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 millionAnnual population growth rate (2006): 2.27%Ethnic groups: Mestizo (mixed Spanish-Indian), indigenousReligions: Roman Catholic, Protestant, traditional MayanLanguages: 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 yrsWork 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.