Roman Catholic 58.5%, Evangelical 21.6%, Moravian 1.6%, Jehovah's Witness 0.9%, other 1.7%, none 15.7% (2005 census)
mainland - Christian 30%, Muslim 35%, indigenous beliefs 35%; Zanzibar - more than 99% Muslim
Languages
Spanish 97.5% (official), Miskito 1.7%, other 0.8% (1995 census) note: English and indigenous languages on Atlantic coast
Kiswahili or Swahili (official), Kiunguja (name for Swahili in Zanzibar), English (official, primary language of commerce, administration, and higher education), Arabic (widely spoken in Zanzibar), many local languages note: Kiswahili (Swahili) is the mother tongue of the Bantu people living in Zanzibar and nearby coastal Tanzania; although Kiswahili is Bantu in structure and origin, its vocabulary draws on a variety of sources including Arabic and English; it has become the lingua franca of central and eastern Africa; the first language of most people is one of the local languages
Exports
coffee, beef, shrimp and lobster, tobacco, sugar, gold, peanuts
External Debt
$4,073,000,000 $
Exchange Rate
gold cordobas (NIO) per US dollar - 19.374 (2008 est.), 18.457 (2007), 17.582 (2006), 16.733 (2005), 15.937 (2004)
Military Budget as percentage of GDP
0.600%
Beijing Olympics Medal Count
Location
Central America, bordering both the Caribbean Sea and the North Pacific Ocean, between Costa Rica and Honduras
Eastern Africa, bordering the Indian Ocean, between Kenya and Mozambique
Area
130,370 km sq
947,300 km sq
Coastline
910 km
1,424 km
Climate
tropical in lowlands, cooler in highlands
varies from tropical along coast to temperate in highlands
