Departments of Honduras

Honduras is divided into 18 departments (departamentos). Each department is headed by a governor, who is appointed by the President of Honduras. The governor represents the executive branch in the region in addition to acting as intermediary between municipalities and various national authorities; resolves issues arising between municipalities; oversees the penitentiaries and prisons in his department; and regularly works with the various Secretaries of State that form the President's Cabinet. To be eligible for appointment as governor, the individual must a) live for five consecutive years in the department; b) be Honduran; c) be older than 18 years of age and; d) know to read and write.

Evolution of Honduras's territorial organization

1825: The constitutional congress convened in that year orders that the state be divided into seven departments: Comayagua, Santa Bárbara, Tegucigalpa, Choluteca, Yoro, Olancho, and Gracias (later renamed Lempira).

1834: An extraordinary constitutional assembly reduces the number of departments to four: this attempt fails to prosper, and the 1825 division remains in force.

1869: Congress orders the creation of the departments of La Paz (broken away from Comayagua), El Paraíso (from Tegucigalpa and Olancho), Copán (from Gracias), and La Mosquitia (from Yoro).

1872: A department called Victoria is ordered to be split from Choluteca, but this never comes into effect. Islas de la Bahía department is founded (the islands were ceded to Honduras by the United Kingdom in 1860).

1881: Parts of Yoro and La Mosquitia are separated to form Colón department.

1883: Intibucá department is formed from sections of La Paz and Gracias.

1893: Valle department (split from Choluteca) and Cortés department (split from Santa Bárbara) are created.

1902: Parts of Yoro and Colón are taken to form the new department of Atlántida.

1906: Ocotepeque department is created by dividing the territory of Copán.

1957: Colón is divided in two to create Gracias a Dios department.

Departments of Honduras

	Department	Department Capital	Population (2001 census)	Population (2013 census)	Population Change (%)	Area (km2)
1.	Atlántida	La Ceiba	344,099	436,252	18.44%	4,372
2.	Choluteca	Choluteca	390,805	437,618	17.48%	4,360
3.	Colón	Trujillo	246,708	309,926	18.98%	8,249
4.	Comayagua	Comayagua	352,881	493,466	25.33%	5,124
5.	Copán	Santa Rosa de Copán	288,766	371,057	25.44%	3,242
6.	Cortés	San Pedro Sula	1,202,510	1,562,394	30.58%	3,923
7.	El Paraíso	Yuscarán	350,054	455,507	22.05%	7,489
8.	Francisco Morazán	Tegucigalpa	1,180,676	1,508,906	21.44%	8,619
9.	Gracias a Dios	Puerto Lempira	67,384	90,765	31.06%	16,997
10.	Intibucá	La Esperanza	179,862	232,553	29.27%	3,123
11.	Islas de la Bahía	Roatán	38,073	62,557	29.12%	236
12.	La Paz	La Paz	156,560	198,926	25.40%	2,331
13.	Lempira	Gracias	250,067	321,179	26.19%	4,234
14.	Ocotepeque	Nueva Ocotepeque	108,029	146,030	22.61%	1,630
15.	Olancho	Juticalpa	419,561	520,761	21.45%	24,057
16.	Santa Bárbara	Santa Bárbara	342,054	421,337	17.63%	5,024
17.	Valle	Nacaome	151,841	174,511	13.02%	1,665
18.	Yoro	Yoro	465,414	570,595	18.63%	7,781
Total	-	-	6,535,344	8,303,771	27.06%	112,457

Population data source: http://www.geohive.com/cntry/honduras.aspx

See also

• Municipalities of Honduras
• List of Honduras-related topics
• ISO 3166-2:HN

External links

• Statoids: Departments of Honduras