ABSTRACT
Honduras is a small, developing Central American nation whose population grew from 1.1 million in 1940 to an estimated 3.8 million in 1982. Like many other Latin American nations, Honduras has faced trade deficits since the late 1970s due to the increasing costs of imported machinery, consumer goods, and petroleum products at a time when prices for primary agricultural and mineral products have not risen as fast. This chapter discusses the progress and some of the difficulties faced by Honduras in improving three particularly critical services in rural areas: primary education, health care, and potable water supply. The average rural public primary school in 1976 had 67.5 pupils who normally attended a two-room school made of cement blocks located in a village, hamlet, or conglomeration of a few buildings/homes inhabited by a small group of families. The average number of teachers per school was 1.7, which means that many rural schools had only one teacher for all six grades.
