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Orange County, CA—Guatemala, the nation bordering Mexico to the southeast, is home to a population of 17.5 million people, with more than half belonging to indigenous communities. Guatemala is renowned for its temperate climate and breathtaking natural landscapes. However, for many of its residents, the reality of poverty in Guatemala is far from idyllic. Beneath its picturesque exterior, the country grapples with stark wealth disparities, limited access to education and food insecurity.
Poverty in Guatemala
About two-thirds of Guatemalans survive on less than $2 per day. The World Food Programme (WFP), an international humanitarian organization focusing on food assistance for the impoverished, detailed the seriousness of deprivation in the area in its brief on Guatemala. While many Guatemalans experience the hardships of poverty, the country has the largest economy in Central America. This wealth is so unevenly dispersed among the people of Guatemala that 65% of the country’s total wealth belongs to just 1% of Guatemalans.
Because of this, in its brief on the nation, WFP penned Guatemala as “one of the most unequal countries in Latin America.” The article went on to explain how “poverty affects indigenous people disproportionately” in the country. Unfortunately, 80% of the native Maya people of Guatemala experience food insecurity, malnutrition and lack of education.
Education and Literacy in Rural Guatemala
The country’s literacy rate is about 71% and is closer to 25% in rural Guatemala. The Guatemalan Housing Alliance (GHA), a Guatemala-based nonprofit organization working to aid in the country’s housing crisis, highlights this disparity and the lack of education resources present in the country on its website. For those forced to navigate a life of being poor in Guatemala, access to education is an unfortunate reality: the GHA notes that “public spending on education is only 2.6% of Guatemala’s GDP, the lowest in Latin America.” The GHA goes on to explain that 90% of all rural schools in the country have no books―a fact that exemplifies the scope of this insufficiency in education resources.
Unfortunately, high poverty rates coupled with this insufficiency have eliminated the luxury of attending school before entering the workforce for many Guatemalans. In fact, the GHA explains that the average child in the Central American country will only attend school for 3.5 years.
Food Insecurity in Guatemala
Nearly 50% of children under the age of 5 in Guatemala have stunted growth. Being poor in Guatemala means limited access to sustenance, with affording the food being only half the battle. National Geographic is a world-renowned scholarly journal founded in 1888. In its article “A Hunger Crisis Forces Guatemalans to Choose: Migration or Death,” the magazine breaks down the combination of poverty and environmental factors working against the hungry in Guatemala. National Geographic goes on to explain how “Years of drought and natural disasters” in Central America have “left millions of people in extreme poverty.” Guatemala is among the most heavily affected areas.
National Geographic explains how coupled with the high poverty levels in Guatemala, this drought has left the country with the highest malnutrition rate in all of Central America―and the sixth-highest on the planet. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has only worsened food insecurity in the country.
Humanitarian Organizations Providing Aid
Fortunately, humanitarian organizations are working to better the quality of life of the most vulnerable populations of Guatemala. There are benevolent organizations throughout the country working to ease the burden of being poor in Guatemala for all they can help. These organizations provide cash donations to struggling families and have volunteers providing aid in impoverished communities in Guatemala. National Geographic lists Save the Children and UNICEF, to name a couple. With organizations like these working to build up the impoverished in this Central American country, there is hope for the future of Guatemala’s poor.
Save the Children
Save the Children is a humanitarian organization founded more than 100 years ago. Though fully established in the country in 1983, its work in Guatemala began following a debilitating earthquake in 1976. The humanitarian organization’s website describes its work’s focus on “strengthening education, health and nutrition systems, protection systems, children’s governance, and humanitarian response” in the country. Its site’s page on Guatemala goes on to highlight the country’s need for this assistance.
The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) prides itself on its work to aid “the most disadvantaged children and adolescents” in a hands-on fashion “before, during and after humanitarian emergencies.” Its annual report on the country in 2022 describes UNICEF’s work repairing 190 schools in Guatemala, as well as its development of “outreach teams that reach remote areas of the country where the most vulnerable populations live.” These are just a few examples of the invaluable work the organization is doing in the country.
Looking Ahead
While Guatemala may be popular around the world for its beautiful scenery and temperate climate, too many of those who are native to the country experience poverty, lack of education resources and limited access to food. Now, there are humanitarian organizations combatting these very real issues affecting the Central American country’s most vulnerable populations. What these organizations are doing for the impoverished in Guatemala is working to ensure their future is an improvement on the present reality of being poor in Guatemala.
—Rosemary Wright
