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Population:
8,706,497
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*
Location: Caribbean Sea, on the island of Hispaniola
See a map of Haiti->
Languages: French, Creole
Religion: Christian 96%, none 1%, other 3%
Note: roughly half of the population practices voodoo
Climate: Tropical; semiarid where mountains in east cut off trade winds
About Haiti: Haiti is the poorest country in the
Western Hemisphere, with 80% of the
population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject
poverty.
Two-thirds of all Haitians depend on the agriculture sector,
mainly
small-scale subsistence farming, and remain vulnerable to
damage from
frequent natural disasters, exacerbated by the country's
widespread
deforestation. Haiti suffers from higher inflation than
similar low-income countries, a lack of investment, and a severe trade
deficit. The government relies on formal international economic
assistance for fiscal sustainability. Since 2004, about 8,000
peacekeepers from the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)
maintain civil order in Haiti, a country with
no regular military forces.
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