Nicaragua

Nicaragua, a country of 50,377 square miles, is bordered by Honduras to the north, Costa Rica to the south, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and the Caribbean Sea to the east. It was discovered and conquered by Christopher Columbus in 1502. It gained independence in 1838, but Nicaragua inherited a legacy of colonialism, hence creating inequalities based on class, gender, and race. Throughout history, Nicaragua has experienced several uprisings and lengthy civil wars, the most recent from 1961–90 known as the Revolución Sandinista.

Nicaragua's most pressing current challenge is to overcome poverty and inequality, which disproportionately affect women and children. Nicaragua is the third poorest country in the Americas; over 50 percent of the total population (approximately 2.9 million individuals) are under 19 years of age. Approximately four out of 10 children and adolescents do not attend school due to lack of family and state resources. The health care conditions for mothers in Nicaragua have improved in recent years, but are still low by international standards. Women also lag in other areas: they earn about a third of what men do, and have limited representation in government. Save the Children ranked the female to male ratio of earned income at a low .32.

In addition, the Nicaraguan Civil War had a severe effect on mothers, both by reducing resources available for health care and social support systems and because of violence perpetrated by the military regime. The organization Nicaraguan Mothers of the Disappeared seeks to discover the location or fate of children secretly arrested and detained.

The country's total fertility rate is 3.7 and the annual growth rate is 2.7 percent. Maternal mortality [Page 919]is 230 per 100,000 live births, and neonatal mortality is 18 per 1,000 live births. Abortion is not legal under any circumstances, including therapeutic abortion; 66 percent of women report using modern conception. Adolescent births account for one in four births nationally, and approximately 85 percent of all Nicaraguan mothers are single mothers. Save the Children ranks Nicaragua 48th on the Mothers' Index, 50th on the Women's Index, and 42nd on the Children's Index out of 66 Tier II or less developed countries.