The Pacific coast of Nicaragua was settled as a Spanish colony from Panama in the early 16th century.

Independence from Spain was declared in 1821 and the country became an independent republic in 1838.

Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region in subsequent decades.

Violent opposition to governmental manipulation and corruption spread to all classes by 1978 and resulted in a short-lived civil war that brought the Marxist Sandinista guerrillas to power in 1979.

Nicaraguan aid to leftist rebels in El Salvador caused the US to sponsor anti-Sandinista contra guerrillas through much of the 1980s.

Free elections in 1990, 1996, and 2001, saw the Sandinistas defeated, but voting in 2006 announced the return of former Sandinista President Daniel Ortega Saavedra.

Nicaragua's infrastructure and economy - hard hit by the earlier civil war and by Hurricane Mitch in 1998 - are slowly being rebuilt.

Source: CIA World Fact Book

Population: 5,675,356 (July 2007 est.)

---

Age structure: 0-14 years: 35.5% (male 1,025,426/female 988,148) 15-64 years: 61.3% (male 1,734,153/female 1,746,574) 65 years and over: 3.2% (male 79,589/female 101,466) (2007 est.)

---

Median age: total: 21.3 years male: 20.9 years female: 21.7 years (2007 est.)

---

Population growth rate: 1.855% (2007 est.)

---

Birth rate: 24.12 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Death rate: 4.42 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Net migration rate: -1.15 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)

---

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.038 male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.993 male(s)/female 65 years and over: 0.784 male(s)/female total population: 1.001 male(s)/female (2007 est.)

---

Infant mortality rate: total: 27.14 deaths/1,000 live births male: 30.45 deaths/1,000 live births female: 23.67 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)

---

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 70.92 years male: 68.82 years female: 73.13 years (2007 est.)

---

Total fertility rate: 2.69 children born/woman (2007 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.2% (2003 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 6,400 (2003 est.)

---

HIV/AIDS - deaths: less than 500 (2003 est.)

---

Nationality: noun: Nicaraguan(s) adjective: Nicaraguan

---

Ethnic groups: mestizo (mixed Amerindian and white) 69%, white 17%, black 9%, Amerindian 5%

---

Religions: Roman Catholic 72.9%, Evangelical 15.1%, Moravian 1.5%, Episcopal 0.1%, other 1.9%, none 8.5% (1995 census)

---

Languages: Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census) note: English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast

---

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write total population: 67.5% male: 67.2% female: 67.8% (2003 est.)

Nicaragua has widespread underemployment and the third lowest per capita income in the Western Hemisphere. Distribution of income is one of the most unequal on the globe. While the country has progressed toward macroeconomic stability in the past few years, GDP annual growth has been far too low to meet the country's needs, forcing the country to rely on international economic assistance to meet fiscal and debt financing obligations. Nicaragua qualified in early 2004 for some $4.5 billion in foreign debt reduction under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative and in November 2006 obtained over $800 million in debt relief from the Inter-American Development Bank. In October 2005, Nicaragua ratified the US-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which will provide an opportunity for Nicaragua to attract investment, create jobs, and deepen economic development. Energy shortages, however, are a serious bottleneck to growth.

---

GDP (purchasing power parity): $17.09 billion (2006 est.)

---

GDP (official exchange rate): $4.871 billion (2006 est.)

---

GDP - real growth rate: 3.7% (2006 est.) GDP - per capita (PPP): $3,100 (2006 est.)

---

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 17.3% industry: 25.8% services: 56.8% (2006 est.)

---

Labor force: 2.261 million (2006 est.)

---

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture: 29% industry: 19% services: 52% (2006 est.)

---

Unemployment rate: 3.8% plus underemployment of 46.5% (2006 est.)

---

Population below poverty line: 48% (2005)

---

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 1.2% highest 10%: 45% (2001)

---

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 55.1 (2001)

---

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9.4% (2006 est.)

---

Investment (gross fixed): 29.8% of GDP (2006 est.)

---

Budget: revenues: $1.1 billion expenditures: $1.3 billion; including capital expenditures of $NA (2006 est.)

---

Public debt: 82.7% of GDP (2006 est.)

---

Agriculture - products: coffee, bananas, sugarcane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, sesame, soya, beans; beef, veal, pork, poultry, dairy products; shrimp, lobsters

---

Industries: food processing, chemicals, machinery and metal products, textiles, clothing, petroleum refining and distribution, beverages, footwear, wood

---

Industrial production growth rate: 2.4% (2005 est.)

---

Electricity - production: 2.778 billion kWh (2006)

---

Electricity - consumption: 2.929 billion kWh (2006)

---

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2006)

---

Electricity - imports: 69.34 million kWh (2006)

---

Oil - production: 14,300 bbl/day (2005 est.)

---

Oil - consumption: 25,200 bbl/day (2005 est.)

---

Oil - exports: 1,397 bbl/day (2004)

---

Oil - imports: 15,560 bbl/day (2005 est.)

---

Oil - proved reserves: 0 bbl

---

Natural gas - production: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

---

Natural gas - consumption: 0 cu m (2004 est.)

---

Current account balance: -$883 million (2006 est.)

---

Exports: $1.714 billion f.o.b.; note - includes free trade zones (2006 est.)

---

Exports - commodities: coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, tobacco, sugar, gold, peanuts

---

Exports - partners: US 65.9%, El Salvador 7%, Honduras 3.8% (2006)

---

Imports: $3.202 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.)

---

Imports - commodities: consumer goods, machinery and equipment, raw materials, petroleum products

---

Imports - partners: US 22.5%, Venezuela 10.5%, Costa Rica 7.7%, Mexico 7.2%, Guatemala 6.1%, China 4.8%, El Salvador 4.4% (2006)

---

Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: $903.5 million (January 2007 est.)

---

Debt - external: $3.763 billion (2006 est.)

---

Economic aid - recipient: $471 million (2006 est.)

---

Currency (code): gold cordoba (NIO)

---

Exchange rates: gold cordobas per US dollar - 17.582 (2006), 16.733 (2005), 15.937 (2004), 15.105 (2003), 14.251 (2002)

---

Fiscal year: calendar year