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Central America. South of Mexico. Slightly smaller than Tennessee. Capital: Guatemala City.
"Guatemala began a new era in December 1996 when thirty-six years of civil war formally ended with the signing of the peace accords." (From the International Freedom of Expression Exchange)
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "Guatemala is the most populous of the Central American countries with a GDP per capita roughly one-half that of Argentina, Brazil, and Chile. The agricultural sector accounts for about one-tenth of GDP, two-fifths of exports, and half of the labor force. Coffee, sugar, and bananas are the main products, with sugar exports benefiting from increased global demand for ethanol."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $5,200
2007 $5,100
2006 $5,000
GDP annual growth rate:
2008: 3.8%
2007: 5.7%
2006: 5.3%
Unemployment rate estimated for 2005: 3.2%
In 1996, the government signed a peace agreement that ended 36 years of civil war, a war that killed more than 100,000 people and created around one million refugees. The ending of this war overcame an obstacle to foreign investment. Continuing political violence and corruption scandals have continued to discourage foreign investment.
Exports are 47 percent of imports.
Agriculture accounts for two-thirds of exports -- coffee, sugar, bananas, fruits and vegetables.
Half of the labor force is in agriculture.
Deaths 5.19, down from 6.81 in 2005. Births 28.55, down from 34.11 in 2005.
Estimated for 2008 is 13.0 million. Growth rate estimated for 2008: 2.11 percent per year.
Density estimated for 2005: 134.6 persons per square kilometer.
More leaving than arriving, a net loss of 2.26 per 1,000 population, up from 1.63 in 2005.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 28.79, down from 35.93 in 2005 (deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births).
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 69.99 years, up from 65.15 in 2005
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 1.1 percent (2003)
About 55 percent of the population is Mestizo. Approximately 43 percent is Amerindian, or predominantly Amerindian. The poorer countries tend to have the highest population growth rates, and Guatemala's growth rate is among the highest, at 2.62 percent. The U.S. growth rate is 0.92 percent.
The top 10 percent in household income in 1998 did 46 percent of spending for consumers goods. For the lowest 10 percent of households this was 1.6 percent -- in other words, Guatemala has few between the wealthy and the relatively poor. 75 percent of the population is said to be below the poverty line, whatever that is.
Thirty-seven percent of females over 15-years-old cannot read. For men this figure is 22 percent.
Sixty percent of the population is described as being "indigenous," in other words Amerindian (despite the percentages listed above). But there are only 13 indigenous members out of a total of 160 in Congress.
"Public officials in Guatemala continue to use their position to harass the media, particularly to deter investigative and critical reporting. " (From the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, March 2005)
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
http://www.ifex.org/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.