Social issues in Guatemala
Poverty reduction in Guatemala remains as one of the key challenges to be dealt with before a more balanced and socially inclusive economic growth could be achieved.
Poverty
According to figures in 2006, 6.6 million people are still living under poverty and a third of this figure, or 2 million people, are struggling with extreme poverty.[1]
Moreover, despite a fall in extreme poverty during the 1990s,
Notwithstanding a recent fall in the
Poverty and income inequality
Ranked with the second highest inequality rate in Latin America, (Gini coefficient of 0.55),[3] many disparities exist between different economic sectors and income groups, reflecting a large rich-poor divide in Guatemala. Further data has shown that only 3.8 percent of the country's total income is earned by the poorest 20 percent of the population, compared with the 60.6 percent earned by the richest 20 percent of the population [4]
Furthermore,
Inequality and Agriculture
Agriculture is one of the primary sectors in Guatemala (22.2 percent of GDP), producing principal cash crops such as coffee, sugars and bananas.[5] Together with other non-agricultural products, they contribute towards 75 percent of export earnings.[6] The agricultural sector employs about 39 percent of the national workforce, resulting in suppressed wages and low productivity.[7] This provides some explanation for the rural-urban dichotomy in living standards.
This problem is made worse by
Sudden and unexpected events such as natural calamities and adverse climate conditions can also threaten agricultural harvests. It is not a matter of coincidence that the rural poor often comprised a large portion of populations living within these danger zones. Understandably, the rural poor are not able to gather sufficient resources to mitigate such emergencies, such as insurance against risk. Hence, the occurrence of such events would have recurring effects on rural dwellers, pushing them into greater poverty.
Inequality and social exclusion
Poverty appears to be largely concentrated within the regional groupings in Guatemala. To illustrate, comparisons between urban, rural and indigenous, non-indigenous people have shown that the non-indigenous groups fare considerably better than their indigenous contemporaries, comparable on a similar level to the national average of Cameroon, which ranks 144th on global HDI rankings with a score of 0.0506(HDI).[9] As a result of social exclusion, the Q’eqchi ethnic group's HDI is relatively lower than the national average of 0.560.[10]
Furthermore, the 38 percent poverty rate experienced by the rural indigenous population is almost twice the national average of 21.9 percent and at least 20 percent greater than their urban contemporaries, highlighting a rural-urban divide in terms of development.[11]
In sum, the deprivation of the rural poor from opportunities of personal growth and development is a reflection of their disadvantaged economic circumstances. While the urban sector has been reaping relatively higher economic growth, the rural poor have been marginalized, bypassed and socially excluded from full economic participation in the
- Graph created to showcase above-mentioned case study.
Foreign debt
Lastly, coupled with a high
References
- ^ a b http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, p. 59.
- ^ http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, p. 10.
- ^ http://earthtrends.wri.org,[dead link]Earth trend country profile. ., 2008
- ^ http://earthtrends.wri.org,[dead link]Earth trend country profile. P.2., 2008
- ^ http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, p. 8.
- ^ http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, p. 57.
- ^ http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, P. 9.
- ^ Local development through microfinance tools in Central America, Woodworth and Hiatt, P.99, 2008
- ^ 2006 Human Development report
- ^ Statistics, http://fita.org/countries/guatemala.html
- ^ http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, p. 9.
- ^ http://www.undp.org/execbrd/pdf/ADR-Guatemala.pdf. Assessment of developmental results.. UNDP, 2008, P. 7.
- ^ International Research Journal of Finance and Economics ISSN 1450-2887 Issue 20, External Debt and its Impact on Economic and Business Growth in Pakistan Hameed, Ashraf, Chaudhary,2008
- ^ International Research Journal of Finance and Economics ISSN 1450-2887 Issue 20, External Debt and its Impact on Economic and Business Growth in Pakistan Hameed, Ashraf, Chaudhary,2008
- ^ Vlahov, D., Freudenberg, N., Proietti, F., Ompad, D., & Galea, S. (2014). A conceptual framework for organizing determinants of urban health. Thematic paper, 1.