Haiti is the western one-third of the second largest Caribbean Island of Hispaniola, is situated 77 km southeast of Cuba and has 1530 km of coast line.
Haiti’s land mass is about the size of the U.S. state of Maryland or the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Mountainous between the Atlantic Ocean in the North and the Caribbean Sea in the South, Haiti also comprises several islands surrounding the main territory: La Gonâve, la Tortue, l’Ile-à-Vache, la Navase.
Haiti is a nation with a proud history, laying claim as only the third independent republic established after France and the United States. It is a nation whose products of timber, sugar and spice made its ports some of the busiest in the New World. It is a nation whose citizen soldiers faced down and defeated Napoleon’s army ending slavery decades before the American Civil War. It is a welcoming country full of beauty and vitality.
Haiti is also the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere where 70% of its 7 million people live on less than a dollar a day. It is a country without access to clean drinking water and where over 30% of all children born don’t make it to the age of 5 years. It is a land of instability and violence beginning the long road to recovery.
Most important of all Haiti is our neighbor. A neighbor in need.
Facts About Haiti:
Population: 9,801,664 (July 2012 est.)
Languages: Creole, French
Religion: 80% Roman Catholic, 16% Protestant, 1% none, 3% other (note: about half of the population practices voodoo)
Currency: gourde
Exchange: 39.8 gourdes per US dollar (2011 est.)
Infant mortality: 52.44 deaths/1000 live births (42 in the world)
Maternal mortality: 300 deaths/100,000 live births (44 in the world)
Life expectancy at birth: male – 61.15 years, female – 63.89 years
Health expenditures: 6% of GDP (105 in the world)
Literacy: 52.9% of population over age 15 can read and write (male – 54.8%, female – 51.2%)
Unemployment rate: 40.6% (2010 est.)
Population below poverty line: 80% (2003 est.)
Stat source: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ha.html
