Is Honduras Developing Economically?

Like many other countries, Honduras is considered a developing country,

but what does it mean? Well, in terms of economics, some of the characteristics
of a developing country are low national income, low per capita income, high
death rate, and others. So, we can see that really, developing countries are just
poor countries where most of the people do not have good standard of living.
But has this been changing in recent years? Are things getting any better in
Honduras? To answer this question, we have to look at whether Honduras has
been experiencing economic growth and if so, has there been any economic
development.
First, let´s look at whether there has been economic growth in Honduras.
Economic growth is defined as the increase in the monetary value of all the
goods and services produced in a country over given period. Economic growth
can be measured by looking at the changes in a country´s GDP. If we look at
graph 1, we can see that in most years in the past decade, the GDP of Honduras
has been increasing. The only exception was in 2020 when like most countries,
the GDP of Honduras experienced a decrease because of the COVID pandemic.
But this graph shows that in most of the past years Honduras has been
presenting economic growth.
So, we know that the economy of Honduras has grown in the past ten
years. But has this growth lead to economic development? For a country to have
economic development there has to be economic and social changes in the
country that lead to benefits for the citizens. These changes include reduction in
poverty and unemployment, reduction in income and wealth inequality, improve
in health services, and so on.
Let´s look at what has been happening in Honduras. First, we´ll consider
unemployment. Graph 2 tells us that over the past ten years, the level of
unemployment has been decreasing in some years like 2017 and 2021 but in the
majority cases the level of unemployment has been increasing especially after
the pandemic. This would suggest that economic growth has not resulted in
more job opportunities for Honduran citizens.
Next, we will look at another factor of economic development, poverty.
Graph 3 shows that although there have been some decrease and recession on
the level of poverty in Honduras, poverty and extreme poverty has increased
significatively in years like 2012,2017, 2020 and has grown since then. This means
that economic growth hasn´t led to reduce poverty in the country.
Now, let´s look at how distribution of income has been in Honduras.
Graph 4 tells us that in 2005-2009 the richest part of the country tended to get a
lower income and the poor part´s income increase by a minimum. During the
next years the wealth get back to the richest 20 percent and declined in the
counterparty. Even though in some years the level of wealth inequality has
varied, it is clear that there is an abysmal difference in how income is being given
to rich and poor people. Economic growth has not made a great difference in
wealth inequality.
Now, let´s look at the death rate that it´s another factor of economic
development. Graph 5 shows there has been a decrease on deaths until 2016
when due to different reasons like the pandemic, the inefficient health system
and the constantly violence increasing mortality has escalate at an exponential
level. Again, economic growth has not contributed in improving the standard of
living in Honduras.
In conclusion, I think Honduras has experienced economic growth but no
economic development. Even though GDP has increased it hasn´t been used to
benefit the country. This may be because many of the politicians that are in
power haven´t taken right decisions instead they are more interested in
accumulate personal wealth.
Graph 5:Death Rate

https://tradingeconomics.com/honduras/death-rate-crude-per-1-000-people-wb-data.html