+505 is the dialing code for Nicaragua.
Nicaragua in Central America is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. The basis of the economy is agriculture, with coffee as the largest export commodity. Following a revolution against dictator Somoza in 1979, a decade of civil war followed between the Marxist Sandini movement and US-backed rebels. The Sandinists returned to power in 2007 after an election, and Daniel Ortega became president again.
- Abbreviationfinder: Brief profiles of Nicaragua, including geography, history, politics, economics as well as common acronyms about this country.
Geography and climate
Nicaragua is Central America’s largest country with an area corresponding to just under a third of Sweden’s. The country has coasts towards the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean to the east. The climate is tropical.
In western Nicaragua, the landscape alternates between fertile lowlands and volcanic mountains. There is also the deep Nicaragua sink with Managua and Nicaragua lake. In the latter, which is almost one and a half times as large as Lake Vänern, there is a permanent stock of bull sharks that can live in fresh water.
From the northwest down to Lake Nicaragua runs a chain of volcanoes, several of which are active. Through the San Juan River, Lake Nicaragua connects with the Caribbean, which is part of the Atlantic. The hinterland is occupied by a partly wooded high plateau. The highest mountains are in the north. To the east along the edge of the Caribbean runs a broad and swampy coastal plain.
Country Facts
Geography
Cultivated land | 42.2 % |
Land area | 130370 km 2 |
Population and health
Population development | 1 ‰ |
Urban population (Urbanization) | 58.8 % |
Death rate | 5.08 per 1000 residents |
Life expectancy: Women | 75.26 years |
Life expectancy: Men | 70.81 years |
Birth rate | 18.03 births per 1000 residents |
HDI index | 0.631 |
Population | 5907881 |
Infant mortality | 19.65 deaths / 1000 births |
Population Graph Source: Countryaah.com
Energy
Electricity, production | 4438 million kWh |
Energy consumption per resident | 563.4 kg. oil per resident |
Natural gas, production | million cubic meters |
Crude oil, production | million tons |
Infrastructure
Internet users | 14.5 per 100 residents |
Mobile subscriptions | 121 per 100 residents |
Passenger cars | 57 per 1000 residents |
Business and economics
Unemployment | 6.1% of the workforce |
GDP | 5000 per resident |
Primary occupations | 28 % |
Secondary profession | 19 % |
Tertiary professions | 53 % |
The country is prone to earthquakes and hurricanes.
The temperature variations during the year are small. It is slightly warmer in the west than in the east and coolest in the highlands. It rains mostly in the southeast and least in the northwest. A rainy season that the Nicaraguans call winter falls approximately between May and October, while the dry season (summer) runs from November to April.
FACTS – GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Surface
130,000 km2 (2018)
Time
Swedish –7 hours
Adjacent country (s)
Honduras, Costa Rica
Capital with number of residents
Managua 1,038,000
Other major cities
León 171,000, Masaya 130,000, Chinandega 112,000, (estimated 2018)
Highest mountain
Mogotón (2107 m asl)
Important rivers
the border rivers San Juan in the south and Coco in the north and Rio Grande
Largest lake
Lake Nicaragua
Average Precipitation / month
Managua 296 mm (June), 1 mm (Feb)
Average / day
Managua 29 °C (May), 26 °C (Jan)
2012
November
Decisive in border dispute with Colombia
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague gives Nicaragua the right to a number of small islands in the Caribbean, to which Colombia is entitled, but at the same time changes the sea border to Nicaragua’s advantage. Nicaragua does not approve the border demarcation and makes a new report to the ICJ on the disputed area (see also Foreign Policy and Defense).
Strong support for FSLN in municipal elections
Sand ministers get about 75 percent of the vote and win 134 of 153 mayoral positions when local elections are held. At least three people are reported to have been killed in unrest in connection with the election.
September
Banana companies pay damages
After many years of legal proceedings, the multinational banana company Dole agrees to pay damages to 5,400 agricultural workers from Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica who were harmed by prohibited pesticides when they worked on banana plantations owned by Dole in the 1970s and 1980s. The company used pesticides like Nemagon even though there was evidence in the United States that they caused injury to people. Many workers have become sterile from the poisons, others have died. Despite the settlement, Dole does not admit that the pesticides caused workers’ injuries.
Nicaragua leaves US military school
Ortega announces that Nicaragua will stop sending soldiers to the notorious US military school School of the Americas (SOA), which has now been renamed WHINSEC and is located in the state of Georgia in the United States. The school was formerly located in Panama and trained Latin American dictators and military, including torture. Ortega calls the school “a symbol of death, a symbol of terror”. In recent years, several Latin American countries have abandoned cooperation with the military school.
February
The central bank’s chairman resigns
Bank manager Antenor Rosales leaves his post in protest of President Ortega’s plans to transfer part of Nicaragua’s foreign exchange reserves to a bank to be set up by the regional cooperation organization Alba. Rosales believes that only the central bank has the right to make decisions regarding the foreign exchange reserve. Rosales was seen as important for economic stability and the situation is worrying many in business.
January
Germany withdraws aid
Germany withdraws most of its aid in protest of how the election was conducted. The US warns that Nicaragua’s loan applications to the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank, where the US has influence, will be reviewed “aggressively”. However, aid continues to flow in from Venezuela.