Haiti | Facts & Information

Updated September 9, 2022 | Infoplease Staff
Infoplease has everything you need to know about Haiti. Check out our country profile, full of essential information about Haiti's geography, history, government, economy, population, culture, religion and languages. If that's not enough, click over to our collection of world maps and flags.

Facts & Figures

  • President (Interim Head of State): Evans Paul (2016)

    Prime Minister: Evans Paul (2015)

    Land area: 10,641 sq mi (27,560 sq km); total area: 10,714 sq mi (27,750 sq km)

    Population (2014 est.): 9,996,731 (growth rate: 1.08%); birth rate: 22.83/1000; infant mortality rate: 49.43/1000; life expectancy: 63.18

    Capital and largest city (2011 est.): Port-au-Prince, 2.207 million

    Monetary unit: Gourde

    National name: République d'Haïti

    Current government officials

    Languages: Creole and French (both official)

    Ethnicity/race: black 95%, mulatto and white 5%

    Religions: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), other 3%, none 1%. Note: roughly half the population practices voodoo

    National Holiday: Independence Day, January 1

    Literacy rate: 48.7% (2006 est.)

    Economic summary: GDP/PPP (2013 est.): $13.42 billion; per capita $1,300. Real growth rate: 3.4%. Inflation: 6.3% (2013). Unemployment: 40.6% (2010 est.). Arable land: 36.04%. Agriculture: coffee, mangoes, sugarcane, rice, corn, sorghum; wood. Labor force: 4.81 million; note: shortage of skilled labor, unskilled labor abundant (2010); agriculture 38.1%, services 50.4%, industry 11.5%. Industries: sugar refining, flour milling, textiles, cement, light assembly industries based on imported parts. Natural resources: bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower. Exports: $876.8 million (2013 est.): manufactures, coffee, oils, cocoa, mangoes. Imports: $2.697 billion (2013 est.): food, manufactured goods, machinery and transport equipment, fuels, raw materials. Major trading partners: U.S., Dominican Republic, Netherlands Antilles, China (2012).

    Communications: Telephones: main lines in use: 50,000 (2012); mobile cellular: 6.095 million (2012). Broadcast media: several TV stations, including 1 government-owned; cable TV subscription service available; government-owned radio network; more than 250 private and community radio stations with about 50 FM stations in Port-au-Prince alone (2007). Internet hosts: 555 (2012). Internet users: 1 million (2009).

    Transportation: Railways: n.a. Highways: 4,266 km (2009) Waterways: n.a. Ports and harbors: Cap-Haitien, Gonaives, Jacmel, Port-au-Prince. Airports: 14 (2013).

    International disputes: since 2004, about 8,000 peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) maintain civil order in Haiti; despite efforts to control illegal migration, Haitians fleeing economic privation and civil unrest continue to cross into Dominican Republic and to sail to neighboring countries; Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island.

    Major sources and definitions

See also: