José Antonio Ovalle López July 13, 2018

4° CCLL Improvement Activity

Poverty in Rural and Urban Regions of Guatemala

Based on lately statistics poverty in Guatemala is very high, more than the

average national population lives under poverty, particularly in the rural part of the

region. The distribution of income on Guatemalan population is very unequal and the

racism of indigenous people contributes to poverty.

People from the rural part of Guatemala suffer a lot by poverty. The primary

sector of Guatemala is agriculture which is mostly concentrated in the rural regions

of the nation. Despite the fact that people from these areas are the ones that provide

vegetables, fruits, sugar, bananas coffee and meat to big companies, they are less

paid than people from the capital of Guatemala. People from these areas work very

hard to gain money each day and the income they receive is very low.

Many indigenous people suffer a lot by discrimination and they are most of

the time excluded by people of the capital, most of them Ladinos. Not allowing them

to have adequate jobs does not help them to get out of poverty and even if they

receive a job this one is not good enough to help them to get out of the social

problem, they might gain less than the minimum salary. Most of the people of the

capital of Guatemala think that they are not capable to do something because more
than the average indigenous population haven´t receive the necessary studies to

bear a professional job.

In conclusion, Guatemala is a very poor region. Racism and discrimination

help to increase the social problem and people from rural regions of Guatemala are

affected the most.