Country context
Guatemala is the most populated Central American country, characterized by contrasts and a cultural diversity due to its multiethnic, multicultural and multilingual population. According to 2002 census population estimates by the National Statistics Institute (INE) stated that the population was rapidly growing. In 2010, the 14,361,666 inhabitants, of which an estimated 7,003,337 (48.76 per cent) are men and 7,358,328 (51.24 per cent) are women; the majority are poor, rural, young and indigenous.
The four original cultures which exist in the national territory are manifested in the coexistence of four major cultural groups: Mayan, Garifuna, Xinca and Mestizo. Approximately 23 languages are spoken, including Spanish which is the official language.
According to the United Nations Development Programme's 2005 national human development report, Guatemala is the second most rural country in Latin America, extremely marked by the distribution of indigenous population and ladinos in the rural and urban areas; nearly 70 per cent of the indigenous populations lives in cities and towns whilst 70 per cent of the indigenous population inhabits towns, hamlets, farms and other settings. This differentiation is due to the distinct productive activities traditionally engaged in by each of the groups; agricultural production corresponds to indigenous population.
The conditions of poverty and extreme poverty, as well as the social marginalization and limited access to basic rights, in regions where indigenous populations are concentrated particularly coincide with the regions with a high incidence of child labour.
The most recent survey of national living conditions (ENCOVI), conducted in 2006, and provides a complete overview of poverty within the country. The published results indicate that 51 per cent of the population lives in poverty.
Poor people are concentrated in the rural areas, reaching 72 per cent in these regions, whilst only 28 per cent of the population in urban areas lives in poverty. Seventy five percent of indigenous people are poor, of which 1,342,701 (27.4 per cent) live in a situation of extreme poverty and 2,335,736 (47.6 per cent) people in poverty. Within the non-indigenous population, 36.5 per cent are poor, of which 7.8 per cent live in extreme poverty and 28.6 per cent in poverty.
The poverty figures indicate that 51.5 per cent of women and 48.5 per cent of men are poor. Only 30.8 per cent of the homes with female as heads of households are poor versus 42.7 per cent with male heads of household. Poverty also affects children much more dramatically. A total of 60 per cent of the population between the ages of 0 and 14 years are poor with 40 per cent living in extreme poverty and 20 per cent in poverty.