Population

At the end of 2008, Honduras had a population of roughly 7 million and an annual population growth rate of 2.5 percent. The Roman Catholic Church is dominant, although Protestant churches have become more popular in recent years. Spanish is the national language, although indigenous languages are still spoken in isolated areas along the northern coast and in the heavily forested highlands, where groups of Lenca, Miskito, Pech, Chorti, and Garifuna peoples maintain a degree of cultural autonomy.