• According to the Human Development Report 2002 of the United Nations Program for Development in Guatemala, Guatemala occupies 120th position of 173 countries. In Latin America only Haiti holds a more precarious position.
  
• The annual population growth rate of Guatemala is 3.1%, of which 3.65% is urban and 61.35% rural. The number of economically active habitants is 4.7 million.
  
• 80% of the Guatemalan population lives in poverty and 60% in extreme poverty. This means that they do not earn sufficient to met minimum dietary requirements. There is almost three times more poverty in rural areas than in the urban areas.

LAND ISSUES

• Inequalities are based in the prevailing land distribution structure, in which 3% of landholders own 70% of the fertile land.
  
• The Indigenous population has less access to riches, however they labor in the most burdening and poorly paid positions. Furthermore, not only are they the poorest, they suffered the most discrimination.
  

• Guatemalan boys and girls have lived the recent history of dictatorships and war; have suffered racism, authoritarianism, ignorance and violation of their rights. Despite the fact that the Code for Children’s Rights was approved in October 1996 implementation has been slowly postponed.
  
• In the last eight years the number of child workers has tripled to reach 925 thousand children. The highest incidence of child labor is in the Northwest region of the country, in rural areas and amongst the Indigenous population. Child labor amongst boys is twice as high as amongst girls. In 2000, 20.8% of girls within the age of 7 to 14 worked, whilst double this number of boys worked. Amongst adolescents 70% of the young men worked whilst a little more than 35% of young women worked.

WOMEN

• Development opportunities for women have been limited mainly because they are excluded. This is illustrated in the lack of opportunity to participate in educational and capacity building processes.
  
• Although the Political Constitution of the Republic formally guarantees equity (since 1985), there exist profound differences between the participation and representation of men and women in national decision making bodies and processes.

HEALTH

• According to the United Nations each Indigenous household has 6.2 children in comparison to non-Indigenous households, which have 4.6 children. The fact that 33.6% of Mayan children suffer from chronic malnutrition causes grave concern.
  
• The National Survey on Maternal and Infant Health (2002) found that for every thousand children under the age of five, there are 53 deaths (the majority caused by preventable and curable illnesses, mostly respiratory and intestinal). Infant mortality is 12 times greater in the Indigenous population than any other ethnic group.
  
• Reform of the Social Sector proposed by the Government has tended towards privatization of services rather than making them more accessible for the population.

HOUSING

• Access to housing for the majority of Guatemalans is practically non-existent due to currency devaluation, limited access to bank credit and government assistance that is directed towards construction initiatives instead of the population.
  
• 40.6% of Guatemalan families live in over crowded, precarious, insecure, unstable and insufficient housing conditions.

INCOME

• Income distribution per capita illustrates that 5.6% of households receive 50% of income generated, whilst the remaining 50% is distributed amongst 94.4% of the population.
  
• Access to productive resources is limited. Certain groups, such as peasants, women and especially the rural, Indigenous and semi-rural communities, have traditionally been marginalized and excluded from accessing such resources.
  
• The taxation rate is very low and needs to be increased to 12.5% of the GDP in order to cover social costs.
  
• Guatemala has very high unemployment rates; currently 49.5% of the population is economically inactive.