Capital: Managua
Census: 5.128.600 citizens
Population: 50% younger than 18 years
Official language: Spanish
Geographic location: Middle America
Neighbouring countries: Honduras, Costa Rica
Highest mountain: Mogoton 2.348 m
Total area: 129.494 km²
Land area: 120.250 km²
Water area: 9.240 km²
Currency: 1Córdoba (C$) = 100 Centavos
Time difference from Central European Time: seven hours
Religions: 90% Christian (Catholic majority), 10% other
Ethnic groups: 4% Native American, 77% Mestizo, 9% Black, 10% White

Economy:

A decade long civil war, the dictatorship of the Somoza family and hurricane “Mitch” in 1998 have weakened Nicaragua’s economy considerably. Till today, the country has yet to recover from these disasters. Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in Central America and is highly in debt: despite an international debt remission of 4 billion dollars in 2004, Nicaragua still owes 1.3 billion dollars.
Though Nicaragua has significant amounts of mineral resources, it mainly exports agricultural products, in spite of the fact that only about 20% of its land can be cultivated. The most important exports are cotton, coffee, meat, sugar, bananas, tobacco and coco. Still, many other goods must be imported by this poor country, such as machinery, vehicles, industrial products, foods and fuel. Tourism plays an insignificant role in Nicaragua.

Poverty in Nicaragua:

Due to only marginal economic progress, poverty in Nicaragua is extremely high. Much of the working population is limited to farmers who earn very little income: they have an average income of 1.19 US dollars per day, per capita. For this reason, Nicaraguans often can not provide their children with the basic educational and learning materials necessary for their development. The result: a population with low education levels (30-40% illiteracy) and very few career prospects for the young.
Widespread unemployment often goes hand in hand with minor criminality. Indeed, many children in Nicaragua live on the street. They frequently end up working as child labourers in sweatshops, earning subsistent wages. Some children find their only resort is prostitution (30% of all mothers are minors).
Due to poverty, Nicaragua’s population also faces many health risks. Many go without proper nutrition and rely on unclean water supplies. This tragic combination results frequently in disease, which Nicaragua is largely incapable of treating due to its severe lack of medical know-how and supplies. It is in these dismal conditions that 80% of all Nicaraguans exist - of which, many are children.

Politics:

After a successful campaign on the part of the Sandinista National Liberation Front, the dictatorial regime of the Somoza family came to an end in 1979. After a number of subsequent regime changes in the years to follow, the Sandinista are once again in power, together with an Anti-corruption Campaign. Due to the widespread poverty of Nicaragua, public political participation remains rather limited. As concerns education, class lessons are given in two languages - in Indio and in the official Spanish language. Since 1945, Nicaragua is an official member of the United Nations, as well as the Organization of American States.
History:

In the year 1821, Nicaragua won its independence from Spain.
From 1934 to 1979, the Somoza dictatorship exploited the people of Nicaragua, until finally in 1979 the Sandinista National Liberation Front drove the family out of the country. The Sandinista victory of July 19, 1979 has since been treated as a national holiday.