Country · Americas
Nicaragua
Republic of Nicaragua
Nicaragua is a country in Central America. About 6.5 million people live there, in an area of 130 373 square kilometres. Its capital city is Managua.
Picture credit: Viktor Pinchuk / Виктор Пинчук (CC BY-SA 4.0) · SORIANONEARTH (CC BY-SA 3.0) · randreu (CC BY 3.0) · randreu (CC BY 3.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is Nicaragua?
Nicaragua lies in Central America, on the continent of Americas.
It sits in the northern half of the world, roughly 1 447 km from the equator.
Its coastline is about 910 km long.
It shares a border with 2 countries: Costa Rica and Honduras.
How big is Nicaragua?
Nicaragua covers 130 373 square kilometres.
That is about 3.2 times the size of Switzerland.
Among the world's countries that makes it the 96th largest.
If everybody spread out evenly, there would be about 49.6 people on every square kilometre.
That is close to the world average of roughly 60 people per square kilometre.
Who lives in Nicaragua?
About 6.5 million people live in Nicaragua.
That is the 108th biggest population in the world.
People here speak Spanish.
They pay with the Nicaraguan córdoba (C$).
On average, people born here can expect to live about 69 years.
The land of Nicaragua
The land of Nicaragua sits on average 298 metres above sea level.
Its coast runs for about 910 km. Walking it end to end, at twenty kilometres a day, would take roughly 46 days.
It lies inside the tropics, which is the single biggest reason its weather is the way it is.
What makes Nicaragua different?
A dish the country is known for: Gallo pinto.
Websites from here often end in .ni.
Nicaragua and the rest of the world
Out of every thousand people alive on Earth, about one lives in Nicaragua.
It takes up about 0.1 % of all the land that countries stand on.
Within Americas the country ranks 16th of 35 by size, and 18th by population.
Nicaragua and its neighbours
Nicaragua is about 1.2 times the size of Honduras, its largest neighbour.
Honduras has more people: 9.6 million against 6.5 million.
Nature and animals
Of the animals on this site, 6 live wild in Nicaragua: Brown-throated sloth, Red-eyed tree frog, Virginia opossum, Coyote, Black-handed spider monkey and Bull shark. The highest mountain in the country is Mogotón, at 2 085 metres. The longest river in the country is the Río Coco. The largest lake in the country is Lake Nicaragua.
Photographs from Wikimedia Commons under free licences — every credit is on the page itself and in the picture credits.
How big is Nicaragua compared with the United States?
- The United States is about 72 times as big as Nicaragua: 9 372 610 km² against 130 373 km².
- The United Kingdom is about 1.9 times as big as Nicaragua: 242 900 km² against 130 373 km².
Questions children ask
What is the capital of Nicaragua?
The capital of Nicaragua is Managua. It is the city where the country's government works from.
How many people live in Nicaragua?
About 6.5 million people live in Nicaragua, which makes it the 108th most populated country in the world. (Source: World Bank, 2018.)
Which countries border Nicaragua?
Nicaragua borders Costa Rica and Honduras — 2 neighbours in total.
How big is Nicaragua?
Nicaragua covers 130 373 square kilometres, making it the 96th largest country in the world. That is about 3.2 times the size of Switzerland.
What is the highest mountain in Nicaragua?
The highest mountain in Nicaragua is Mogotón, 2 085 metres above sea level. It is the country's highest point.
What is the longest river in Nicaragua?
The longest river in Nicaragua is the Río Coco, about 841 kilometres long.
What is the largest lake in Nicaragua?
The largest lake in Nicaragua is Lake Nicaragua. It covers about 8 264 km².
Which continent is Nicaragua in?
Nicaragua is in Americas, in the part called Central America.
Where these numbers come from
Borders and outlines: Natural Earth. Names, capitals, areas, languages and currencies: ISO 3166 data (world-countries). Population: World Bank, 2018. Every derived figure on this page (ranks, density, distance from the equator) is calculated from those values.
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