Buy data    Donate

Updates: 

The results of the 2000 census of Belize have been released.

Country overview: 

Short name	BELIZE
ISO code	BZ
FIPS code	BH
Language	English (en)
Time zone	-6
Capital	Belmopan

 

Belize started the 20th century as a British colony, under the name of British Honduras (although the region had long been known as Belize). It achieved full independence on 1981-09-21. Guatemala has asserted a claim to its territory through most of the century.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Belize
2. Dutch: Belize, Belize (formal)
3. English: British Honduras (obsolete)
4. Finnish: Belize
5. French: Belize m, Honduras m britannique (obsolete)
6. German: Belize n, Britisch-Honduras n (obsolete)
7. Icelandic: Belís
8. Italian: Belize m, Honduras m britannico (obsolete)
9. Norwegian: Belize
10. Portuguese: Belize, Honduras f Britânicas (obsolete)
11. Russian: Белиз
12. Spanish: Belice m, Honduras f Británica (obsolete)
13. Swedish: Belize
14. Turkish: Belize

Origin of name: 

Named for Peter Wallace, Scottish buccaneer, Hispanicized as Belice

Primary subdivisions: 

Belize is divided into six districts.

District	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	Capital
Belize	BZ.BZ	BZ	BH01	68,197	4,204	1,623	Belize City
Cayo	BZ.CY	CY	BH02	52,564	5,338	2,061	Belmopan
Corozal	BZ.CZ	CZL	BH03	32,708	1,860	718	Corozal
Orange Walk	BZ.OW	OW	BH04	38,890	4,737	1,829	Orange Walk
Stann Creek	BZ.SC	SC	BH05	24,548	2,176	840	Dangriga
Toledo	BZ.TO	TOL	BH06	23,297	4,649	1,795	Punta Gorda
6 districts				240,204	22,964	8,866
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: District codes from ISO 3166-2. For full identification in a global context, prefix "BZ-" to the code (ex: BZ-CZL represents Corozal). FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4, a U.S. government standard. Population: 2000-05-12 census (source [2]).

Further subdivisions:

See the Subdivisions of Belize page.

Territorial extent: 

Includes barrier islands and reefs from Ambergris Cay at the north to Sapodilla Cays at the south, and as far east as Lighthouse Reef (Half Moon Cay).

The UN LOCODE page  for Belize lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Change history: 

1. ~1955: Northern district split into Corozal and Orange Walk districts.
2. ~1960: An area of 854 sq. km. was transferred from Toledo to Cayo.
3. 1970-08-03: National capital moved to Belmopan from Belize City.
4. 1973-06-01: Country name changed from British Honduras to Belize.
5. ~1990: Capital of Cayo district moved from San Ignacio to Belmopan.

Population history:

District	1921	1946-04-09	1960-04-07	1970-04-07	1980-05-12	1991-05-12	2000-05-12
Belize	17,398	26,781	40,084	49,661	50,801	57,130	68,197
Cayo	5,464	7,370	11,764	16,034	22,337	37,693	52,564
Corozal	6,756	6,773	9,730	15,504	22,902	28,464	32,708
Orange Walk	5,607	5,520	10,306	16,666	22,870	30,681	38,890
Stann Creek	4,830	6,373	10,906	13,044	14,181	18,085	24,548
Toledo	5,242	6,403	7,715	8,954	11,762	17,439	23,297
Totals	45,297	59,220	90,505	119,863	144,853	189,492	240,204

Sources: 

1. [1] Library of Congress country study  (retrieved 1999).
2. [2] Sources for census data: Belize Central Statistical Office (http://www.cso.gov.bz/, dead link, retrieved 2001-04-26) (1991, 2000); The Statesman's Yearbook (1970, 1980); Encyclopædia Britannica World Atlas, 1964 edition (1960); 1957 edition (1946).
3. [3] Abstract of Statistics, Belize . Belmopan, 2012 (retrieved 2013-07-24) has 1921 census data. It also has separate figures for the 1946 populations of Corozal and Orange Creek, presumably proleptic.
4. [4] Census 2010 Provisional Population  on the Statistical Institute of Belize website (retrieved 2013-07-24).