According
to the World Bank,
½ the
world’s population (3 billion) live on less than $2.00/day
and
¼ of the
world’s population live on less than $1.00/day. In
Guatemala,
½ the
population lives in poverty and, of those, 80% live in chronic
poverty and 20% live in transient poverty. A startling 76% of the
indigenous live in poverty and a majority live in remote areas of
the country. Clearly, these statistics are staggering; they
represent men, women and children who suffer hunger, malnutrition,
illiteracy, preventable health maladies, and vulnerability with
food, clothing and shelter.
What
does poverty look like in Guatemala? Here are sobering statistics:
81% earn less than $2.00/day, 62% earn less than $1.00/day, 80%
cook on the ground or use a wood burning stove, 52% live in a one
room house, 61% have no schooling and 90% never finished the
6th
grade.
Furthermore, the educational statistics are even more alarming,
according to the 2004 World Bank Report, Education and Poverty in
Guatemala: 31.3% of the population 15 years and older are
illiterate, 51.5% of indigenous women are illiterate, and 32.7% of
indigenous men are illiterate. Guatemala has the highest female
illiteracy in Latin America and only 42% of the 5.4 million people
are enrolled in age-appropriate education.
OVERVIEW
Nationality:
Guatemalan(s)
Population
(2006
est.): 12.3 million
Annual
population growth rate (2006):
2.27%
Ethnic
groups: Mestizo
(mixed Spanish-Indian), indigenous
Religions:
Roman
Catholic, Protestant, traditional Mayan
Languages:
Spanish,
24 indigenous languages (incl: Kiche, Kaqchikel, Q'eqchi, and
Mam)
Education:
Years
compulsory --6. Attendance --41%. Literacy--
70.6%
Health:
Infant mortality rate-- 36.9/1,000. Life expectancy --65.19
yrs
Work
force salaried breakdown: Services
--40%; industry and commerce --37%; agriculture --15%;
construction, mining, utilities --4%. Fifty percent of the
population engages in some form of agriculture, often at the
subsistence level outside the monetized economy.
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