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Belize

OFFICIAL NAME: Belize

DATE OF FORMATION: 1981

POPULATION: 261,000

DENSITY: 30 people per square mile

LANGUAGES: English Creole, Spanish, English, Mayan, Garifuna (Carib)

RELIGIONS: Roman Catholic 62%, Other 13%, Anglican 12%, Methodist 6%, Mennonite 4%, Seventh-day Adventist 3%

ETHNIC MIX: Mestizo 44%, Creole 30%, Maya 11%, Garifuna 7%, Other 4%, Asian Indian 4%

GOVERNMENT: Multiparty elections

CURRENCY: Belizean dollar

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Formerly British Honduras, Belize was the last Central American country to gain its independence, in 1981. It lies on the southeastern shore of the Yucatán peninsula and shares a border with Mexico along the River Hondo. Belize is Central America's least populous country, and almost half of its land area is still forested. Its swampy coastal plains are protected from flooding by the world's second-largest barrier reef.