note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2001 est.)
Currency:
gourde (HTG)
Languages:
French (official), Creole (official)
Elevation:
highest point: Chaine de la Selle 2,680 m
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
Natural hazards:
lies in the middle of the hurricane belt and subject to severe storms from June to October; occasional flooding and earthquakes; periodic droughts
Climate:
tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds
About 80% of the population lives in abject poverty. Nearly 70% of all Haitians depend on the agriculture sector, which consists mainly of small-scale subsistence farming and employs about two-thirds of the economically active work force. The country has experienced little job creation since the former President PREVAL took office in February 1996, although the informal economy is growing. Following legislative elections in May 2000, fraught with irregularities, international donors - including the US and EU - suspended almost all aid to Haiti. This destabilized the Haitian currency, the gourde, and, combined with a 40% fuel price hike in September, caused widespread price increases. Prices appear to have leveled off in January 2001.
Industry:
sugar refining, flour milling, textiles, cement, tourism, light assembly industries based on imported parts
Ethnicgroups:
black 95%, mulatto and white 5%
Yellow fever:
A yellow fever vaccination certificate is required from travellers coming from
Malaria:
Malaria risk—exclusively due to P. falciparum—exists throughout the year in certain forest areas in Chantal, Gros Morne, Hinche, Jacmel and Maissade. In the other cantons, risk is estimated to be low. No P. falciparum resistance to chloroquine reported.
