Belmopan serves as the capital city for Belize, a Caribbean nation found on Central America’s northeastern coast.

Nicknames for Belmopan include “The Garden City” and “City of Promise”.

Belmopan has the smallest population of any capital city in North, South or Central America.

In 1961, deadly tropical cyclone Hurricane Hattie virtually destroyed the Central American country’s former capital Belize City situated on Central America’s eastern coast. In the storm’s aftermath, the more inland-protected and higher elevated Belmopan became Belize’s capital city.

Research website numbeo lacks sufficient data to rank Belize’s capital on its comprehensive global quality of life rating which benchmarks 250 cities worldwide. Numbeo does evaluate Belmopan on several individual factors. For instance, Belmopan’s health care rating is the off-the-charts worst, its safety score ranks in the bottom 24% while its climate scores in the bottom 28% partly due to tropical storms. On the positive side, Belmopan did relatively well for pollution (cleanest 45%) and is a leader for fastest traffic commute time.

Once called the British Honduras, the Caribbean nation of Belize was recognized by the Guinness World Records for its Belize Barrier Reserve. That reef system measures 371.8 square miles (963 square kilometers) and is the biggest in the northern hemisphere.

Belize was also awarded a Guinness World Record for consuming an average 138 pounds (62.6 kilograms) of sugar per capita, the greatest per-person sugar consumption anywhere.

From an international trade perspective, Belize exported an estimated US$244.9 million worth of goods around the globe in 2019. Its most valuable exports include sugar (27.8% of Belize’s global total), bananas including plantains (15.8%), fruit juices (10.2%), lobsters, shrimps and crabs (6.8%), refined petroleum oils (4.7%), crude oil (4.1%), dried leguminous vegetables (3.8%), molluscs (3.2%), cigarettes (2.2%), molasses (2.1%), and bran (1.5%) according to the International Trade Centre.

Capital Facts for Belmopan, Belize: Quick Reference

 

Belize won its independence from the United Kingdom on September 21, 1981. Fittingly named Independence Day, Belizeans celebrate each September 21 as a national holiday.

Belmopan’s land area measures 12.66 square miles (32.78 square kilometers), home to an estimated population of 13,381 people in 2020.

At the country level, Belize’s land area covers 8,807 square miles (22,810 square kilometers). The nation’s population count was 398,602 Belizeans at August 17, 2020.

Population density is more concentrated within Belize’s capital city Belmopan, averaging 1,057 residents per square mile (408 per square kilometer).

Zooming out to Belize’s land boundaries, population density dilutes to an average 45 people per square mile (17 per square kilometer).