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Country profile · Central America

Honduras

Honduras is a Central American country of about 11 million people. Money sent home by Hondurans abroad is worth about 30% of its economy, one of the highest shares in the world. President Nasry Asfura took office in January 2026 after a close and disputed election. He has drawn Honduras closer to the United States.

Updated October 2026 · Data from the UN, IMF, SIPRI and IISS

Aerial view of the green, wooded western tip of Roatán island, with the houses and docks of West End along a turquoise Caribbean shore Map of Central America and the Caribbean with Honduras highlighted
West End on Roatán, Bay Islands, January 2023. Photo: Nosferattus, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (cropped)

Where Honduras ranks

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Who runs Honduras?

President Nasry Asfura was born on June 8, 1958 in Tegucigalpa, the grandson of Christian Palestinian immigrants from Bethlehem. He built a construction business and was mayor of Tegucigalpa from 2014 to 2022. He lost the 2021 election to Xiomara Castro of the left-wing Libre party, the first woman to lead Honduras. Her husband, Manuel Zelaya, was ousted as president in a 2009 coup. Asfura ran for the conservative National Party in the November 30, 2025 election. Two days before, President Trump endorsed him. After a slow count, on December 24 the electoral council declared Asfura the winner with 40.27%, against 39.53% for Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party. The margin was about 27,000 votes. Nasralla and Libre rejected the result. Asfura took office on January 27, 2026. His party has 49 of the 128 seats in Congress (chart), but most Liberal deputies vote with it. In March 2026 Congress removed the attorney general, and the head of the Supreme Court resigned. In an October 2026 poll, 44% approved of Asfura.

Nasry Asfura
Nasry Asfura
President since 2026
National Party
National Congress, elected November 2025128 seats
65 for a majority
  • National Party 49
  • Liberal Party 41
  • Libre 35
  • Others 3

Photo (February 2026): Joyce N. Boghosian, The White House, Wikimedia Commons, public domain (cropped)

Who are Honduras's allies and rivals?

The United States is Honduras's main partner. More than 500 US troops serve at Soto Cano air base, where a US task force has been based since the 1980s. President Nasry Asfura met Trump at Mar-a-Lago in February 2026. Under a 2025 agreement, the United States sends migrants from other countries to Honduras. Since July 2026 the United States has charged a 10% tariff on most Honduran goods. In March 2023 Castro's government cut ties with Taiwan and recognized China. Asfura promised to restore ties with Taiwan, but by October 2026 he had not. He put about 20 agreements signed with China under review. His foreign minister said the choice will rest on national interest, "not nostalgia." China supplied 16% of Honduras's imports in 2025 but bought less than 1% of its exports. In August 2026 Honduras signed a defense memorandum with Israel. Asfura raised the flag on Isla Conejo, an islet in the Gulf of Fonseca that El Salvador also claims.

Allies and partners

  • United StatesBiggest trade partner; more than 500 US troops at Soto Cano
  • IsraelDefense memorandum signed in August 2026
  • GuatemalaThird-largest supplier of Honduras's imports
  • NicaraguaSecond-largest export market, for goods from the maquilas

Tensions

  • ChinaRecognized since 2023; Asfura put about 20 Chinese agreements under review
  • El SalvadorBoth claim Isla Conejo in the Gulf of Fonseca
  • BelizeBoth claim the Sapodilla Cayes; ICJ hearings in March 2027
Map of Honduras with Guatemala and Nicaragua as partners, El Salvador and Belize in the tensions color and pins on Soto Cano, Isla Conejo, the Sapodilla Cayes and Roatán
  1. Soto Cano Air base with more than 500 US troops. Joint Task Force-Bravo has been based here since the 1980s.
  2. Isla Conejo Islet in the Gulf of Fonseca claimed by El Salvador. Asfura raised the Honduran flag here in July 2026.
  3. Sapodilla Cayes Islands held by Belize and claimed by Honduras and Guatemala. The ICJ holds hearings in March 2027.
  4. Roatán Home of Próspera, a private charter city. After courts struck it down, its owners sought $1.63 billion in arbitration.
  • Honduras
  • Partner
  • Tensions

Who does Honduras trade with?

Honduras exported $12.2 billion of goods in 2025 and imported $20.4 billion (Central Bank of Honduras). These figures include the maquilas, factories in tax-free zones that assemble goods for export. The United States bought 47% of exports (chart). Nicaragua came second, mostly because of trade between maquilas. Coffee was the biggest single export, worth a record $2.3 billion. Honduras is Central America's largest coffee exporter. The maquilas exported $3.2 billion of clothing and $1.5 billion of electrical goods, mainly wiring for cars. Honduras also sells palm oil, bananas, shrimp and gold. The United States supplied 32% of imports and China 16%. Since the switch to China, Taiwan has charged a 20% tariff on Honduran goods, and shrimp sales to Taiwan collapsed. The economy grew 3.8% in 2025. Inflation was 6.3% in September 2026. An IMF loan program ends in 2026, and Honduras wants a new one. In 2026, 61% of households were poor, by the national statistics office's measure.

Sells to

Share of Honduras' exports

  1. United States47.2%
  2. Nicaragua9.6%
  3. El Salvador6.7%
  4. Guatemala5.9%
  5. Germany4.1%

Buys from

Share of Honduras' imports

  1. United States31.9%
  2. China15.6%
  3. Guatemala10.5%
  4. El Salvador6.2%
  5. Mexico5.5%

Goods including the maquilas, 2025, preliminary. Central Bank of Honduras.

Why do so many Hondurans go to the United States?

About 1.2 million people born in Honduras lived in the United States in 2023, about 525,000 of them without legal status (US Census Bureau survey). Poverty and gang extortion push many to leave. Hurricane Mitch killed more than 5,000 Hondurans in 1998 and drove out many more. In 2018 a caravan of thousands of migrants set out from San Pedro Sula toward the US border. US border agents arrested 253,795 Hondurans in fiscal 2019. Encounters stayed above 200,000 a year in 2022 and 2023, then fell to 31,931 in the year to September 2025. Honduras received 42,928 people deported or returned in 2025. From January 1 to October 15, 2026 another 37,968 had been returned. The United States ended Temporary Protected Status for Hondurans in September 2025. Money sent home reached a record $12.2 billion in 2025 (central bank), about 30% of GDP, one of the highest shares in the world (chart). It grew another 11% in the first seven months of 2026.

Money sent home by migrants, share of GDP, Central America and Mexico, 2025

Full ranking →
  1. Honduras30.1%
  2. El Salvador27.5%
  3. Guatemala20.8%
  4. Belize3.7%
  5. Mexico3.6%
  6. Costa Rica0.8%

World Bank World Development Indicators, from KNOMAD and IMF balance of payments data, October 2026

How dangerous are Honduras's gangs?

In 2011 Honduras had about 86 murders per 100,000 people, the highest rate in the world. By 2025 the rate had fallen to 23.2 (InSight Crime), and it was flat in 2026. Two gangs, MS-13 and Barrio 18, run extortion rackets that target bus drivers and small shops. In December 2022 President Xiomara Castro's government suspended some civil rights in gang areas under a state of exception. In June 2023 Barrio 18 inmates killed 46 women in the Támara women's prison, and the military police took over the prisons. The state of exception ended in January 2026. In September 2026 President Nasry Asfura's security council declared MS-13, Barrio 18 and a third gang terrorist groups, and Congress passed a harsher prison regime. In 2024 a New York jury convicted Juan Orlando Hernández, president from 2014 to 2022, of conspiring to traffic cocaine, and he was sentenced to 45 years. Trump pardoned him in December 2025, and he returned to Honduras in July 2026.

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