Click here for some info on Tropical Storm Emily and Haiti happening now- Aug 2011
For more info on earthquake facts, see links on side bar, or
click here for more info on the Haiti Earthquake 2010
Click here for more info on the Forest Fires in March 2011
Haiti Info
For more info on earthquake facts, see links on side bar, or
click here for more info on the Haiti Earthquake 2010
Click here for more info on the Forest Fires in March 2011
Haiti Info
Population: 9,719,932
Languages: French (official), Creole (official)
Religions: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3% (note: roughly half of the population practices voodoo)
Holidays: Independence Day, 1 January (1804)
Location: Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic
Size: 27,750 sq km – approximately the size of Hawaii
Climate: tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds
Terrain: mostly rough and mountainous
Environment: extensive deforestation (much of the remaining forested land is being cleared for agriculture and used as fuel); soil erosion; inadequate supplies of potable water
Economy: GDP per capita - $1,200 à agriculture: 25%; industry: 16%; services: 59% (2010 est.); Unemployment rate - 40.6% (2010 est.)
Exchange rate - gourdes (HTG) per US dollar -40.15 (2010)
Even before the 2010 earthquake, Haiti was already the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty. Poverty, corruption, and poor access to education for much of the population hinder Haiti’s economy. Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agricultural sector, mainly small-scale subsistence farming (eg. coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, corn, sorghum; wood). Main industries include: textiles, sugar refining, flour milling, cement, and light assembly based on imported parts.
Haiti received debt forgiveness for over $1 billion through the Highly-Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative in mid-2009. The remainder of its outstanding external debt was cancelled by donor countries in early 2010 but has since risen to about $400 million. The government relies on formal international economic assistance for fiscal sustainability, with over half of its annual budget coming from outside sources.
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Interested in what we will be doing in Haiti? Subscribe or Follow by email! Links located just under this post :-)
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