below poverty line: 42.5%
• Education Expenditures: 4.6% of GDP

Health

• Health Expenditures: 10.1% of GDP
• Infant Mortality Rate: 20.36 deaths/1,000 live births
• Maternal Mortality Rate: 95 deaths/100,000 live births
• Life expectancy at birth: 72.72 years
• Physician Density: 0.37 physicians/1,000 population
• Hospital Bed Denisty: 1.1 beds/1,000 population
• HIV/AIDS Adult Prevalence Rate: 0.3%
• HIV/AIDS (people living w/ HIV/AIDS): 9,600
• HIV/AIDS deaths: 100
• Degree of risk: high
• Food or waterborne diseases: bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever
• Vectorborne disease: dengue fever and malaria
• Children under the age of 5 underweight: 5.7%

Economy

• Poorest country in Central America
• Second poorest in the Western hemisphere
• In 2013, the government granted a 100 year concession to a newly formed Chinese-run company to finance and build an inter-oceanic canal and related projects at an estimated cost of $40 billon
• Economy grew 4.6% in 2013 despite a 33% decline in coffee export revenue due to coffee rust fungus
• Agriculture Products: coffee, bananas, sugarcane, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products; shrimp, lobsters, cotton
• Industries: food processing, chemicals, machinery and metal products, knit and woven apparel, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear, wood, electric wire harness manufacturing, mining

Current Issues

• Nicaragua and Costa Rice regularly file border dispute cases over the San Juan River and the northern tip of Calero Island

​References: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/nu.html#