Haiti Fast Facts

Official Name: Republic of Haïti
Local long form: Republique d’Haiti/Repiblik d Ayiti
Motto: L’Union Fait La Force (French, “Unity Makes Strength”).
National Bird: Hispaniolan Trogon
National Flower: Hibiscus

Population:  10,110,019 (July 2015)
Capital: Port-au-Prince (Largest city)
Area Code: 509
Currency: Gourde

Current President: Jocelerme Privert ( Until April 24th, 2016)
Prime Minister: Evans Paul

Independence: January 1st, 1804 (from France)
National Holiday: Independence Day, 1 January (1804)
National Anthem: “La Dessalinienne” (The Dessalines Song)

Nationality: Haitian
Languages: French (official), Creole (official)
Ethnicity: Black (95%) Mulatto and White (5%) notes: Haitian constitution specifies:
( All Citizens must be known as “Black” regardless of skin color)
Religion: Roman Catholic (official) 54.7%, Protestant 28.5% (Baptist 15.4%, Pentecostal 7.9%, Adventist 3%, Methodist 1.5%, other .7%), voodoo (official) 2.1%, other 4.6%, none 10.2%
note: many Haitians practice elements of voodoo in addition to another religion, most often Roman Catholicism; voodoo was recognized as an official religion in 2003

Geography: shares the island of Hispaniola with Dominican Republic (western one-third is Haiti, eastern two-thirds is the Dominican Republic)
Location:Caribbean, western one-third of the island of Hispaniola, between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, west of the Dominican Republic
Natural Resources: bauxite, copper, calcium carbonate, gold, marble, hydropower, arable land

More Facts from World Factbook

The Flag

The coat of arms features a palm tree, topped with the Phyrgian cap, a symbol of liberty, and surrounded by six Haitian flags. The tree is flanked by cannons, and between them are several objects, including a drum and bugles, and a broken chain. Across the bottom of the coat of arms is a banner that reads “L’Union Fait La Force,” which means “Unity is Strength.”

The colors of the Haitian flag  reflect Haiti’s status as a former French colony, using the red and blue from the French flag. The story behind this resemblance is that the revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the flag from the French flag, removing the white center and rotating the stripes, the blue and red left to represent Haitians, symbolically removing any remnants of white influence. The blue represented the former slaves and the red represented the mulatto population, who are people of mixed black and white ancestry.  The flag first came into use in 1806, and was made official by the national constitution on February 25, 2012.

Haiti National Anthem:

La Dessalinienne is the national anthem of Haiti, honoring Jean-Jacques Dessalines. It was written by Justin Lhérisson and composed by Nicolas Geffrard in French and adopted in 1904. Haitians who have been to school are more likely to know the first and last stanzas. The others (especially the fourth one) are rarely sung.

Haitian People:

A Haitian, or Haitian people (Kreyòl: Ayisyen) are the inhabitants or citizens of Haiti. Haiti is a multi-ethnic nation, home to people of different ethnic and national backgrounds from West Central region of Africa, Polish, Jews (during the Holocaust), French and Taino Indian influences who are native to the country of Haiti, in the west of the island of Hispaniola.

Creole and French in Haiti : Haitian Creole is the true national language of the Republic of Haiti.  In addition to seven million people in the homeland, it is spoken by about a million Haitians living abroad. All Haitians speak the language, but a small minority of about 10% of the population also speak French, which they have learned either at home or at school.  However, even Haitians who master French consider Haitian Creole, which they use for most everyday communication, as the symbol of their national identity. –read more

Republic of Haiti: National Holidays

January 1: Independence Day
January 2: Ancestors’ Day
May 1: Agriculture and Labor Day
May 18: Flag and University Day
October 17: Anniversary of the Death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines
October 24: United Nations Day
November 1: All Saints Day
November 2: All Souls Day
November 18: Battle of Vertières’ Day
December 25: Christmas Day

Legal / Religious / Traditional Holidays
(some dates vary according to the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church)

Carnival ( Kanaval)  (Monday through Ash Wednesday)
Good Friday
Pan-American Day: April 14
Ascension Thursday
Feast of the Assumption
Corpus Christi

To read about facts about Haiti, Click Here  and Here